Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Liberty High made a few slight adjustments to its offensive game plan ahead of its meeting with cross-town rival City High.

The Lightning put a priority on post production in an effort to take advantage of its height advantage against the Little Hawks.

Liberty High had success in the paint on offense on Friday but it was the one focus for the Lightning that never changes – defense – that was the difference.

Using ball pressure on the perimeter and its length across the front court Liberty High limited City High to 28 percent shooting in a 57-48 in over the Little Hawks in a cross-town showdown at City High.

“It’s huge for us to play defense like we did tonight,” Liberty High senior Gage Kampman said. “Defense is the one thing that has to stay consistent especially when scoring isn’t. If you can hold teams to 45 or low 50s no matter what you are still going to be in every game.”

Cooper Webb had a game-high 20 points and Stephen Cain had 11 as Liberty High (3-2) won its second consecutive game.

After allowing 70 and 74 points consecutive losses to Ankeny Centennial and West High the Lightning have allowed 51 and 48 points in back-to-back wins road wins over Western Dubuque and City High.

“That’s our game plan going into every game is to use our length,” Webb said. “We know we have to sit down and guard and that’s what we do going into every game.”

Liberty High never trailed on Friday, held City High scoreless for more than three minutes to open the game and held a 40-34 rebounding edge.

Davion Luckett and AJ Wright each had 11 points for City High but Liberty High held the Little Hawks leading scorer, Trey Wright to two points as City High made just 17-of-60 field goal attempts.

“Part of our philosophy defensively is we don’t want to give up open 3s and layups so we are o.k. if they score 80 points on pull-up jumpers,” Liberty High coach Ryan Kelley said. “In basketball you have to pick and choose what it is you are going to give up and we didn’t give up layups and we contested the 3-point line. City High has quick guards and they shoot the three ball and I thought we did a good job of contesting and containing.”

Liberty High led 9-7 after the opening quarter and took control of the game with a 10-1 run early in the second quarter.

The Lightning led 25-20 at the half and pushed the lead to 33-22 with an 8-2 run to open the third quarter.

City High went more than four minutes without a field goal to open both halves.

“A lot of guys have played three years with coach Kelley and we have a lot of experience and the communication and the comradery is a lot better than it has been,” Kampman said. “That helps when you are playing team defense.”

Webb provided the offensive output for Liberty High on Friday as the Lightning hammered the ball into the post to the 6-foot-7 Webb and the 6-foot-9 Kampman.

Trey Hughes had nine points and point guard Maddoc Coapstick had seven points as Liberty High shot 47 percent from the floor.

“We had a huge size advantage and coach always talks about paint touches,” Webb said. “We try to get 45 paint touches a game and I think we did that today and it showed.”

Liberty High              9  16  15  17  –  57                 

City High                   7  13  10  18  –  48                               

Liberty High (57) – Jerimiah Washpun 0-0 0-2 0, Maddoc Coapstick 3-6 0-0 7, Stephen Cain 5-7 0-0 11, Gage Kampman 2-4 0-0 4, Shea Sanders 2-4 0-2 4, Cael Schramm 0-2 2-6 2, Cooper Webb 7-16 5-5 20, Trey Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Trey Hughes 4-9 0-0 9, Totals 23-49 7-15 57.

City High (48) – Jameer James 2-6 0-0 4, Davion Luckett 3-6 2-2 11, AJ Wright 4-9 1-2 11, Kris Freeman 3-9 0-1 6, Trey Wright 1-10 0-0 2, KingSton Swayzer 1-6 0-0 2, Amir Newell 1-3 0-0 2, Mack Kuyu 0-1 0-2 0, Nolan McDonald 2-7 0-0 8, Parker Sutherland 0-3 2-2 2, Totals 17-60 8-13 48.

3-point field goals – ICH 6-27 (James 0-3, Luckett 3-6, A. Wright 2-5, Freeman 0-1, T Wright 0-2, Swayzer 0-4, McDonald 1-6), ICL 4-14 (Coapstick 1-2, Cain 1-2, Webb 1-5, Williams 0-1, Hughes 1-4). Rebounds – ICH 34 (Freeman 10), ICL 40 (Kampman 9). Turnovers – ICH 11, ICL 14. Total fouls – ICH 19, ICL 18. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.