Lake’s big 4th quarter helps Western Dubuque past Davenport Assumption, 58-46

DES MOINES - Shooters keep shooting, so that's what T.J. Lake did. It'll be right into the state tournament semifinals, as it turns out.

The Western Dubuque mighty mite followed a first half to forget with a second half never to forget in his team's 58-46 win over Davenport Assumption in a Class 3A quarterfinal Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

The generously listed 5-foot-11 junior off guard's solo 12-0 run in the fourth quarter untied this game between the fourth and fifth seeds, extended Western Dubuque's win streak to 17 and ended Assumption's at the same number. The Knights swept through the otherwise-4A Mississippi Athletic Conference, but the Wamac Conference ruled here.

Next up for WD (23-2) is a date with three-time defending 3A champ Sioux City Heelan in Thursday night's 3A semifinals at 6:35. Heelan (18-6) stunned unbeaten, top-seeded MOC/Floyd Valley.

“Our kids just believe we can play with anyone,” Western Dubuque Coach Dennis Geraghty said. “You know, a lot of coaches called me when we found out we had to play Assumption and said ‘That's too bad.' But we didn't think of it that way. Everybody down here is good.”

That certainly includes Western Dubuque and its backcourt of Lake and point guard Logan Pitz. They seemed to will their team to victory in crunch time.

Pitz finished with 14 points and five assists. Lake had a whopping 26 points, of which 19 came in the second half.

He hit a corner trey to begin his fourth-quarter flurry, followed up with a lane drive for two, then nailed three free throws after getting fouled on a 3-point try. Another aggressive drive to the hoop for a bucket and two free throws put Western Dubuque ahead, 49-37.

Ballgame.

“It was just getting used to the environment,” said Lake, who was 2-for-9 from the field in the opening half and 5-for-7 in the second. “This is an open gym, an open background. It's just different than shooting in a high school gym. It took our team awhile to get used to it, but we did, and that's all that matters.”

Forward Cameron James added 13 points and seven rebounds to outshine Assumption's leading scorer Billy Daniel, a 6-foot-5 lefty that Geraghty was concerned about coming in. Daniel found no room on the interior in the second half, finishing with 10 points and five boards. Second-leading scorer Peter Finn suffered through a 1-for-14 shooting night and two points.

“Our defense and rebounding won the game in the fourth quarter for us,” said Pitz. “We limited them to one shot, and that was big for us because we knew our offense would come through in the end.”

Here is a copy of the game boxscore and play by play, as well as a short video interview with Lake:

Assumption, Davenport vs Epworth, Western Dubuque (03!06!12 at IA Boys State Tournament-Class3a Quarter)