Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – By his own admission Trey Hughes was mostly an offensive-minded player during his first two varsity seasons.

It was a defensive play by Hughes that gave Liberty High a much-needed win on Friday.

A steal and layup by Hughes with 47 seconds left broke a 55-all tie and Liberty High snapped a four-game losing skid with a 59-58 win over City High in a Mississippi Valley Conference contest in North Liberty.

“That’s what I’ve been mostly known for is offense but for me this year it’s been a key to lock in on defense,” Hughes said. “If I am going to go play in college I needed to work on my defense and rebounding and I’ve worked really hard on those things.”

Hughes had 13 points, including a key fourth-quarter 3-pointer, but it was the defensive play by the senior guard that proved to be the difference as Liberty High (4-6) completed the regular season sweep of City High.

With under a minute to go in a tie game Hughes jumped a passing lane and converted a left-handed layup on the other end of the court to give Liberty High the lead for good.

It was a play that Hughes and Liberty High coach Ryan Kelly said the senior would not have made a year ago.

“Last year he would have been closer to his man instead of in that gap,” Kelly said. “Being able to make that adjustment, that play pretty much sealed the game for us.”

Hughes made 84 3-pointers in his first two varsity seasons.

He shot 41 percent from beyond the 3-point arc as a junior but spent the offseason dedicated to defense.

In an effort to improve as a defender and a rebounder the 6-foot-3 Hughes shed 25 pounds before his senior season.

It was a more nimble Hughes that came up with the play of the game on Friday.

“Last year I definitely couldn’t get the steal and then go down and finish,” Hughes said. “I’m a lot lighter and I feel like that’s going to be a play I can make continuously throughout the season.

Junior guard Maddoc Coapstick had six of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter including a pair of free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining that gave the Lightning a four-point lead.

It was enough for Liberty High to get back on the winning track and four consecutive loses to top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy, defending state runners-up Waukee Northwest and Cedar Rapids Xavier and 4A No. 10 Linn-Mar.

“The most impressive thing about tonight was we made mistakes but I thought we played 32 minutes and every kid was playing their butts off,” Kelley said. “That is one thing we’ve struggled with in this stretch is just playing hard. I thought we played hard at Linn-Mar and we just ran out of gas so I’m just proud of them tonight. That’s a big win for us.”

City High (4-8) snapped a seven-game losing skid with a win over Western Dubuque on Thursday and had an opportunity for a second straight win on Friday.

Trailing 52-45 with under seven minutes to play the Little Hawks went on an 8-0 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Trey Wright and Jameer James to take a 53-52 lead.

City High led 55-54 before Liberty High tied the game when Cooper Webb made one of two free throws with 57.9 seconds remaining.

That set the stage for Hughes.

“Throughout the whole game I knew with that play they were going to try to swing the ball,” Hughes said. “Since it was such a wide pass I knew if I saw him lock eyes I was going to go and I’d be able to get a tip or get a layup.”

Coapstick hit a pair of free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining and Liberty High survived.

“It really just came down to execution at the end of the game,” Coapstick said. “We made some mistakes but we had to battle through it. We’ve worked a lot on practice on situational stuff and that’s what it came down to the end.”

Senior Stepehen Cain had all nine of his points in the third quarter to help Liberty High erase a six-point deficit and freshman Jerimiah Washpun had eight points for the Lightning.

Five different Liberty High players scored at least seven points in the win.

“I think this will definitely put us back into a rhythm,” Coapstick said. “It was a gritty win and we needed that going forward.”

AJ Wright had a game-high 19 points for City High while Trey Wright and James each had nine points for the Little Hawks.

City High                               15  16  14  13  –  58   

Liberty High                         15  17  15  12  –  59               

City High (58) – Jameer James 3-5 0-0 9, AJ Wright 7-16 1-3 19, Kristian Freeman 0-3 2-2 2, Trey Wright 4-9 0-0 9, KingSton Swayzer 1-2 2-2 4, Davion Luckett 1-3 0-0 3, Nolan McDonald 2-4 0-0 4, Parker Sutherland 0-2 0-0 0, Jonathan Watkins 4-9 0-0 8, Totals 22-53 5-7 58.

Liberty High (59) – Jerimiah Washpun 3-6 0-0 8, Maddoc Coapstick 3-6 7-8 15, Stephen Cain 2-4 3-3 9, Gage Kampman 2-4 3-3 7, Shea Sanders 0-2 1-6 1, Cael Schramm 0-1 2-2 2, Cooper Webb 1-5 2-3 4, Trey Hughes 5-14 0-0 13, Totals 16-42 18-25 59.

3-point field goals – ICH 9-24 (James 3-5, A. Wright 4-10, Freeman 0-1, T. Wright 1-2, Luckett 1-3, McDonald 0-2, Watkins 0-1), ICL 9-21 (Washpun 2-2, Coapstick 2-4, Cain 2-4, Sanders 0-1, Webb 0-2, Hughes 3-8). Rebounds – ICH (Sutherland 6, Watkins 6), ICL 32 (Kampman 7, Sanders 7, Hughes 7). Turnovers – ICH 12, ICL 16. Total fouls – ICH 25, ICL 13. Fouled out – ICH (Watkins). Technical fouls – None.

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