Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – Clear Creek Amana stuck to the plan.

The Clippers stuck to their long-term blueprint following a 1-3 start to the season.

On Tuesday Clear Creek Amana stayed with the game plan after falling into a 10-point deficit 10 minutes into its meeting with Mount Vernon at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Staying the course throughout the regular season and again on Tuesday night helped the Clippers make some history.

Clear Creek Amana secured the first overall WAMAC Conference title in program history with an emphatic 80-51 win over Mount Vernon in a cross-division showdown on Tuesday.

“We do a good job of sticking to our game plan and we don’t get shaken up,” Clear Creek Amana senior Andrew Rotzoll said. “We knew that if we stuck to our plan in the end it would come through and tonight it did.”

Clear Creek Amana won its second consecutive WAMAC West Division title this season and Tuesday added the overall conference crown to its regular season resume.

The win was the 10^th straight for Clear Creek Amana (17-4) which finished the regular season 10-0 in WAMAC West Division games and 15-1 in all WAMAC games.

Clear Creek Amana won its final 15 conference games.

“We’ve come a long way, to win the overall is a testament to these guys and what we do every day in practice,” Clear Creek Amana coach Brandon Clubb said. “It means a lot just because this league from top to bottom is really deep so if you win this league you’ve been through the gauntlet.”

Mount Vernon (15-5) took a 24-14 lead a little less than two minutes into the second quarter with an 8-0 run that prompted a timeout from Clubb.

The Clippers responded with an 18-2 run over the next four minutes and outscored the Mustangs 42-9 over a nearly 13-minute span during the second and third quarters.

“To me it was more of a physicality and confidence thing and we just really challenged them to step it up,” Clubb said. “The really responded.”

Clear Creek Amana shot 70 percent from the field over the final three quarters and shot 62 percent from the field for the game.

The Clippers led 39-33 at the half and put the game out of reach with a 17-0 run to open the second half that spanned nearly seven minutes.

Clear Creek Amana outscored Mount Vernon 17-5 in the third quarter, limiting the Mustangs to 1-of-9 shooting from the floor.

“We had to keep doing what we were doing,” Clear Creek Amana senior Brock Hilsman said. “We had confidence that our offense would come and our defense was pretty good. We came out in the second half ready to play.”

Clear Creek Amana opened the season 1-3 with losses to Class 4A powers West High and Cedar Rapids Kennedy and to WAMAC rival Solon.

The Clippers stayed the course and have won 16 of 17 games since with the lone loss to 4A No. 10 Cedar Rapids Prairie.

“Early on maybe it brings you down a little bit but it definitely helps you in the end playing that great competition,” Rotzoll said. “After playing teams like that even playing good 3A teams like this it’s a lot easier.”

Rotzoll went 5-of-7 from beyond the 3-point line and led five Clear Creek Amana players in double figures with 16 points.

Hilsman had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and also handed out five assists.

“I think we showed tonight what we do every night in practice,” Hilsman said. “We push each other hard. We’ve had some really good practices the past couple of weeks and I think that’s helped. We want practice to be harder than the games.”

Robert Meade and Hayden Umoren each had 12 points and combined to go 10-of-14 from the floor.

Beckett Boeset had 10 points and Brody Clubb had five.

“We played some good teams at the beginning of the year and I think that kicked in tonight and helped us,” Hilsman said. “We played better as the game went on.”

Mount Vernon                      16  17   5   13  –  51

Clear Creek Amana            13  26  17  24  –  80

Mount Vernon (51) – Landon Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Rushford 1-5 2-2 4, Kellen Haverback 2-10 1-3 6, AJ McDermott 1-1 1-2 3, Brogan Meyer 0-3 0-0 0, Jayden Scieszinski 0-2 0-0 0, Stratton Ellyson 3-5 0-0 9, Maddox Thede 0-1 0-0 0, Josef Briesemeister 5-11 2-3 13, Seth Rushford 6-10 0-0 16, Totals 18-49 6-10 51.

Clear Creek Amana (80) – Hayden Umoren 4-5 4-5 12, Reece Cochran 1-1 0-0 3, Cale Berry 1-1 0-0 3, Brock Hilsman 4-8 3-4 13, Beckett Boeset 5-11 0-0 10, Andrew Rotzoll 5-7 1-2 16, Robert Meade 6-9 0-1 12, Owen Rosenberg 1-1 2-2 4, Jayden Howe 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Vice 0-0 2-2 2, Brody Clubb 2-3 1-2 5.

3-point field goals – Mount Vernon 9-25 (L. Rushford 0-3, Haverback 1-6, Ellyson 3-5, Thede 0-1, Briesemeister 1-4, S. Rushford 4-6), Clear Creek Amana 9-15 (Cochran 1-1, Berry 1-1, Hilsman 2-3, Boeset 0-2, Rotzoll 5-7, Clubb 0-1). Rebounds – Mount Vernon 22 (Briesemeister 6), Clear Creek Amana 35 (Hilsman 10). Total fouls – Mount Vernon 12, Clear Creek Amana 6. Turnovers – Mount Vernon 15, Clear Creek Amana 11. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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