Pitz leads Western Dubuque past Vinton-Shellsburg, 55-41

CEDAR FALLS - This game was the Pitz. Rather all about Pitz.

It's a sign of the strength of these Western Dubuque Bobcats when a guy averaging six points goes off for 27 in a 55-41 win over Vinton-Shellsburg in a Class 3A substate final Monday night at the McLeod Center.

To be fair to point guard Logan Pitz, he prefers to distribute the basketball. And he's been dealing with an injured calf much of the season that obviously is healed.

“I'd say about our last seven games or so,” Western Dubuque Coach Dennis Geraghty said. “Now he goes to the hole aggressively. He has no fear, he's not hurting.”

Vinton-Shellsburg (19-5) decided to concentrate its efforts defensively on leading scorers T.J. Lake and Cameron James, and did a pretty nice job, really. Forward James had one point, while off guard Lake was “held” to 13, four under his average.

But Pitz made up for that, making 10 of 11 free throws to send Western Dubuque (22-2) to the state tournament for the second time in three years. The Bobcats have won 16 in a row, but have an extremely unfortunate quarterfinal draw in Davenport Assumption (21-3), Tuesday, March 6 in Des Moines.

Assumption has won 17 straight and swept through the otherwise-Class 4A Mississippi Valley Conference. Western Dubuque tied for the Wamac Conference East Division championship with 2A state qualifier Mount Vernon. 

“They're a really good team,” said Vinton-Shellsburg Coach Joe Johnson. “They defend you, they're good offensively. They have so many guys you have to try and stop. We did a pretty good job stopping their two main guys, but they're other guys kind of got us, especially Pitz.”

“We just got out on transition, and my teammates got me the ball when I was open,” Pitz said. “We were really pushing it well as a team. Push, push, that's when we're at our best. When we're out in transition and attacking at both ends of the floor.”

Western Dubuque was ahead from start to finish, with one of those leads that was both comfortable, yet uncomfortable. It was a nine-point game at halftime and 38-27 after three.

Grant Sagan led V-S with 13 points, though he went just 5 of 16 from the field, symptomatic of his team's troubles. The Vikings shot just 36 percent.

Vinton-Shellsburg won the Wamac's West Division despite an entirely new starting lineup and only nine guys on the roster. Everyone but starting forward Jake Milroy returns next season.

“We battled as much as we could,” Johnson said. “Just a tough one.”

Here's the game boxscore and link to the brackets in a loaded 3A field. How loaded? Defending champion Sioux City Heelan is the eighth seed with a 17-6 record.

http://www.iahsaa.org/basketball/2012%20Tournament/2012%20State%20Basketball%20Pairings-3A.pdf

AT CEDAR FALLS (McLeod Center)

WESTERN DUBUQUE (55): Cameron James 0-2 1-2 1, Hunter Westhoff 0-0 0-0 0, Brendan McCoy 2-7 2-2 8, T.J. Lake 6-12 0-2 13, Logan Pitz 8-12 10-11 27, Dylan James 1-2 2-2 4, Nick Webber 0-1 2-2 2, Tyler McGovern 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Hoeger 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Hermsen 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Kane 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Tuttle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-36 17-21 55.

VINTON-SHELLSBURG (41): Grant Sagan 5-16 1-2 13, Max Kearns 4-10 0-0 8, Jake Milroy 1-3 3-4 5, Kelyn Rickels 2-5 0-1 4, Max Griffith 20-4 2-2 7, Chris Merchant 1-3 1-2 4, Nolan Sagan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-42 7-11 41.

Halftime - Western Dubuque 26, Vinton-Shellsburg 17.

3-point goals - Western Dubuque 4-12 (Pitz 1-4, Lake 1-2, McCoy 2-5, D. James 0-1), Vinton-Shellsburg 4-19 (G. Sagan 2-7, Kearns 0-2, Milroy 0-1, Rickels 0-3, Griffith 1-3, Merchant 1-3).

Rebounds - Western Dubuque 23 (C. James, McCoy 4), Vinton-Shellsburg 26 (Kearns 6).

Total fouls - Western Dubuque 12, Vinton-Shellsburg 19.

Fouled out - Milroy.

Turnovers - Western Dubuque 11, Vinton-Shellsburg 15.