Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The biggest games bring out the best performances in some players.

That’s been the case for West High senior Ethan Headings who has always seemed to come up with his best performances in games like Friday’s cross-town rival City High.

Headings saved his best performance for his final game against the rival Little Hawks.

Headings had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds as West High completed the season sweep of City High with a 54-43 win over the Little Hawks at West High.

“These are always my favorite games and it’s crazy this is my last time playing them,” Headings said. “I’m happy I got to end it on a win, with a double-double, probably my best game against them. There is nobody I’d rather play than them.”

West High never trailed on Friday while improving to 7-5 on the season but saw a 12-point lead cut in half by a 6-0 City High run midway through the fourth quarter.

The Trojans responded led by Headings.

The senior forward scored seven of his game-high 17 points in the final 3:03 as West High pulled away.

“We just had to finish the game off,” Headings said. “We had to play smart, play disciplined and stay focused on finishing the game.”

Senior guard Greg Ford added 11 points, all in the second half, as West High won its second consecutive game.

The Trojans put the game away with a 7-1 fourth-quarter run and all 14 of its fourth-quarter points came from seniors.

“I think we are finally learning to play together as a team and being able to close,” West High coach Jason Kern said. “We had four seniors out there at the end and I think having that leadership out there helps.”

City High (2-11) trailed just 21-18 at the half and cut a 43-31 fourth-quarter deficit to six points on a Jack Lampe bucket with 4:13 remaining.

It was Headings that led the West High surge late.

After a Henry Elser basket stopped the City High run Headings scored the next seven West High points as the Trojans pushed the margin back to 50-38.

City High managed just six points over the final four minutes and shot 36 percent from the field for the game including 0-of-16 from 3-point range.

“We are really on the defensive end,” Headings said. “We are working on being lock down defenders and I think we did a pretty good job of that today.”

Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick had nine points on three 3-pointers as West High went 10-of-22 from beyond the arc.

The Trojans shot 47 percent from the field on Friday including 58 percent in the second half.

“These rivalry games it doesn’t matter who’s record is what it’s always going to be a dog fight and they’ve been playing their best ball lately against high-level teams,” Kern said. “I think if we can keep doing what we are doing we are going to play our best basketball down the stretch.”

City High                   10  8  10  15  –  43

West High                  14  7  19  14  –  54

City High (43) – Iyon Harris 4-8 3-3 11, Jack Lampe 4-8 1-2 9, Jack Rogers 1-1 1-3 3, Coden Kurtz 2-10 1-1 5, Chris Watkins 2-11 3-7 7, Davion Hopkins 3-7 2-3 8, Totals 16-45 11-19 43.

West High (54) – Ethan Headings 6-8 3-4 17, Corey Davis 2-3 0-0 6, Henry Elser 2-7 0-1 4, Neil James 1-2 0-0 2, Greg Ford 4-11 1-2 11, Ahmet Toz 1-3 0-0 2, Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick 3-7 0-0 9, KingSton Swayzer 0-1 0-0 0, Lowden Van Daele 1-1 0-0 3, Totals 20-43 4-7 54.

3-point field goal – ICH 0-16 (Harris 0-3, Lampe 0-2, Kurtz 0-7, Watkins 0-3, Hopkins 0-1), ICW 10-22 (Headings 2-2, Davis 2-3, Elser 0-4, Ford 2-5, Jensen-Fitzpatrick 3-6, Swayzer 0-1, Van Daele 1-1). Rebounds – ICH 29 (Watkins 7, Harris 7), ICW 30 (Headings 10). Turnovers – ICH 15, ICW 14. Total fouls – ICH 12, ICW 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – ICW (Ford).

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