By Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It wasn’t a symphony by any means. It was more early Rock ‘n’ Roll with a beat that accelerated and calmed with no particular rhyme or reason. But for the City High boys basketball team it was the song of success.

The Little Hawks won a scrappy, wild, entertaining game over Cedar Rapids Jefferson 68-57 Friday that included 41 fouls and 69 missed shots. It was the second MVC victory for the Little Hawks (3-10) and avenged a 20-point defeat to the J-Hawks (7-5) back in December.

 “City High, you’ve got to give them full credit,” Jefferson coach Brandon Horman said. “They played harder than what we did. They competed for every loose-ball opportunity. They were the aggressors tonight.”

It took an early timeout, however, for the Little Hawks to assume their role as aggressors. Jefferson led 6-0 when City coach Derek Roberts had seen enough.

“(The message) was get the ball in the paint and drive and kick,” sophomore Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand said. “It’s what we’ve been practicing.”

“It was wake up and be more aggressive on defense,” sophomore guard Antonio Turner said. “Get the ball inside out.”

City ran off 13 consecutive points to take a 15-8 lead. It was one of two critical runs the Little Hawks put together to get and keep the lead. In the first quarter, the Little Hawks got the ball inside to center Charles Johnson and both Turner and Threlkeld-Wiegand started hitting threes.

“Once (Johnson) gets the ball in the paint then everything is wide open,” Threlkeld-Wiegand said. “We were moving the ball well. I just happened to be open and was hitting my shots.”

Threlkeld-Wiegand hit 4-of-6 3-point shots and finished with 16 points.

The J-Hawks rallied in the second quarter and got within 28-25 at halftime.

But that’s when the Little Hawks put together their second offensive burst, an 11-2 run to give them a 39-27 lead. Again Turner and Threlkeld-Wiegand added threes during the run.

“We just kept being aggressive,” Turner said.

“We had to keep attacking,” Threlkeld-Wiegand said. “Everything opens up when you attack the lane.”

Turner and Keshawn Christian were aggressively attacking with dribble penetration, Johnson occupied at least two defenders inside most of the time, and Threlkeld-Wiegand took advantage outside.

City led by as many as 14 points, but Jefferson cut the lead to 58-54 with 2 minutes left in the game. Clutch free throws by Turner and Johnson helped hold off the J-Hawks.

“We have to learn how to handle like a 10-point lead,” Threlkeld-Wiegand said. “That was a good experience for us.”

The J-Hawks struggled shooting, making 19-of-62 shots (.306), including 5-of-21 threes. City wasn’t great (20-of-46) but was more efficient, made two more 3-pointers and had seven more made free throws.

Turner led all scorers with 20 points, and Johnson added 19. Christian had 10.

Neither Johnson nor Keshawn Christian played for City High in the first game, in which Jefferson won handily.

“We weren’t very experienced yet,” Turner said. “We didn’t have a lot of focus. We weren’t aggressive enough.”

“We weren’t ready for that 1-3-1 (zone defense) the first time,” Threlkeld-Wiegand said. “It’s a really aggressive zone. If you move the ball, you get wide-open looks. We were ready for that this time around.

“They are a much different team right now, but Coach Roberts has them playing really hard right now,” Horman said. “They’re buying into what he wants them to do, and they played a heck of a game tonight.”

C.R. Jefferson 10 15 13 19 – 57

City High        15 13 19 21 – 68

C.R. Jefferson (57) – Royshawn Webb 4-11 0-2 8, Kyler Bell 2-9 6-8 10, Kane Kramer 4-6 2-3 13, Willie Guy III 4-15 2-4 11, Trenton Kuennen 2-3 1-2 5, Dakota Hulsing 0-3 0-0 0, Dedrick Hawkins 0-2 0-0 0, Curtis Shaw 3-11 3-4 10, Isaiah Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Raejzuan Shockley 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Blum 0-0 0-0 0, Isiah Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Jetmir Zeneli 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-62 14-23.

City High (68) – Antonio Turner 5-14 8-8 20, Kolbie Barnes 1-3 1-2 3, Keshawn Christian 3-6 3-9 10, Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand 6-11 0-0 16, Charles Johnson 5-9 9-11 19, Will McIntire 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremie Kambomba0-0 0-0 0, Jaycorde Hickman 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Young 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Taylor0-0 0-0 0, J.P. Rethwisch 0-1 0-0 0, Gerald Seals 0-0 0-0 0, Jace Caven 0-0 0-0 0, David Robison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-46 21-30.

3-point goals – CR Jefferson 5-21 (Bell 0-1, Kramer 3-5, Guy 1-8, Hulsing 0-1, Hawkins 0-2, Shaw 1-4); City High 7-19 (Turner 2-6, Barnes 0-2, Christian 1-2, Threlkeld-Wiegand 4-6, McIntire 0-1, Hickman 0-1). Total fouls – Jefferson 24, City 17. Fouled out – None.