Iowa City West pulls away in second half to beat Linn-Mar, 62-43

IOWA CITY - He’s just a kid, but Iowa City West’s offensive stuff runs through him. Which shows you how highly Jack McCaffery is thought of, how good he is.

The 6-foot-8 sophomore scored 21 points, and the Trojans pulled away in the second half Friday night for a 62-43 home win over Linn-Mar at the West gym.

The youngest of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery’s children is a baller. He’s added about 10 pounds since last season, which allows him to do a whole bunch more things.

“I’m up to about 205, so that helps,” McCaffery said. “I’m moving better laterally, I’m jumping better. I worked on my post game a lot, so I feel like I’m more of a threat inside-out. Last year, I was more just a 3-pointer shooter. And then just confidence is really key. Coach has instilled a lot of confidence in me running our offense.”

“We run stuff through Jack, and I think Jack gets a little tired. He can be tired, but he’s got to keep moving his mouth and keep getting us into stuff,” said West Coach Steve Bergman. “He’s getting the rebounds this year he couldn’t get to before. He’s still just got to work on becoming a better defender, and I think that’s going to happen. He can do more things. Last year was just more shooting, knock down stuff. Now he’s got that, and he’s added a bit of a mid-range game, a bit of a post-up game.”

West (4-1) responded well to a loss Tuesday night at Dubuque Wahlert. It shot 55 percent from the field, also getting a huge game from junior forward Kareem Earl, son of former NBA player Acie Earl.

He had 16 points and 11 rebounds. West burst to an 18-11 lead after a quarter, saw Linn-Mar (2-3) respond to make it a 28-27 Trojans lead at halftime.

It was a 38-34 West lead after three quarters, but the fourth quarter completely belonged to the Trojans.

“The second half, the kids that struggled in the first half played better,” Bergman said. “Our defense was better in the second half. You know, it’s pretty easy with us. When we’re focused, the defense is good, and it carries over to the offense. We struggle, obviously, playing four quarters. We’ve done it all year. We’re still kind of young, our experience is better, but we’re starting a freshman, a sophomore and three juniors. Some guys, really, haven’t picked it all up, yet.”

Fellow outstanding 6-8 sophomore Davis Kern led Linn-Mar (2-3) with 19 points, but Lions Coach Chris Robertson was upset his team didn’t get him enough touches in the fourth quarter as West extended its lead.

Ian Mindrup added 10 points for Linn-Mar, which was coming off a Tuesday night win over Cedar Rapids Prairie that came on a last-second shot.

“We didn’t guard very well,” Robertson said. “We gave up a lot of layups just in the half court. We were still right there, but I think we went five possessions where Davis didn’t touch the ball once. I think we’ve got guys who are trying to learn their role a little bit. I don’t think anybody is trying to be selfish, but you can’t go five trips where your best player doesn’t even touch the ball.”

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AT IOWA CITY

LINN-MAR (43): Davis Kern 7-14 2-4 19, Payson Nietert 0-5 0-0 0, Ian Mindrup 5-10 0-0 10, Owen Olmstead 1-2 0-0 2, Tristan Jackson 0-2 0-0 0, Owen Havlik 1-4 0-0 2, Ian Bettis 1-3 0-0 2, Matthew Darbouze 4-7 0-0 8, Mason Matson 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Wallrichs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 2-4 43.

IOWA CITY WEST (62): Julian Manson 2-3 0-1 4, Jack McCaffery 8-15 2-2 21, Kareem Earl 7-11 2-3 16, Jacob Koch 4-8 0-0 9, Tae’Veon Stevens 3-7 0-0 8, Ben Hoefer 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Simcox 2-2 0-1 4, Soumaila Sanogo 0-0 0-0 0, Aidan Jacobsen 0-0 0-0 0, Canaan Barnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-47 4-7 62.

Halftime - Iowa City West 28, Linn-Mar 27. 3-point goals - Linn-Mar 3-17 (Kern 3-3, Nietert 0-4, Mindrup 0-3, Olmstead 0-1, Jackson 0-1, Havlik 0-2, Bettis 0-1, Darbouze 0-2), Iowa City West 6-16 (McCaffery 3-5, Early 0-1, Koch 1-4, Stevens 2-5, Hoefer 0-1). Rebounds - Linn-Mar 25 (Kern, Nietert, Mindrup 4), Iowa City West 29 (Earl 11). Total fouls - Linn-Mar 12, Iowa City West 7. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Linn-Mar 10, Iowa City West 7.

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