Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Bill McTaggart has been coaching long enough to know what it takes to win basketball games.

The long-time City High coach didn’t see many of those things in a 51-point season-opening loss to Ames on Tuesday.

City High didn’t get a win on Thursday, falling to Muscatine 66-57 in a non-conference contest in Iowa City but McTaggart saw plenty of signs that point to his team winning games in the future.

“Tuesday, was about as bad as it gets but tonight we made a lot of improvement,” McTaggart said. “(Our players) want to get 15 wins and I told them if we play like this we can get 15 wins.”

City High (0-2) shot 47 percent from the floor, had five players with at least seven points and had a two-point halftime lead.

It wasn’t quite enough to get a win as Muscatine (1-0) shot 55 percent in the second half and pulled away late.

There certainly was significant progress for City High on Thursday against a Muscatine team that won 18 games last season.

“Tonight we played with a lot more aggression and we were talking a lot more on defense,” McTaggart said. “The biggest difference was we played with a lot more defensive intensity.”

Muscatine senior Talan Becker scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including 11 in a 23-point Muskie third quarter.

Muscatine got 18 points from Spencer Biah and 10 points from Adrian Gonpue while winning its season opener.

Christopher Watkins had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds for City High while Jack Lampe had a team-high 15 points.

“We worked harder on defense and talked a lot better,” Watkins said. “We executed our offense well.”

City High trailed 23-16 early in the second quarter but closed the first half on a 13-4 run to take a 29-27 halftime lead.

Coden Kurtz gave City High its first lead of the game at 26-25 with a conventional 3-point play that spurred a 7-0 Little Hawk run.

“It’s like an offensive line in football the more you play together with those five the better they get,” McTaggart said. “From two days ago if we make strides like that we will be alright.”

Muscatine led 50-46 after three quarters and used a 6-0 fourth quarter run to take a 57-49 lead that was never seriously threatened.

The Muskies made 8-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“We have to get better at listening, communication,” McTaggart said. “We broke down in the huddle in the fourth quarter and we have to all be on the same page.”

After scoring 21 points on 17 percent shooting in the loss to Ames the Little Hawks shot 47 percent from the floor on Thursday.

Davion Hopkins had nine points, Kurtz had eight points and Ja’Vion Robinson added seven points.

“We can get better on offense and shooting but mostly on defense and just hustling,” Watkins said. “We can improve a lot.”

Muscatine                  17  10  23  16  –  66

City High                   14  15  17  11  –  57

Muscatine (66) – Talan Becker 5-10 7-10 20, Adrian Gonpue 4-7 2-2 10, Spencer Biah 5-6 8-10 18, Canton Welsch 2-4 0-0 5, Nate Lukkarinen 2-3 2-2 7, Sam Church 2-8 2-2 6, Totals 20-38 21-26 66.

City High (57) – Iyon Harris 1-1 1-1 3, Jack Lampe 6-12 1-3 15, Jack Rogers 0-1 0-0 0, Ja’Vion Robinson 2-5 2-4 7, Coden Kurtz 3-7 1-1 8, Christopher Watkins 6-9 2-2 14, Kevion Estremera 0-5 1-4 1, Davion Hopkins 3-5 2-2 9, Totals 21-45 10-17 57.

3-point field goal – ICH 5-15 (Lampe 2-3, Kurtz 1-4, Robinson 1-4, Rogers 0-1, Watkins 0-2, Hopkins 1-1), MUS 5-14 (Becker 3-7, Welsch 1-3, Lukkarinen 1-2, Church 0-2). Rebounds – ICH 22 (Watkins 10), MUS 24 (Biah 7). Turnovers – ICH 14, MUS 13. Total fouls – ICH 18, MUS 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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