After a big rivalry win over Liberty, City High looks to take down West High led by four star Jack McCaffery who is 6 ‘7 and committed to Butler for basketball. If City can come out of West with a win it will be the first time beating both West and Liberty ever in the seven years Liberty has been around. City High is led by junior guard Davion Luckett ‘26 who is in his second year with the varsity basketball team. So far this season the team is 2-5 with wins over Liberty and Ottumwa and losses to Ames, Xavier, Muscatine, and Marion. Their loss to Marion came on a heartbreaking last second buzzer beater.
“I think we have put in the work this season to give us a good chance and I think we can come out with a win as long as we do our job and get it done. I’m confident in our ability to play as a team and I think we’ll make history on Friday,” Luckett said.
Luckett is second on the team in scoring with 38 total points while shooting 30 percent from long range. Luckett also leads the team in assists and steals with 21 assists on the season and 12 steals. A great addition to the varsity roster has also been Chris Watkins ‘26. Watkins is third in the state in points in all of 4A. He has scored 90 points so far this season through six games averaging 15 points per game.
“I’m just trying to play basketball, I’m not trying to do anything special. I’ve been playing basketball for years and this just what I do I go out there, try to play my best and get the win,” Watkins said.
This season the team has a completely new coaching staff. The head coach Bill McTaggart is very decorated in the coaching field with over 500 career wins. The assistant coaches are Nate Hutchison and Kurt Vitense. Coach Hutchison played college basketball at Western Michigan and averaged nine points per game over four years there. Coach Vitense is also the assistant varsity baseball coach and has been with that very successful program for many years. He also played college baseball at Iowa. The program also has Coach Giannotti who was an assistant coach at New Mexico State for women’s basketball and a scout at Saint Mary’s women’s basketball.
“I feel Good about this season, it’s been really fun. We’ve got a lot of pieces and are just trying to figure out how to put them together. I think we have a chance in the west game. We just have to compete and everybody has to play their part,” Iyon Harris ‘26 said.
