Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – As soon as the ball left the hands of Bettendorf junior Carter Furness one thought ran through Byron Benton’s mind.

“I just knew right away I had to make up for that,” Benton said. “I had to make a play.”

The City High junior definitely did just that. 

Just moments after allowing Furness to get loose for a go-ahead 3-pointer with 25 seconds left Butler answered with the game-winning basket on a driving layup as City High edged Bettendorf 47-46 in a Class 4A, Substate 2 quarterfinal on Monday in Iowa City.

“I was just thinking that I had to score because I just gave up a bad defensive play and coach was going to get on me,” Benton said. “I had to get to the lane and finish.”

Furness gave Bettendorf (8-14) its first lead of the second half with his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 25 seconds left.

With City High leading 45-43 Benton committed a turnover that gave the Bulldogs the ball then got caught behind a screen on the go-ahead triple by Furness.

He needed less than 13 seconds to redeem himself, slipping into the lane and getting a layup to fall with 12 seconds left that gave City High the win.

“That was my assignment on defense, I got caught behind a flare and I knew I had to make up for it on offense and make a play,” Benton said. “If it was me scoring or me getting in the lane and creating for my teammates.”

Benton had nine of his 10 points in the second half as City High (9-12) advanced to take on seventh-ranked Dubuque Senior (18-3) in the Substate 2 semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m. in Dubuque.

“I was happy to see Byron bounce back,” City High coach Brennan Swayzer said. “He had a turnover when it was 45-43 but the young man is starting to be able to handle these moments and bounce back so that’s what I was most happy about was seeing him be able to bounce back and handle that situation.”

City High had to bounce back from an uninspired start.

Bettendorf built a 9-0 lead less than three minutes into the game scoring on four second-chance baskets following offensive rebounds.

Swayzer took a timeout after the Bulldogs scored seven straight points in the opening two minutes of the game.

“I told them if we don’t want to play we might as well go home now because that was embarrassing,” Swayzer said. “What did we put in all this work, all season for, improving along the way if we are going to get to this point and do the complete opposite. I told them if that’s the way they wanted to play we might as well call it now and go home.”

City High battled back behind the shooting of junior Andre Miller.

Miller hit a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers, including one to close the quarter that cut the Bulldog lead to 16-12.

City High used a 12-2 second quarter run to take a 27-22 lead and took a 30-25 lead into the locker room when Miller hit an NBA range 3-pointer that beat the first half buzzer.

“I got subbed in and coach said, ‘shot it if you’ve got it’,” Miller said. “I caught in the flow of the game and I was able to hit it.”

Miller had all of his team-high 12 points in the first half, matching his season high for points and 3-pointers.

“I think it clicked that this could be our last game,” Miller said. “We wanted to go out and get it.”

City High never let the Bulldogs go back in front until Furness hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second putting Bettendorf up in the final seconds.

Benton had the answer with his game-winning layup.

With the win City High gets a second shot at Dubuque Senior. The Rams defeated City High 91-68 back on January 28.

“We feel like we are a different team from the last time we played senior, we’ve improved a lot,” Benton said. “We are playing together and defensively we’ve improved a lot.”

City High       12  18   9  8  –  47

Bettendorf     16   9   13 8  –  46

City High (47) – Keyoun Agee 2-4 0-0 5, Kolby Kucera 1-3 0-0 2, Andre Miller 4-11 0-0 12, Byron Benton 4-8 1-2 10, Jamari Newson 3-4 0-0 6, Raph Hamilton 0-2 1-2 1, Keshawn Christian 2-8 4-4 8, Max Firmstone 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 17-41 6-8 47.

Bettendorf (46) – Harrison Bey-Buie 0-3 0-0 0, Ethan Horner 0-7 0-0 0, Carter Furness 8-20 0-0 21, Tynan Numkena 2-3 0-0 4, Oliver Bakeris 3-5 0-2 6, Joseph Byrne 0-2 0-0 0, Lucas Hayes 2-5 5-5 9, Matthrew Cavins 1-1 0-0 2, Jake Hornbuckle 2-2 0-0 4, Totals 18-48 5-7 46.

3-point field goals – ICH 7-22 (Agee 1-2, Kucera 1-3, Miller 4-10, Benton 1-3, Christian 0-4), BET 5-16 (Bey-Buie 0-2, Furness 5-13, Byrne 0-1). Rebounds – ICH 23 (Christian 12), BET 35 (Bakeris 8). Turnovers – ICH 12, BET 14. Total fouls – ICH 9, BET 11. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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