Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – For three quarters on Tuesday Clear Creek Amana kept a potent West High offense mostly contained.

In the fourth quarter West High used some revved up defense to shift its offense into gear.

West High limited Clear Creek Amana to 5-of-17 shooting in the fourth quarter and turned those missed shots in transition offense on its way to a 63-44 win over the Clippers in a non-conference season opener for both teams in Tiffin.

“The key is getting stops, we need to get stops to get out into transition,” West High senior Jack McCaffery said. “It just took us a little to adjust in the game but if we can get stops on defense it leads to our transition offense and that gets us going.”

McCaffery scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter as West High broke open a tight game.

West High led by just six at the half and held a 38-30 lead after three quarters before cruising down the stretch.

The Trojans went 9-of-14 from the field while outscoring Clear Creek Amana 25-14 in the fourth quarter.

“We made a few shots but really we defended well enough there in that stretch that we could get it out and run,” Bergman said. “That was the big thing for us was getting stops so we could run.”

Clear Creek Amana hung around all night.

Senior Brody Clubb had 13 points and his bucket in the paint with 1:52 remaining in the third quarter cut the West High lead to 33-30.

West High responded with five unanswered points to close the quarter and pushed the lead to 45-32 on a McCaffery bucket that capped a 7-2 run to start the fourth quarter.

“We have a lot of good athletes and we are getting more connected on the defensive end,” McCaffery said. “I think once we all get into the flow of things we have a chance to have a really good team.”

McCaffery had just three first-half points on 1-of-6 shooting as West High shot 42 percent from the floor in the first half.

The 6-foot-8 senior didn’t have a third-quarter field goal but made four of his final five shots in the fourth as West High pulled away.

“We saw a defense that we hadn’t practiced against a lot because yesterday was our 12^th practice,” Bergman said. “We were giving in to that and taking quick not great shots. Early we were running our stuff sharp and we were getting good looks but we missed them all and then we started taking worse shots. They made us work really hard to score and we were in foul trouble all game.”

Julian Manson had 10 points as part of a balanced West High offensive performance that featured six players with seven or more points.

Ethan Headings and KingSton Swayzer each had nine points, Jack Wallace had eight and Mason Goering had seven for the Trojans.

“Once we figured out how to cut and move through the defense that helped us but really it was just running,” McCaffery said. “They couldn’t guard us in transition. We are big, we are long, we are really athletic and we can run and I think that will end up being one of our strong suits this season.”

Cale Berry and Robert Meade each had seven points for Clear Creek Amana which shot 35 percent from the floor.

West High                              13  13  12  25  –  63

Clear Creek Amana              11   9   10  14  –  44     

West High (63) – Ethan Headings 4-8 0-2 9, Jack Wallace 3-3 2-4 8, Mason Goering 2-3 3-5 7, Jack McCaffery 5-15 6-6 17, Julian Manson 4-5 2-4 10, Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick 0-1 0-0 0, Henry Elser 1-3 0-0 3, KingSton Swayzer 3-8 2-3 9, Totals 22-46 15-24 63.

Clear Creek Amana (44) – Hayden Umoren 2-7 1-1 5, Reece Cochran 1-1 0-0 2, Cale Berry 3-4 0-0 7, Brock Hilsman 1-6 0-2 2, Beckett Boeset 0-5 0-0 0, Andrew Rotzoll 1-4 4-4 6, Robert Meade 3-8 1-2 7, Owen Rosenberg 1-2 0-0 2, Ethan Vice 0-1 0-0 0, Brody Clubb 4-8 2-3 13, Totals 16-46 8-11 63.

3-point field goals – Clear Creek Amana 4-13 (Berry 1-1, Hilsman 0-1, Boeset 0-3, Rotzoll 0-1, Rosenberg 0-1, Clubb 3-5), West High 4-19 (Headings 1-4, McCaffery 1-6, Jensen-Fitzpatrick 0-1, Elser 1-2, Swayzer 1-6). Rebounds – Clear Creek Amana 21 (Rosenberg 4), West High 39 (McCaffery 10). Total fouls – Clear Creek Amana 19, West High 17. Turnovers – Clear Creek Amana 15, West High 15. Fouled out – Clear Creek Amana (Clubb, Meade). Technical fouls – None

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