#1 Iowa City West stays undefeated in win over #3 Dubuque Wahlert

IOWA CITY – When you've won three straight state championships, you don't get a change to avenge many losses. Tuesday night provided one of those rare opportunities for Iowa City West.

Consider it revenge best served emphatically.

Class 4A's top-ranked team pulled away with a big second quarter and dumped 3A No. 3 Dubuque Wahlert, 80-66, in a matchup of 2014 state titlists. That's 16 wins in a row for West since it lost last February in the Key City.

Just ask some of these Trojans how much they recall about that 67-64 game. You have to figure it provided at least a bit of motivation here.

'I remember that game like it was yesterday,” West's Connor McCaffery. 'We went up there and just didn't play well as a team … I think we learned from that, and it's helped us this year.”

'That loss stuck out because we had a 10-point lead, I think, a double-digit lead in the third quarter, and they came back and upset us up there,” said West's David DiLeo. 'I definitely was thinking about that game during the day, but once this one started, it was 0-0. It was just a new game, new teams. Both of us have different people stepping up into different roles.”

For West, that means five guys in scoring roles. That's how many Trojans average double figures in points and how many scored double figures in points Tuesday.

This team is so balanced offensively, with guys who can penetrate the interior like the appropriately named Devontae Lane, guys who can shoot it like DiLeo and McCaffery, and inside threats like Wali Parks and Tanner Lohaus. DiLeo had 17 points against Wahlert, McCaffery and Lane 15 each, Parks 14 and Lohaus 12.

West averages 74 points this season.

'We have a little bit of everything, which is nice,” DiLeo said. 'We have drivers, we have shooters, we have passers. We just have balance. No one cares if they're scoring 20, as long as our team is scoring, we're happy.”

'We just run motion. And if there's a guy who feels like a guy can't guard him, he will get an opportunity,” said West Coach Steve Bergman. 'I've kind of felt that our strength all year is that we're going to have different guys lead us in scoring. I don't know who led us tonight, but we've been very balanced and had different guys lead us in scoring almost every night.”

DiLeo banked in a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to give West (10-0) a 18-17 lead, with a 26-point second quarter making it a 44-30 game at the half. The Trojans got out by as many as 19 points, with Wahlert getting no closer than 11.

Guard Josh Carter had a game-high 30 points for the Golden Eagles (5-5), who have lost to five good 4A teams, including four by four points or less. With Carter and University of Iowa commit Cordell Pemsl (16 points), Wahlert is still considered a strong favorite to repeat in 3A.

'I thought we played really good in spurts, and I thought we played really bad in spurts,” McCaffery said. 'Carter is a good player, but we shouldn't give up 30 points to a single guy. We shouldn't do that. That just should not happen.”

West plays Friday night at 4A seventh-ranked Linn-Mar.

'Every time you play someone good like this, that's going to challenge you, you find out some things you've got to work on,” Bergman said. 'As a coach, you kind of know what you need to work on. But now their minds are a little more open.”

--------------------

AT IOWA CITY

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (66): Nolan Timp 3-9 3-4 9, Riley Till 5-7 0-0 10, Cordell Pemsl 6-8 3-4 16, David Wedewer 0-6 0-0 0, Josh Carter 10-16 8-10 30, Cameron Adams 0-2 1-2 1, Austin Kluck 0-2 0-0 0, David Iwowari 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 15-20 66.

IOWA CITY WEST (80): Tanner Lohaus 5-8 2-2 12, Wali Parks 6-10 2-3 14, David DiLeo 6-9 3-3 17, Connor McCaffery 5-9 4-6 15, Devontae Lane 5-11 5-7 15, Alex Henderson 2-4 0-0 4, Nate Barnes 1-2 1-2 3, David Pederson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 17-23 80.

Halftime – West 44, Wahlert 30. 3-point goals – Wahlert 3-11 (Timp 0-1, Till 0-1, Pemsl 1-1, Wedewer 0-4, Carter 2-3, Kluck 0-1), West 3-9 (DiLeo 2-5, McCaffery 1-3, Henderson 0-1). Rebounds – Wahlert 24 (Pemsl 6), West 21 (Lohaus 6). Total fouls – Wahlert 16, West 17. Fouled out – None. Turnovers – Wahlert 13, West 17.

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