Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – After losing its top six scorers from last season to graduation the expectation this season was that Clear Creek Amana would improve the more it played.

Just 32 minutes into the season that has already proven to be the case for the new-look Clippers.

Clear Creek Amana erased a seven-point halftime deficit with a 36-point second half on its way to 58-53 win over West High in the season opener for both teams in Iowa City.

“We knew the adjustments we had to make and we went out and made them,” Clear Creek Amana junior Beckett Boeset said. “We knew that what we were doing the first half wasn’t working as well as we wanted to so we kind of had to figure it out and we came out and second half and executed.”

Boeset scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the first half to keep Clear Creek Amana (1-0) within striking distance.

Sophomore Carson Meskimen scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as the Clippers rallied from a 29-22 halftime deficit.

Meskimen had 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of key 3-pointers, as Clear Creek Amana outscored West High 20-9 over the final five minutes.

“It was just first-half nerves,” Meskimen said. “I just got a feel for it and then it was time to turn it on in a close game.”

Clear Creek Amana graduate nine seniors that accounted for 89 percent of the scoring from last year’s 19-win, WAMAC title winning team.

Boeset was the only Clipper returning with a career start after starting a single game last season.

It didn’t show on Tuesday.

“One of the things we talked to our kids about last night is we’ve got to figure some things out on our own as the game goes on,” Clear Creek Amana coach Brandon Clubb said. “I think we did that in second half after we challenged them a little. It came around and I knew we’d be a lot better in the second half.”

West High (0-1) took control of the game in the second quarter behind three 3-pointers from senior guard Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick.

Jensen-Fitzpatrick hit three triples in a spam of two minutes to give the Trojans a 27-16 lead in the second quarter.

Clear Creek Amana used a 6-0 run to close the lead to 29-22 at the half.

“I think after figuring out what they were running we guarded it a lot better,” Clubb said. “After the Fitzpatrick kid kind of went off there we kind of figured some things out and offensively we just got a lot more people involved and got into a better flow.”

West High kept Clear Creek Amana at bay for most of the third quarter but a Meskimen 3-pointer with six second remaining in the third quarter cut the lead to 37-36.

Henry Elser gave West High a 44-38 lead with a 3-pointer from the wing with 5:08 remaining.

Clear Creek Amana responded with a 11-0 run that featured a pair of Meskimen triples and a conventional 3-point play by Avery Sorensen to take a 49-44 lead it would never give up.

“We’ve had a lot of guys step up in a role which has been awesome for us,” Meskimen said. “We’ve had a lot of guys that have really matured and really gotten a feel for what varsity basketball is and it’s really helped our team for sure.”

Meskimen and Sorensen combined to make six free throws in the final 62 seconds to put the game away.

Boeset had his game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and grabbed three rebounds to go with four steals.

“We’ve had a lot of success and we have a lot of talent its just the experience where we maybe lack a little bit,” Boeset said. “We played up a lot higher than people thought. I think our talent took us higher than what our experience was.”

Jensen-Fitzpatrick led West High with 15 points, Ethan Headings had 12 points and Elser had nine for West High.

Clear Creek Amana              10  12  14  22  –  58

West High                              12  17   8   16  –  53

Clear Creek Amana (58) – Beckett Boeset 9-13 5-9 24, Kayden Howe 0-2 1-2 1, Silas Cobb 0-2 0-0 0, Carson Meskimen 6-13 4-4 19, Noah Evans 1-2 0-0 2, Myles Howell 2-4 0-3 5, Kyle Vogel 1-1 0-0 2, Avery Sorensen 1-2 3-3 5, Totals 20-39 13-21 58.

West High (53) – Ethan Headings 6-10 0-0 12, Henry Elser 4-8 0-1 9, Neil James 0-4 2-4 2, Ahmet Toz 3-6 0-0 6, Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick 5-9 0-0 15, Kyle Henkenius 0-0 0-2 0, Owen Harms 2-5 0-0 5, Lowden Van Daele 2-4 0-0 4, Totals 22-46 2-7 53.

3-point field goals – CCA 5-12 (Boeset 1-2, Meskimen 3-8, Howell 1-2), ICW 7-19 (Headings 0-3, Elser 1-3, Toz 0-2, Jensen-Fitzpatrick 5-9, Harms 1-2). Rebounds – CCA 23 (Cobb 4), ICW 29 (James 9). Turnovers – CCA 8, ICW 11. Total fouls – CCA 10, ICW 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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