Iowa City West impressive in 90-50 boys’ basketball substate semifinal win over Davenport North

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City West boys’ basketball team that ended the regular season exactly a week ago with a pretty horrid double-digit loss at Dubuque Senior wasn’t the Iowa City West boys’ basketball team that played Friday night.

The Trojans were relatively healthy, locked in and ended up blowing away Davenport North, 90-50, in a Class 4A substate semifinal at West.

“I thought we came out, it’s the best basketball we’ve played in a few weeks,” West’s Jack McCaffery said. “We’ve really worked hard in practices the last few days. Came out with the ‘W.’”

McCaffery said his club has been motivated by that 59-41 defeat to Senior. The 6-foot-8 junior had been sick all week leading up to the game and ended up with an ankle injury that further limited him.

Teammate Kareem Earl, another important West starter, also was sick all last week and was not nearly himself as a player.

“That’s no excuse,” McCaffery said. “We didn’t play well offensively. You only score 41 points in a basketball game ... But I think that built us to this game and really motivated us in practice these last couple of days.”

This one was pretty much all West (19-3). It scored 25 points in the first quarter, ran to a 41-22 halftime lead, then pulled a cool 30 points in the third quarter.

The Trojans played defense, which led to offense, a plethora of fast-break points.

“The thing with them (North) is they are really good some nights and really struggle some nights,” said West Coach Steve Bergman. “So we felt like we really needed to get them frustrated with our pressure defense, just in the half court. I thought we did a good job with that.

“A week ago, they beat North Scott by 10 and looked great doing it. Then you look back at another film, and they’re playing Davenport Central and losing by 30. They’re pretty good when they get it going, so we just didn’t want to give them any oxygen there at the beginning of the game.”

Which the Trojans didn’t.

“I liked how we locked into the defensive game plan,” McCaffery said. “We knew that if we were solid, they would kind of rush shots and turn it over. So if we did that, we didn’t have to gamble, we didn’t have to get out there and do too much, they would give it to us, and we would take advantage of that.”

McCaffery had a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Jacob Koch had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-for-3 from distance.

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Photos: Davenport North at Iowa City West in boys’ basketball substate semifinals

“It started out really good at the start of the year, and then teams started to scout (me) a little more, so I had to hunt some more shots,” Koch said about his 3-point shooting this season. “A little harder shots. But, yeah, I’ve liked how I’ve been shooting the 3 ball. I like how I’ve been getting shots. A lot of my teammates are making great passes.”

Julian Manson (12 points) and Kareem Earl (11) also had double-digit points for seventh-ranked West, which plays Bettendorf (16-6) in a Tuesday night substate final at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in downtown Cedar Rapids at 6:30.

The game had a pall cast upon it early in the third quarter when Davenport North reserve Amare Haynes appeared to break his ankle or lower leg when he landed on the court after making an inside shot. Haynes immediately was tended to by West athletics trainer Sheila Stiles and an orthopedic doctor for University of Iowa athletics that was in the stands.

Chris Moss led North (12-11) with 15 points, with Justin Collins adding 13 and Tenerick Brady 10.

Iowa City West 90, Davenport North 50

AT IOWA CITY WEST

DAVENPORT NORTH (50): DeAndre Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Chris Moss 5-11 4-4 15, Tsuirad Moore 2-2 0-0 4, Justin Collins 5-8 1-2 13, Tenerick Brady 4-9 2-2 10, Darrien Manning 0-2 0-0 0, Will Knight 0-1 0-0 0, Gavin McClellan 1-1 0-0 2, Jazire McDuffy 0-1 2-2 2, Johnale Johnson Jr. 0-2 2-2 2, Amare Haynes 1-1 0-0 2, Drew Franklin 0-0 0-0 0, Jimmy Carter 0-0 1-4 1. Totals 18-42 12-16 50.

IOWA CITY WEST (90): Jack McCaffery 8-11 3-4 22, Kareem Earl 4-6 3-6 11, Julian Manson 4-7 3-4 12, Jacob Koch 8-11 0-0 19, Canaan Barnes 0-3 0-0 0, TaeVeon Stevens 4-6 0-0 9, Jack Wallace 1-1 0-0 2, Adrien Westergaard 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Headings 3-3 0-0 6, Colin Whitters 3-4 1-1 7, Ibrahim Musa 1-1 0-0 2, Henry Elser 0-1 0-0 0, Robi Havens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-58 10-15 90.

Halftime - West 41, North 22. 3-point goals - North 3-14 (Moss 1-5, Smith 0-2, Collins 2-4, Brady 0-1, Knight 0-1, Johnson Jr. 0-1), West 6-8 (McCaffery 1-1, Manson 1-1, Koch 3-3, Stevens 1-2, Westergaard 0-1). Rebounds - North 14 (Smith, Collins 4), West 30 (McCaffery 10). Total fouls - North 13, West 13. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - North 18, West 10.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com