West blows past Waukee behind big third quarter, 74-52

DES MOINES - Hey, Iowa City West students. You've got a really good basketball team. Why don't you support it a little better?

While student sections this week at the state basketball tournament have been loud and large, the contingent “backing” the Trojans Wednesday night for their Class 4A quarterfinal at Wells Fargo Arena was paltry.

“It's not disappointing,” said West's Jeremy Morgan after his team blasted Waukee, 74-52. “I know a lot of people were going on spring break early. We've got spring break next week. It was a night game, too, and people didn't want to get back late. We'll get some more down here Friday.”

That's when West (24-0) faces Linn-Mar in a semifinal that's a rematch from last year's tournament. It's a 3:15 p.m. tip, so there will be no it's-too-late excuses allowed, West kids.

Your Trojans are a fun group to watch.

“I'd say we played pretty good tonight,” said Morgan, who had a team-high 15 points. “We came out and handled the first game pretty good. Got the nerves out. So now we get to move on.”

West led by seven at halftime, 28-21, but put up a 26-point third quarter that made this game a laugher. The exclamation point was a baseline drive by point guard Dondre Alexander that he flushed, much to his surprise, as it appeared.

He made all six of his field-goal attempts in a 13-point night. Center Myzeah Batie-Gaddy made all five of his shots in scoring 12 points.

Austin Swank added 12 points off the bench. Wyatt Lohaus also hit double figures with 10. This was simply something from everyone.

“I thought once we got in our rhythm, we played well,” West Coach Steve Bergman said. “We got a big boost from Austin Swank. He's a great shooter, but he hasn't been shooting it that good. I just thought we had a great team effort. We had a lot of guys contribute.”

West out-rebounded Waukee (17-7) by a decisive 36-23 margin. The Trojans shot 51 percent from the field to Waukee's 38, which explains the board difference.

Here's a copy of the game boxscore and play by play:

Waukee vs Iowa City West (03!07!12 at IA Boys State Tournament-Class4A Quarter)