Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Liberty High gave West High its best shot, or two, or three, on Tuesday.

West High withstood the barrage and ultimately was too much.

Too big, too tall, too talented.

West High got double-doubles from Julian Manson and Jack McCaffery and pulled away from Liberty High late for a 77-71 win over the Lightning in a cross-town showdown in Iowa City.

Manson had 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and McCaffery had 10 of his 19 points after halftime as West High (7-2) pushed its winning streak to four.

“The first half we didn’t come out and play the way that we talked about all week, especially with getting the ball inside because we had a height advantage,” McCaffery said. “The first half we didn’t get much going inside and the second half we did a lot better getting it inside.”

Liberty High (2-7) was more than up to the challenge on Tuesday.

The Lightning had four players in double figures led by sophomore guard Jerimiah Washpun with 21 points, shot 55 percent from the floor including 9-of-17 from 3-point range.

However, the Lightning couldn’t keep Manson, McCaffery and the rest of the Trojans off the glass.

West High had a 36-20 rebounding edge and it seemed like even more.

The 6-foot-8 McCaffery had 12 rebounds and 6-foot-4 Manson 10, including eight of the Trojan’s 18 offensive boards.

“The rebounding is what killed us, that was the difference,” Liberty High coach Ryan Kelly said. “They probably scored over 20 points off offensive rebounds and that was the difference. If we grab two, three four of those maybe it’s a different game.”

Liberty High hung around early, trailing 14-12 after the opening quarter and 27-22 midway through the second quarter.

That’s when the Lightning got rolling, closing the first half with a 12-4 burst that featured nine points from the dynamic Washpun.

Liberty High led 34-31 at the half.

“This is most complete game we’ve put together on both ends,” Kelly said. “They are a really good defensive team and I thought we handled it well. We were right there. I was proud of our guys.

A back-and-forth third quarter featured eight lead changes and ended with West High clinging to a 52-49 lead.

West High flexed its muscle in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans opened the quarter with a 7-0 run and built a 63-51 lead on a ferocious McCaffery dunk in transition with 5:28 to play.

“We just decided to play our game after halftime,” Manson said. “We came out after half and we ran our stuff and played better defense than we did in the first half.”

After shooting 41 percent from the field in the opening half, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range, West High shot 71 percent in the second half with most of those looks coming from point blank range.

“The game plan was to pound it inside and we didn’t do it in the first half very well,” West High coach Steve Bergman said. “We did a good job in the second half but by that point we had let the genie out of the bottle and built their confidence pretty well and they made a lot of shots.”

Manson made all five of his third-quarter field goal attempts and was 8-of-9 from the floor in the second half.

Junior Mason Goering had 10 of his 12 points in the second half on 4-of-5 shooting after halftime.

“It’s always a point of emphasis with myself, Mason and Jack getting after the boards,” Manson said. “We had to do a better job of that in the second half and I think we did.”

KingSton Swayzer had 11 points for West High as the Trojans won their fifth straight over Liberty High.

Collin Decker had 15 points, Brady Randall had 14 and Maddoc Coapstick had 11 for the Lightning.

Liberty High              12  22  15  22  –  71

West High                  14  17  21  25  –  77

Liberty High (71) – Jerimiah Washpun 10-18 1-1 21, Maddoc Coapstick 3-8 5-5 11, Collin Decker 6-9 0-0 15, Brady Randall 5-6 0-0 14, Rylen Schweitzer 2-3 0-0 5, Keshawn Wyldon 0-1 0-0 0, Chase Goodheart 2-4 0-0 5, Totals 28-51 6-6 71.

West High (77) – Jack Wallace 2-2 0-0 4, Mason Goering 5-11 2-2 12, Jack McCaffery 8-23 2-3 19, Julian Manson 13-15 1-1 27, KingSton Swayzer 5-9 0-0 11, Ethan Headings 2-4 0-2 4, Totals 35-65 5-10 77.

3-point field goals – Liberty High 9-17 (Washpun 0-3, Decker 3-4, Randall 4-5, Schweitzer 1-2, Goodheart 1-3), West High 2-14 (McCaffery 1-9, Swayzer 1-3, Headings 0-2). Rebounds – Liberty High 20 (Washpun 6), West High 36 (McCaffery 12). Total fouls – Liberty High 11, West High 10. Turnovers – Liberty High 9, West High 5. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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