Boys’ basketball notebook: Cascade’s Jackson Lieurance, West Branch’s Holden Arnaman set school records

CEDAR RAPIDS — Jackson Lieurance’s very first shot attempt as a varsity boys’ basketball player at Cascade High School came two years ago when he was a freshman.

It was a memorable one, though not in a way you might think.

The junior guard hoisted a 3-point attempt from the right corner in a game against West Liberty.

“The nerves were kicking that game. It was my first varsity game,” Lieurance said. “We weren’t playing against a very good team, by any means. They put me in, first shot, hit the side of the backboard.”

“Didn’t even come close to hitting the rim,” said Cascade Coach Nate McMullen. “Now it’s kind of a funny joke between me and him.”

It’s a joke because of everything the 6-foot-2 junior has done since then. He ended up starting by the end of his freshman season, led Cascade in scoring last season and has increased his output this season to 22.3 points per game.

Then there was last Saturday. Lieurance absolutely went off, scoring 47 points in a 94-75 win over Wilton in the River Valley Conference Crossover event at Maquoketa.

That broke the school record for points in a game, surpassing the 46 scored in a game by a guy named Greg McDermott. The same Greg McDermott who is head coach at Creighton.

“That was pretty nuts,” Lieurance said. “Greg McDermott, he’s practically a celebrity around here. Later than night he reached out to me and said congratulations, so that was pretty special.”

Lieurance made 17 of 22 shots from the field against Wilton, including going 10-for-12 from 3-point land. The 10 treys also is a single-game school record.

Perhaps the best part of this story is that no one really knew exactly how much damage the kid had done.

“It started off with just a jump shot,” McMullen said. “Then next thing you know, third quarter rolls around, fourth quarter rolls around, Coach (Regan) Takes just kind of said ‘It seems like he’s got about 50 points.’ We had no idea because Maquoketa doesn’t have the scoreboard that shows you exact (individual) points. So we really had no idea. I think there was about three minutes left when we took him out, and that’s when stuff kind of started leaking to the bench.”

“It just felt like I knew it was going in every single time. I just kept getting the ball from my teammates. They kept finding me, they knew I was hot,” Lieurance said. “Pretty amazing, I’m not going to lie. The gym we were playing in doesn’t show how many points you have, so I had no clue I was even close to 47 points. It felt like about 30 points. That’s what I was thinking.”

McMullen lauds Lieurance’s work ethic, how much time he spends in the gym, how much film study he does, calling him a perfectionist. Cascade is 10-3 going into its big game Friday night against Class 2A seventh-ranked Monticello.

The Cougars survived a stretch of five games in six days, winning all five.

“For the most part, I really like where we are at right now,” McMullen said.

West Branch’s Holden Arnaman puts up 48

As if Lieurance’s record game wasn’t enough, another River Valley Conference guard provided one of his own Wednesday night. One-upping Lieurance, in fact.

West Branch senior guard Holden Arnaman popped for 48 points in his team’s 83-34 win over Durant. Yes, that’s a school record.

Arnaman made 19 of 27 shots from the field, going 8-for-11 from beyond the 3-point arc. For kicks, he added a team-high six rebounds, six assists and five steals.

A four-year starter and returning all-stater, Arnaman is averaging 24.1 points per game. West Branch is 11-5 going into its big game Friday night at Class 2A No. 10 Iowa City Regina.

By the way, the top scoring performance in the state this season is 50 points, accomplished by both Colton Rasmussen of Atlantic and Jack Cooley of Clarke. Arnaman and Jesup’s Jack Miller both have 48-point games.

MVC-CIML Showdown heads to Central Iowa

The second edition of the MVC-CIML Showdown is Saturday in Central Iowa. It’s only five games, as opposed to the seven-game event earlier this month at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.

The highlight game is without a doubt Cedar Rapids Kennedy versus West Des Moines Valley in a matchup of the top-ranked and fourth-ranked teams in Class 4A. It will be played at Waukee High School at 1:30 p.m.

Linn-Mar and Des Moines Roosevelt played the opener at Waukee at noon. The third-ranked host school takes on No. 10 Sioux City East at 3.

Waukee Northwest hosts Dallas Center-Grimes and Iowa City Liberty plays Johnston in the other two games, at Northwest.

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