Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – As Trey Wright began preparation for his junior season one thing stood out to the City High point guard.

Who was missing from last season.

Four starters were gone from City High’s team that won eight games last season leaving Wright as the lone returning starter this winter.

Wright was the only player on the City High roster to average better than 3.6 points per game a year ago with the departed players combining to account for 68 percent of the Little Hawk’s scoring last season.

Looking at who was gone from a year ago Wrigth knew he had to take on a larger role, not only as a scorer and distributor but as a leader.

“We had a lot of seniors last year and I was the only returning starter so I knew I had to take it upon myself to be a voice on the court and be a leader,” Wright said. “That’s mainly what I’ve focused on.”

That offseason focus on leadership is paying off for Wright and the Little Hawks early this season.

Wright is averaging a team-high 17 points per game for 3-0 City High which is off to its best start since winning three straight to opening the 2009-2010 season.

“I’m really impressed with his leadership,” City High coach Brennan Swayzer said. “Even if he’s not using his voice it’s his style of play, his control of the game and I think he does a great job on both ends of the court with that.”

In his third year of varsity action Wright is well on his way to his best season yet.

After playing sparingly off the bench as a freshman Wright was solid in his first season as a full-time starter a year ago ranking second on the team with 9.6 points per game while leading the Little Hawks with 2.8 points per game.

Wright has taken a big step forward to start this season.

“I just really observed the game and it has slowed down for me a little bit,” Wright said. “I read the game more and it’s become a little more comfortable for me.”

The 5-foot-10 Wright has scored at least 14 points in each of the first three games while leading the Little Hawks in scoring at 17 points per game.

Wright is shooting 51 percent from the floor and a career-best 36 percent from 3-point range during the 3-0 start to the season.

“I worked in the offseason on everything that I could but mainly I worked on shooting,” Wright said. “As an undersized guard I have to be able to put the ball in the hoop for deep so that’s definitely something I worked on.”

After scoring eight in a season-opening win over Burlington and 14 in a victory over Muscatine Wright had a season-high 19 points in a 62-38 win over Marion on Monday.

“He can really get it going,” Swayzer said. “He has really has an ability to make it happen when he wants to so just trying to get him to do that at a consistent level is our biggest thing.”

The points have come this season but Wright does much more than just score.

Wright is leading the Little Hawks in assists (3.7) and is third on the team in steals (2).

Perhaps even more important to the early success for City High than the production of Wright is his leadership.

“I definitely worked on becoming more of a leader and using more of my voice to get everybody into the game,” Wright said. “I’m working on getting everybody focusing, everybody working to be the best version of ourselves.”

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