Iowa City West comes up short in Class 4A state championship basketball game

DES MOINES — You've got to play four quarters to win a state basketball championship. Iowa City West played only two.

Thus it was West Des Moines Valley which came away with a 46-39 victory and the Class 4A title Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

West made only four field goals and scored only 14 points in the first half of a game Valley led from the middle of the first quarter on. It came back from a nine-point halftime deficit to make things real interesting down the stretch, only not all the way back.

'We just didn't play a whole half of basketball,' said West Coach Steve Bergman. 'You can't waste a whole half of basketball, and that's what we did.'

Bergman said offensive tentativeness was something his club had issues with at times this season, and it definitely showed up here. Valley's 3-2 and 1-3-1 zone defenses bamboozled the Trojans, who weren't nearly aggressive enough in attacking.

When they did attack, they didn't make shots. A 28.6 shooting percentage from the field didn't lie.

'They were taking away passing lanes, so they were extended,' Bergman said. 'And when they're extended, we just need to be driving the gaps. We had a hard time getting that done. We talked about it at half, and they did a much better job in the second half. They were playing the passing lanes, so you can't swing the ball. You've got to drive and initiate action, and we just didn't get that done.'

An elongated halftime to honor the new hall of fame coaching and playing class, as well as other festivities, seemed to be a tonic for West.

The Trojans got a 3-pointer right out of the gate from Alex Henderson. After a Carlo Marble layup for Valley, West scored the next eight points to make it a one-point game of 25-24.

Lane hit a jumper, Wali Parks a layup and free throw, then another layup. But just as West seemed to be on the verge of overtaking it, Valley responded.

Quinton Curry had a rim-rattling dunk, then Marble hit another clutch jumper to make it a 29-24 game.

'We dug ourselves too (deep) of a hole. Nine points at the half, that was too much,' said Henderson. 'We tried making a run, but we used a lot of energy just to get to that point where we were just down one ... And because the game was so choppy, with the two-minute (television) timeouts, it was really hard to sustain a run that would kind of break up momentum.'

West gave it one final shot in the fourth quarter. Two Parks free throws brought it within a point again (34-33), and it was still just a three-point game under two minutes, but an arguable charging call on Lane on a two-on-one break after a turnover negated a Parks dunk.

West never got any closer.

'What can I say that's nice? That was big,' Bergman said of the call. 'It was a one-possession game, and we're going down to score. I guess he charged. I'm not going to watch the tape. He called the charge, so it's a charge.'

Lane was asked if he felt it was a charge.

'No,' he said simply.

'Don't ask him that,' Bergman said.

Lane had a team-high 14 points for West (21-5), though he made just 4 of 13 shots, emblematic of his team's offensive issues. Parks added 11.

Six-foot-six center Curry was the best man on the floor, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds for Valley (23-3), which won its first state hoops title since 1993. Fine point guard Turner Scott and forward Marble (son of the late Iowa Hawkeye star Roy Marble) added 10 each.

West was foiled in its attempt to win the 4A championship for the fourth time in five years. The Trojans still have an impressive string of six straight finishes of fourth place or better intact.

With Lane and leading scorer Connor McCaffery (the Iowa commit) returning, there likely won't be any dropoff next season. Not that it made this loss feel any better.

'I'll always remember my teammates,' Parks said. 'I've had a lot of fun playing with these guys. Most of these guys I've been playing with since I was really little. That's what I'm going to miss the most. It was great playing with them.'

'Really proud of the seniors,' Bergman said. 'There are 11 of them in there (in the locker room). We battled. I know they'll probably have a lot of regrets about the way we played, but I don't want them to have any regrets about their effort over the season they had.'

AT DES MOINES

IOWA CITY WEST (39): Wali Parks 3-3 5-5 11, Tanner Lohaus 0-3 2-2 2, Alex Henderson 2-8 2-2 8, Devontae Lane 4-13 5-8 14, Connor McCaffery 1-6 1-3 4, Patrick McCaffery 0-2 0-0 0, Dallas Majors 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Barnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-35 15-20 39.

WEST DES MOINES VALLEY (46): Carlo Marble 3-9 3-6 10, Peyton Long 2-3 0-0 4, Quinton Curry 6-7 4-4 16, Pete Economos 1-1 1-2 4, Turner Scott 2-9 4-4 10, Austin Hinkle 0-0 0-0 0, Reese Skinner 0-0 0-0 0, Charley Crowley 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 15-32 12-16 46.

Halftime — Valley 23, West 14. 3-point goals — West 4-18 (Hendersno 2-6, Lane 1-4, C. McCaffery 1-6, P. McCaffery 0-2), Valley 4-11 (Economos 1-1, Scott 2-5, Marble 1-5). Rebounds — West 19 (Parks 5), Valley 28 (Curry 9). Total fouls — West 18, Valley 16. Fouled out — Lohaus. Turnovers — West 12, Valley 17.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com