Not the biggest guy around, but Neil James huge on the interior in Iowa City West’s boys hoops win over Iowa City Liberty

IOWA CITY - They’ve got him listed height wise at 6-foot-1. You’re skeptical.

“With my hair up, yeah,” Iowa City West’s Neil James smiled after his boys basketball team dismantled Iowa City Liberty, 73-48, Friday night at West.

James has a corn-row look going up top right now, if you were wondering. Regardless, the junior isn’t a big kid.

That’s the point.

But he played a really big game here, scoring a team-high 18 points and adding eight rebounds as West improved to 9-6 and won the unofficial Iowa City public school championship. That would be two wins over Liberty, two over Iowa City High.

“The city championship is big,” said West’s Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick.

“It's a city game, and we're 4-0 in them now,” said first-year West Coach Jason Kern. “So that's big time. You know, it's one of our goals. Every year, you’ve got to win the city. That's big, just internally here in Iowa City. So I was proud of our guys.”

Especially James. The kid came in averaging 4.2 points per game for the Trojans but absolutely had his way down low.

Teammate Greg Ford, who played just his sixth game after missing the first half of the season, kept feeding him through Liberty’s 2-3 zone, and James kept converting.

He made 9 of 11 shots from the field, all from point blank.

“Yeah, definitely thought I could do that,” James said. “Because, you know, like, I'm strong, I'm strong. It’s not like I'm skinny, 6-foot, right? So I was able to just post my guys up, seal them. And, you know, like I said before, Greg Ford dropping dimes, yeah.”

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“I was proud of our guys. I don't think it got below 11 there, especially after halftime,” Kern said. “We like Neil, we all believe in him. But you’ve gotta believe in yourself. And you know, I think he finally just had the confidence, especially once the first couple go in. You know that rim opens up, like being thrown in an ocean. So it was just easy finishes, too. He was patient, played off two feet and took advantage of the opportunity.”

Ford was great, too, in a near triple-double performance. He scored 16 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and added eight assists.

West ran to a 9-2 early lead, was up 15-9 at halftime and 29-18 at halftime. The lead stayed their and increased in the second half.

Liberty (5-10) was missing its leading scorer junior guard Jerimiah Washpun for a third-straight game with an ankle injury. That’s taking 21-plus points out of the lineup.

Guard Chase Goodheart led the Lightning with 24 points. Brooks Andersen added 12 off the bench.

West outrebounded Liberty in the game by a whopping 39-12 margin.

In the preceding girls game, Natalie Ramsey hit a go-ahead jump shot with 20 seconds left, and Natalie Schechinger had a huge steal off an inbounds pass with under 10 seconds left as Liberty pulled off a 41-40 win.

West led most of the game, including by as many as seven in the fourth quarter. Grace Fincham led Class 5A eighth--ranked West (12-5) with 13 points.

Liberty is 12-5. The teams split their two games this season.

AT IOWA CITY WEST

IOWA CITY LIBERTY (48): Cale Baldwin 0-0 1-2 1, Jacob Stapleton 2-9 5-8 10, Chase Goodheart 8-17 6-6 24, Peyton Brooks 0-1 0-0 0, Asher Kahn 0-4 0-0 0, Rylen Schweitzer 0-2 0-0 0, Brooks Andersen 4-7 4-4 12, Braden Franklin 0-0 1-2 1, Victor Nakihinga 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 14-40 17-24 48.

IOWA CITY WEST (73): Henry Elser 3-5 0-0 8, Ethan Headings 4-9 3-3 11, Neil James 9-11 0-0 18, Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick 2-7 2-2 8, Greg Ford 6-10 2-2 16, KingSton Swayzer 0-3 0-0 0, Ahmet Toz 4-7 0-4 8, Lowden Van Daele 2-2 0-2 4, Corey Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Henkenius 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-55 7-13 73.

Halftime - West 29, Liberty 18. 3-point goals - Liberty 3-18 (Stapleton 1-5, Goodheart 2-8 Brooks 0-1, Kahn 0-2, Schweitzer 0-2), West 6-22 (Elser 2-3, Headings 0-3, Jensen-Fitzpatrick 2-7, Ford 2-3, Swayzer 0-3, Toz 0-2, Davis 0-1). Rebounds - Liberty 12 (Baldwin 4), West 39 (Ford 14). Total fouls - Liberty 11, West 17. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Liberty 10, West 17.

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