Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – There were some tough losses for City High during a 3-13 start to the season.

Among the toughest setbacks to swallow for the Little Hawks during that stretch were a trio of losses to crosstown rivals West High and Liberty High.

The Little Hawks got their win to remember on Friday.

Seniors Christopher Watkins, Iyon Harris and Jack Lampe combined for 48 points as City High avenged a December loss to Liberty High with a 63-54 win over the Lightning in a cross-town matchup on Friday at City High.

“We’ve struggled in these rivalry games,” Lampe said. “We lost to West both times but hey, the last one is the best one.”

Watkins had 18 points and 11 rebounds while Harris had 16 points and Lampe added 14 as City High (4-13) won its second game in a row and first over a cross-town rival in four tries.

City High lost 61-56 at Liberty High on December 12 and lost both games to rival West High including a 54-43 loss in the most recent meeting last month.

“We knew we were going to play these guys again at home and we had to win this one,” Harris said. “Shoutout to them, they are well coached, they are a good team they are a good cross-town rival and they played hard but we really competed tonight.”

City High scored the first 11 points of the game and trailed only once, at 23-21 in the second quarter.

The Little Hawks closed the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 28-23 halftime lead and never trailed again.

“We had to come out and play hard and we needed at least one rivalry win,” Watkins said. “We came out with energy and played hard.”

Liberty High (5-12) cut the lead to 42-38 with 3:15 remaining int the third quarter but City High responded with a 9-0 run to close the third.

Harris started the run with his third 3-pointer of the game and four different Little Hawks scored during the 9-0 spurt that spanned the final 2:34.

“The first half of the season was definitely difficult and we try to get a few wins when we can but we definitely struggled,” Lampe said. “On the back half of the season we know we need to get some wins and it started with Hempstead and carried over tonight.”

Liberty High got as close as five in the fourth quarter but Harris and sophomore Davion Hopkins combined to make eight fourth-quarter free throws to secure the win.

City High shot 41 percent from the floor on Friday and was 13-of-13 from the free throw lines while holding a 36-23 rebounding edge and included 15 offensive rebounds.

Lampe had four offensive rebounds among his seven boards and Watkins had six offensive rebounds among his game-high 11 rebounds.

City High entered averaging nearly 12 turnovers a game but had just eight on Friday.

“Getting on the glass and getting some offensive boards was big,” Lampe said. “We really cut down on the turnovers tonight and that helped because those turnovers had hurt us.”

Liberty High junior Jerimiah Washpun did his best to keep Liberty High afloat.

Washpun had 18 of his game-high 30 points in the first half and sophomore Chase Goodheart added 17 points for Liberty High which dropped its fifth consecutive game.

City High closes out the season with games against Cedar Rapids Jefferson (1-16), Cedar Rapids Washington (6-10), Cedar Rapids Kennedy (10-6) and Western Dubuque (5-13) before beginning postseason play.

“We looked at our schedule and we saw that we have a good amount of games in these last seven that we can win,” Harris said. “We feel like we should have won a few more games but we are playing harder, we wanted it more, we all wanted to win.”

Liberty High             12  11  15  16  –  54

City High                   16  12  23  12  –  63

Liberty High (54) – Asher Kahn 0-2 0-0 0, Jerimiah Washpun 10-20 8-12 30, Brooks Andersen 0-0 1-2 1, Peyton Brooks 0-1 0-0 0, Cale Baldwin 0-1 2-4 2, Rylen Schweitzer 1-2 0-0 2, Chase Goodheart 6-11 2-3 17, Jacob Stapleton 1-5 0-0 2, Totals 18-42 13-21 54.

City High (63) – Jack Lampe 7-11 0-0 14, Jack Rogers 1-2 0-0 2, Coden Kurtz 1-10 2-2 5, Christopher Watkins 9-14 0-0 18, Iyon Harris 4-11 5-5 16, Davion Hopkins 1-7 6-6 8, Jude Foley 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 23-56 13-13 63,

3-point field goal – ICL 5-20 (Washpun 2-7, Kahn 0-2, Goodheart 3-8, Schweitzer 0-1, Stapleton 0-2), ICH 4-15 (Watkins 0-2, Kurtz 1-6, Rogers 0-1, Harris 3-4, Hopkins 0-1, Foley 0-0-1). Rebounds – ICL 23 (Brooks 6), ICH 36 (Watkins 11). Turnovers – ICL 10, ICH 8. Total fouls – ICL 9, ICH 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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