Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The first break of the season was expected.

The most recent break in the schedule for area boys basketball teams was more of a surprised.

Just after Your Prep Sports area teams had returned to action following the nearly two-week holiday break mother nature paused action again for a few days with a winter storm that dumped large amounts of snow across much of the state.

Area boys teams haven’t quite reached the halfway point of the regular season but the snow-caused break in the season offers an opportunity to look at what we’ve learned about all seven area teams thus far.

Here are early observations about all seven Your Prep Sports area teams.

West High Looks Like West High

Since making a 10^th consecutive state tournament appearance in 2020 West High has gone through a very un-West High like stretch.

The Trojans are 29-29 over the previous three seasons, a stretch in which West High has won just one postseason game.

West High has looked much more like vintage West High this season.

The Trojans are off to an 8-1, ranked eighth in Class 4A and have won four straight following a December 15 loss at No. 10 Linn-Mar.

West High has one of the best players in the state in 6-foot-8 junior Jack McCaffery who leads the Trojans in points (16.8), rebounds (7.7), assists (3.7) and blocks (2.4).

The Trojans are deeper this season with seniors Jacob Koch (15) and Kareem Earl (10.3) and sophomore Julian Manson (11.2) joining McCaffery as double-digit scorers.

Senior guards Canaan Barnes (2.1 ppg) and TaeVeon Stevens (7.3 ppg), junior Hayden Umoren (3.9 ppg) and sophomore Mason Goering (4.9 ppg) have all played valuable minutes.

Backcourt Standing Out For Liberty High

With a wealthy of experience and length returning up front the early question regarding Liberty High was the play of its young backcourt.

Eight games into the season Maddoc Coapstick and Jerimiah Washpun have answered those backcourt questions.

Coapstick and Washpun have popped off the page early this season during a 3-5 start for the Lightning that includes three losses to top-eight ranked teams.

Washpun is averaging 6.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while Coapstick is averaging 7.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and a team-high 2.5 assists per contest.

Coapstick is shooting 46 percent from 3-point range (6-of-13) and Washpun 45 percent (9-of-20) from beyond the arc.

The early flashes from the young back court players make combined with the experience in the front court make the Lightning an intriguing team going forward.

Liberty High is 3-5 but has played as tough as a schedule as any team to date with losses to top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy, sixth-ranked Ankeny Centennial, eighth-ranked West High, defending 4A runner-up Waukee Northwest and last year’s 3A runner-up Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Senior Trey Hughes has been solid as expected leading the Lightning with 9.4 points per game while seniors Cooper Webb (8.5 points), Gage Kampman (5.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.5 bpg) and Cael Schramm (3.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg) have all been solid.

City High Showing Potential

It has been a tale of two seasons for the City High which got off to its first 3-0 start since 2009 but has lost six in a row after a road loss at Waterloo West last week to open 2024.

Even with the current six-game losing streak it is evident this Little Hawk team has potential.

First, look a little deeper into the past six losses.

That stretch includes losses to ranked teams Dubuque Senior and West High that are a combined 16-1, four losses to teams currently over .500 and four losses be less than 11 points.

That is likely the most challenging six-game stretch on the City High schedule.

Look even deeper into the 3-6 start for City High and there is reason for optimism.

That starts with the play of junior point guard Trey Wright who is leading the Little Hawks in scoring (11.1) and assists (3.1) and has showed an ability to high difficult shots at a high level.

Senior guards Jameer James and AJ Wright have displayed improvement as has junior post Parker Sutherland who is averaging 4.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Senior Kristian Freeman is an elite energy guy that leads the Little Hawks in rebounding (7.1) at 6-feet.

The schedule lightens as much as it can in the rugged Mississippi Valley Conference going forward with only four of the final 12 games against currently ranked teams.

If City High can play with the same energy and passion it had in pushing West High to the brink in an 11-point loss in December the Little Hawks will get back in the win column quickly in 2024.

Solon Looks Like a State Tournament Team

After close calls in each of his first three seasons leading the Solon program Jared Galpin appears to have his best team yet.

In the first three seasons under Galpin the Spartans posted a 54-19 record and lost three consecutive substate finals by combined total of 30 points.

That stretch includes a 60-46 loss to Newton in last season’s substate finals.

This year the Spartans look like a team capable of snapping that three-game substate losing streak and giving Solon its first state tournament appearance since 2016.

3A fourth-ranked Solon is off to a 9-0 start and is winning games by an average of more than 17 points per contest.

At the core of the success for the Spartans is a veteran backcourt made up of seniors Jake Benzing, Vince Steinbrech, Rylen Stiegelmeyer and Gehrig Turner.

All multi-year starters each player in the foursome has distinct strengths and makes the Spartans a challenging team to defend.

The 6-foot-4 Benzing is the star, averaging a team-high 18.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

A slasher adapt at getting into the lane, Steinbrech is averaging 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists while Stiegelmeyer is shooting 41 percent from 3-point range while averaging 12.2 points and 3 assists per game.

Gehrig is a three-year starter who is having his best season averaging 11.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per contest.

Improvement Coming Quickly For Clear Creek Amana

All the signs pointed toward a season of improvement for Clear Creek Amana after the Clippers had its lowest win total since 2012-2013 a year ago winning five games.

The improvement has come quickly for a young Clipper squad that has won four of its last six games after back-to-back losses to 4A opponents to open the season.

Clear Creek Amana (4-4) opened 2024 with a 58-39 win at West Delaware and the next victory for the Clippers will match its season win total from a year ago.

On a team that has made major improvements few players have improved more than junior guard Andrew Rotzoll who leads the Clippers in scoring at 17 points per game.

One of a large group of players that gained experience as underclassmen last season, Rotzoll is shooting an impressive 51 percent from 3-point range (22-of-43) and averages 2.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2 assists per game.

Senior Haiden Hardy has upped his game as well, averaging 13.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

Junior Cale Berry fits the mold of Clippers take a step this season averaging 11.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while junior Robert Meade has been a pleasant surprise averaging 8.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

West Branch’s 1-2 Punch Among the Best in 2A

West Branch is off to a 7-4 start and coming off its best win of the season, a 63-58 victory over Cascade (5-3) last Thursday.

There have been a number of West Branch players that have played critical roles in the 7-4 start for the Bears but no two have had a larger impact than seniors Holden Arnaman and Reese Trepanier.

Trepanier and Arnaman are averaging a combined 40.4 points, 16 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game and combine to give the Bears one of the best tandems in all of Class 2A.

An all-state point guard, Arnaman leads the Bears in scoring (23) and assists (4.1) while Trepanier has become more than just a running mate while putting up his own all-state caliber numbers.

Trepanier is averaging 17.4 points and leads West Branch in rebounding (9.4) and steals (2) and ranks second to Arnaman with 3.2 assists per game.

Rundquist Has Regina Rolling

The overriding question at Regina entering the season was how long would it take the Regals to mesh under first-year head coach Paul Rundquist.

The answer was a little less than a week.

Following back-to-back losses to 3A opponents Maquoketa and Benton in the opening week of the season Regina has rattled off nine straight wins including consecutive victories over Burlington Notre Dame (8-4) and Lisbon (8-4) to open January.

With the 9-2 start to the season Regina has already matched its season win total from a year ago and is well on its way to securing its first winning season since going 15-7 in 2019-2020.

Regina has gotten big boosts from freshman Tate Wallace (11 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and Will Litton (9.1 ppg, 4.9 rgp) but it has been the emergence of senior guards Michael Martin and Eddie Petersen that has fueled the Regina resurgence.

Martin is playing at an all-state level, averaging 17.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game while shooting 42 percent (32-of-77) from 3-point range.

Petersen has been almost equally impressive averaging 9.3 points and 4.5 rebounds while leading Regina with 5 assists and 2.4 steals per game.

Senior Drew Streb is averaging 7.1 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds and shooting 54 percent from the floor.

Regina has a challenging stretch to close the season with two games remaining with RVC South foe Mid-Prairie (4-4) and one each with RVC South contenders Wilton (6-3) and West Branch (7-3) along with matchups against ranked unbeatens in 3A fourth-ranked Solon (9-0) and 2A third-ranked Monticello (10-0).

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