Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – West High was in need of a mid-season boost following back-to-back losses to fifth-ranked Dubuque Senior and Cedar Rapids Prairie last week.

The Trojan got what they needed on Tuesday against Waterloo West.

Senior Greg Ford scored seven of his game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter as West High fended off a late rally to down Waterloo West 66-59 in a Mississippi Valley Conference cross-divisional contest in Iowa City.

“We didn’t tell the guys that this was a must win but it was a must win,” West High coach Jason Kern said. “We’ve got City High coming in here Friday for a big rivalry and we go to Waverly on Saturday so we needed this as a little confidence booster.”

West High got a boost from Ford and junior KingSton Swayzer on Tuesday.

Ford and Swayzer each returned from injury to make their season debuts in a 77-48 loss at Cedar Rapids Prairie last Friday.

Both came up with big plays on Tuesday as West High improved to 6-5 on the season.

“It was really big to get this one tonight, that last loss hurt bad, losing by 20,” Ford said. “We wanted to get this one and get going again.”

Ford scored seven points in the final 1:34 as West High fought off a late burst from Waterloo West (5-6).

The WaHawks used an 8-0 run to close an 11-point deficit to three with under two minutes to play but Ford and the Trojans had an answer.

Ford converted a conventional 3-point play with 1:34 remaining, grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer by Swayzer and scoring while being fouled.

His free throw gave the Trojans a 60-54 lead.

“I saw him open and I knew he was shooting it and he’s a great shooter, he hits every shot in practice so I thought it was going in,” Ford said. “I saw it coming off the side and I was able to get the (rebound) and I went up strong off two feet.”

Ford made four consecutive free throws in the final 20.2 seconds to put the game away.

“Today was officially a week those guys have been back and they are still getting there game-shape wise but they were both good today,” Kern said. “Greg I thought looked really good. That was a senior stepping up big and wanting the ball in the moment. Having him back is going to add another element to our team.”

After being outscored by 50 in its two losses last week West High got going early behind senior guard Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick.

Jensen-Fitzpatrick three 3-pointers in the first quarter as West High jumped to a 20-15 lead.

“We had to come out and throw the first punch and really be aggressive right away,” Kern said. “We knew how they were going to guard us so we tried to get Jack a couple of shots right away and get him feeling some rhythm that he hasn’t had the past two games and get guys feeling good right away.”

The early flurry from Jensen-Fitzpatrick gave West High an early cushion it would never give up.

“Shooting is all in your head,” Jensen-Fitzpatrick said. “It’s a mental thing so getting that first one is absolutely crucial.”

West High led 35-26 at the half and by as many as 13 in the third quarter before Waterloo West rallied in the fourth.

Jensen-Fitzpatrick joined Ford in double figures with 12 points as 10 different Trojans scored on Tuesday.

“Senior and Prairie are two of the best teams in the league and Waterloo West is a good team, they’ve played a lot of teams close so this is a big win for us,” Jensen-Fitzpatrick said. “I’m just really proud of my guys.”

Ethan Headings had nine points and seven rebounds for West High and Owen Harms had six points off the bench.

Lowden Van Daele, Swayzer, Corey Davis and Henry Elser all had five points for West High as the Trojans shot 51 percent from the floor.

“That’s the beauty of our team, we don’t have one guy that can just go get 25 but we have a ton of scorers and it can be anyone’s night on any night,” Jensen-Fitzpatrick said. “Tonight, Greg helped and Owen helped and I think those guys were our MVPs tonight.”

Waterloo West         15  11  17  16  –  66

West High                  20  15  17  14  –  59

Waterloo West (59) – Zachary Dobbs 0-3 0-0 0, Pernell Grover 4-11 0-0 11, Derrick Akines Jr. 4-4 0-0 0, Oliver Beckman 7-9 2-4 18, Landon Cooper 1-4 0-0 2, Zion Cook-Berns 4-7 3-4 12, Thomas Gettman 2-3 0-0 5, Jay McCausland 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 23-42 5-8 59.

West High (66) – Ethan Headings 4-8 1-2 9, Corey Davis 2-4 0-0 5, Henry Elser 2-6 0-0 5, Neil James 1-5 2-2 4, Greg Ford 4-9 5-5 13, Ahmet Toz 1-1 0-0 2, Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick 4-6 0-0 12, Owen Harms 3-3 0-0 6, KingSton Swayzer 2-5 0-0 5, Lowden Van Daele 2-2 1-2 5, Totals 25-49 9-11 66.

3-point field goal – WW 8-19 (Dobbs 0-1, Grover 3-8, Akines Jr. 1-1, Beckman 2-2, Cooper 0-1, Cook-Berns 1-4, Gettman 1-2), ICW 7-15 (Davis 1-2, Elser 1-3, Ford 0-1, Jensen-Fitzpatrick 4-6, Swayzer 1-3). Rebounds – WW 16 (Beckman 4), ICW 31 (Headings 7). Turnovers – WW 12, ICW 9. Total fouls – WW 13, ICW 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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