Second-half press lifts West

IOWA CITY - A thrilling four-overtime sophomore game coupled with a 14-day holiday layoff didn't help either Iowa City West or Cedar Rapids Prairie get into game rhythm right away. But the top-ranked Trojans came out with a devastating press to start the second half and ran away from the Hawks, 76-40, last night in the West gym.

West improved to 7-0 in the meeting of teams from different MVC divisions.

Prairie is 3-4.

West built a 10-point lead in the first quarter but seemed to stagnate in the second.

'The shots we were getting were OK, but we took too many on short passes instead of running our offense,” junior Tanner Lohaus said.

The Hawks were only down 10 at half.

Then West put on full-court pressure and forced turnovers in five of the first six Prairie possessions and turned the freebies into eight points.

'I thought we just picked up the intensity, especially on defense,” West sophomore Connor McCaffery said. 'We came out and got two or three steals and made layups. I thought our energy was a lot better.”

'The second half we came out and settled in and started doing what we were supposed to be doing,” Lohaus said.

The Trojans extended the lead to 49-29 at the end of the third period and swamped the Hawks in the fourth with 21 points in the first 4:37 of the quarter.

West made 31-of-51 shots, a measure of the kind of shots it got. Prairie had trouble with West's defense, whether full-court or half-court, making 16-of-48 shots and only one of 12 from 3-point range.

McCaffery led all scorers with 16 points. Lohaus had 12, Wali Parks and David DiLeo had 11.

Jalen Rima led Prairie with 12 and Maxwell Smith Drahos had 10.

'We kind of expected to get out a little slow with the layoff,” Lohaus said. 'The second half was really good. We were pumped up.”

'Our intensity got better as the game went on and our energy,” McCaffery said. 'We were just a little rusty to start off the game.”