Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Over the course of his long coaching career Bill McTaggart has seen first-hand what can happen when a team gets hot at the right time.

The veteran City High coach is hoping that he sees that again this season with his own squad.

“I told our guys your old coach has been around a long time and seen teams get hot at this time of year,” McTaggart said. “Throw out the records it’s a new season.”

City High closed the regular season red hot, winning five of its final six games.

Led by junior forward Christopher Watkins the Little Hawks carried that late season surge into the postseason on Monday.

Watkins scored 31 points as City High opened the postseason with a 76-60 win over Waterloo East (8-13) in a Class 4A, Substate 3 quarterfinal in Iowa City.

“What I like is we are playing our best ball at the end of the year and that’s what we wanted to do,” McTaggart said. “We’ve won seven of our last nine so we are playing our best at the right time.”

Watkins had 19 of his 31 points in the second half as City High fended off a furious third-quarter run from Waterloo East.

City High improved to 10-13 with the win and advanced to the Substate 3 semifinal at top-ranked Cedar Falls (19-2) on Friday at 7 p.m.

“It feels good, the first playoff game we got the win,” Watkins said. “I went out there and did what I can do.”

City High was 2-6 at the holiday break following a loss at West High on December 22

The Little Hawks sat at 3-11 following a home loss to the Trojans on January 24.

City High won four in a row in early February and has won seven of its last nine entering Friday’s substate semifinal at Cedar Falls.

“That was tough,” McTaggart said of the start to the season. “We lost to good teams and we lost some close ones but that’s what we told them is we have to be playing your best in February and anything can happen.”

City High closed the first half on a 12-3 run to take a 40-22 halftime lead on Monday.
Waterloo East wouldn’t go quietly.

The Trojans scored 14 unanswered points to get back into the game.

After City High pushed the lead back to 47-36 Waterloo West rattled off seven consecutive points to cut the margin to 47-43.

Watkins scored the final five points of the third quarter on a bucket in the paint out of a City High timeout and a conventional 3-point play with 28 seconds left in the quarter to push the lead back to 52-43.

“Really just had to settle down and understand that basketball is a game of runs,” City High senior Jaxton Schroeder said. “Coach told us they were going to go on runs and we were going to have our turn. The timeout settled us down and we came out and finished the job.”

Watkins made 11 3-pointers during the regular season but went 4-of-4 from beyond the 3-point line on Monday.

The 6-foot-4 junior also hit a 19-foot jumper and finished 12-of-15 from the field.

“I’ve been working on shooting,” Watkins said. “They were leaving me open and shot them and they went in. Everything was falling tonight.”

Watkins had 10 points in the fourth quarter including two 3-pointers, his final triple of the game put City High up 66-51 with 2:11 remaining.

City High made nine of its final 12 field goal attempts and shot 60 percent from the floor for the game including five of eight from 3-point range.

“It makes everything way easier when I can hit those shots,” Watkins said. “It makes it easier for me inside, easier for my teammates, it makes everything easier.”

Schroeder had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Parker Sutherland finished with nine points and five rebounds.

Kevion Estremera added nine points for City High.

“That’s kind of been our game plan all year long to get the ball inside,” Schroeder said. “We haven’t had the hottest streak with shooting so we want to use our height to our advantage and that worked for us tonight.”

Waterloo East         14   8   21  17  –  60

City High                   21  19  12  24  –  76

Waterloo East (60) – Quenden Hart 1-6 1-2 4, Jadyn Perkins 0-1 0-0 0, Da Sann Means 0-2 2-2 2, Isaiah Thomas 1-6 0-0 2, Jeremy Waters-Wright 5-13 4-4 17, Davieon VanArsdale 0-1 0-0 0, Gianni Gary 2-3 0-0 4, Jeremiah Clark 12-28 4-4 31, Dejon Bynum 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 21-62 11-12 60.

City High (76) – Jack Lampe 2-6 2-4 6, Iyon Harris 1-3 1-2 4, Ja’Vion Robinson 1-1 0-0 2, Kevion Esremera 4-4 1-1 9, Christopher Watkins 12-15 3-4 31, Davion Luckett 0-6 2-4 2, Jaxton Schroeder 6-9 1-3 13, Parker Sutherland 4-6 1-2 9, Totals 30-50 11-20 76.

3-point field goals – Waterloo East 7-25 (Hart 1-3, Means 0-2, Thomas 0-2, Waters-Wright 3-8, Clark 3-9, Bynum 0-1), City High 5-8 (Watkins 4-4, Lampe 0-1, Luckett 0-1, Harris 1-2). Rebounds – Waterloo East 26 (Clark 6), City High 40 (Schroeder 11). Total fouls – Waterloo East 20, City High 15. Turnovers – Waterloo East 10, City High 20. Fouled out – Waterloo East (Hart, Means). Technical fouls – None.

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