Back-to-back nights, back-to-back wins for West

IOWA CITY — You want to win it all in Class 4A, you've got to play Friday and Saturday nights. So label this a preparation thing for the Iowa City West Trojans.

'During AAU season, we're playing back-to-back-to-back-to-back games, so we're kind of used to this,' West's Connor McCaffery said, after his team brushed past Cedar Rapids Xavier, 72-55, Saturday night. 'Playing back-to-back days is kind of fun. You don't have to practice, you just play. Tomorrow we get an off day now, so I'm happy.'

This matchup of second-ranked teams (Xavier is in 3A) was a weather makeup from Tuesday night and lost some of its luster with the ankle injury last weekend of promising Xavier point guard Matt Mims. He missed the Saints' 97-86 loss Friday night to Waterloo West and this one as well.

Xavier Coach Ryan Luehrsmann said Mims is day to day, and the hope is he'll return Tuesday night against Linn-Mar.

'We definitely learned that Matt is a heck of a floor general and leader out there,' Luehrsmann said. 'Without him out there to kind of keep people calm and get us settled into our stuff, it just made things a lot more difficult.'

West (14-3) led from beginning to end, creating immediate separation again with a strong first quarter. The Trojans scored half the first-quarter points (17) they did Friday night in a 102-74 win at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, but this was still a plenty strong performance out of the gate.

It was 17-6 after the first eight minutes.

'Just like last night, we played real good defense in the first quarter,' said West's Wali Parks.

McCaffery had 19 points to lead West. Tanner Lohaus (in his second game returning from a severe foot injury) added 16 and Parks 14.

Mitch Burger's 19 points led Xavier (13-4).

'We're never satisfied with losing, but you've got to give credit where credit is due there,' Luehrsmann said. 'West is an elite program, not only in the state, but in the Midwest. I was pretty pleased overall with our effort.'

'It wasn't the best-played game, I didn't think. I imagine Ryan would say the same thing,' said West Coach Steve Bergman. 'There was a lot of effort, but some of the execution was lacking. The shooting wasn't great, the legs probably weren't there a little bit. Both of us played a game last night that was just up and down, so we're happy to get a win. I know they were a little undermanned, but it's hard for me to be sympathetic with what I've dealt with this season.'

Lohaus, a Northern Iowa signee, missed nine games with his injury. McCaffery also was out a week in January with a concussion.

AT IOWA CITY

C.R. XAVIER (55): Jackson Joens 5-8 0-0 11, Ryan Stulken 2-5 1-2 5, Max Techau 4-6 3-4 11, Nolan Butkowski 1-6 1-3 3, Mitch Burger 9-17 2-3 21, Bryce Schulte 1-2 0-0 2, Blake Whitten 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Dempewolf 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 22-44 9-14 55.

IOWA CITY WEST (72): Tanner Lohaus 7-8 0-0 16, Wali Parks 5-7 4-5 14, Connor McCaffery 7-14 2-2 19, Devontae Lane 5-12 0-0 10, Alex Henderson 1-7 0-0 2, Nate Barnes 0-3 1-2 1, Patrick McCaffery 4-6 1-2 10, Dallas Majors 0-0 0-0 0, David Pederson 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Disterhoft 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Van Roekel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 8-11 72.

Halftime — West 27, Xavier 19. 3-point goals — Xavier 2-14 (Joens 1-3, Stulken 0-1, Techau 0-1, Butkowski 0-3, Burger 1-6), West 6-15 (Lohaus 2-2, C. McCaffery 3-5, Lane 0-2, Henderson 0-4, Barnes 0-1, P. McCaffery 1-1). Rebounds — Xavier 22 (Stulken 12), West 33 (Parks 11). Total fouls — Xavier 10, West 15. Technical foul — Xavier bench, Techau, Parks. Fouled out — Techau. Turnovers — Xavier 10, West 3.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com