Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – The Clear Creek Amana basketball program has been on a steady ascent the past several seasons.

The Clippers went from five wins in 2022-2023 to a 16-7 mark a season ago.

Clear Creek Amana has continued the climb this season going 17-4, winning the WAMAC West Division title and first WAMAC overall crown in program history.

At the front of the Clippers rise has been senior guard Andrew Rotzoll.

A three-year starter, Rotzoll is Clear Creek Amana in scoring for the second consecutive season and has the Clippers seeking its first state tournament appearance since 2020.

“We’ve definitely come a long way,” Rotzoll said. “I think we’ve shown the last few weeks the type of team that we can be.”
Rotzoll and the Clippers have been red hot after a 1-3 start to the season.

Clear Creek Amana has won 16 of its last 17 games, the lone loss during that stretch coming to Class 4A top-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie.

Three of the four losses this season have come to 4A competition, including a pair of losses to ranked 4A teams.

That early season schedule has only helped Rotzoll and the Clippers down the stretch.

Clear Creek Amana will take a 10-game winning streak into its regular season finale on February 18 against Fairfield.

Rotzoll has played a central role in the late-season surge.

The 6-foot-3 guard has scored double figures in 14 consecutive games and is averaging 19.8 points per game during the Clippers’ current 10-game winning streak.

“I think early in the season those losses were tough but it only helps you in the long run playing great competition,” Rotzoll said. “We knew those games were going to help us later in the season.”

Rotzoll averaged 11.8 points per game as a sophomore and upped that to a team-high 16.5 points per game last season.

This year Rotzoll has rounded out his all-around game while putting together the best season of his career.

Rotzoll is averaging career-highs in points (16.9), rebounds (3), assists (2) and steals (2) and is shooting a career-best 50.2 percent from the field and 44.6 percent from the 3-point range.

“We’ve really challenged him to be multi-dimensional,” Clubb said. “The threes are going to be there and people are going to start to overplay that and he really needs to get downhill and facilitate and take what people give you. He’s really matured into more than a shooter.”

Rotzoll has been one of the top shooters in Class 3A this breaking into the lineup as a sophomore.

He made 55 3-pointers two seasons ago as a sophomore and raised that to 59 made triples last season.

A career 43 percent shooter from 3-point range, Rotzoll became the Clear Creek Amana career 3-point leader earlier this season.

Rotzoll has already made 54 threes this season raising his career total to 168.

“It shows me that putting in the time and effort will pay off,” Rotzoll said. “I spent a lot of time in the gym but that’s not just an individual accomplishment it’s my teammates and everyone that was involved in that.”

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