Iowa City West blasts C.R. Jefferson in between out-of-state trips

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Midwest Travelers had a short trip Tuesday night.

It's a mere 25 minutes or so from the westside of Cedar Rapids to the westside of Iowa City. That's nothing compared to what the Iowa City West boys' basketball team went through last weekend and will go through again this weekend.

The Class 4A top-ranked Trojans had their way with Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 85-61. Call it a tuneup for regular-season finales Thursday at home against Cedar Rapids Xavier and Saturday in the Twin Cities against Cretin-Derham Hall of St. Paul, Minn.

West (17-2) rebounded here from a loss in its previous game. That came this past Saturday in suburban Kansas City against Webster Groves (Mo.), a powerhouse from the St. Louis area that has a player who has committed to Louisville and another committed to St. Louis University that is considered one of the top 10 juniors in the country.

The Trojans began their season way back in very early December with a home game against Marian Catholic of suburban Chicago. Quite a schedule.

'Here's the truth. Nobody will play us,' said West Coach Steve Bergman. 'I'm not going to play 16 conference games and be done. Next year, right now, I've got zero in-state (non-conference) opponents. I don't want people to cry for me or anything. That's just the way it is. So what we're doing is out of necessity. Absolutely.'

It's understandable in a sense because every game counts toward a postseason seed now, and no school wants to have what would be a probable loss on its ledger. So you've got the Trojans playing their 16 Mississippi Valley Conference games and then scrambling to fill the rest of their 21-game allotment.

The players don't mind seeing out-of-state opponents, of course.

'It's a neat experience,' West's Connor McCaffery said. 'It really helps our young guys out. It's good competition. I think it's always good to see somebody new. It helps you see what you need to work on.'

What West doesn't have any problem with right now is offense. McCaffery had a game-high 18 points, with his younger brother, Patrick, chipping in 17 and Devontae Lane 12.

The Trojans put up 42 points in the first half and topped that in the second. This team passes the ball extremely well, and its fast break is absolutely lethal.

That's why Patrick McCaffery's eight field goals included five dunks.

'I definitely think we've got room for improvement, but I think we're in a pretty good spot,' Connor McCaffery said. 'Coming up on tournament time here, we want to be really good. We're getting there. We've got to bring some guys along. We still might not play (good enough) defense 100-percent of the the time. But in terms of our offense tonight, that was really good.'

'Offensively we're pretty good,' Bergman said. 'Defensively, we're still a little spotty, and, of course, that's all I worry about. We played pretty good defense in stretches tonight. Sometimes you just lose focus a little bit. The way they shoot the ball, I was a little uptight. With us coming off a loss and traveling and playing three games last week. Kind of a tough time for us, but it's a good mental test.'

Kane Kramer led Jefferson (10-10) with 13 points. Royshawn Webb added 12 and Kyler Bell 11 for the J-Hawks, who complete their regular season Thursday at Dubuque Hempstead and begin the postseason Monday at home against Western Dubuque.

Kramer, by the way, set the school record for 3-pointers in a season and career last week. He had a trio of treys in this one.

'Not what we were hoping,' Jefferson Coach Brandon Horman said. 'We'll see, we've got another game Thursday night against Hempstead. Then we'll see if we're ready to go next Monday. Like I told the boys, win or lose these games, we need to compete. We didn't compete to the level we're capable of for all 32 minutes. It's that time to go.'

AT C.R. JEFFERSON

IOWA CITY WEST (85): Nate Disterhoft 4-6 0-0 9, Izaya Ono-Fullard 4-5 0-0 9, Patrick McCaffery 8-10 0-0 17, Connor McCaffery 5-12 6-6 18, Devontae Lane 4-6 3-5 12, Evan Flitz 2-4 0-0 5, Hakeem Odunsi 1-5 0-0 2, Seybian Sims 2-3 3-4 7, Josh Van Roekel 1-4 2-2 4, Jacob Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Hirsche Henstrom 1-1 0-0 2, Mulhim Nasr 0-0 0-0 0, Jason Barnes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-57 14-17 85.

C.R. JEFFERSON (61): Raejzuan Shockley 3-4 0-0 6, Ryan Blum 3-7 3-3 9, Kane Kramer 4-7 2-2 14, Willie Guy 0-1 0-0 0, Royshawn Webb 5-14 1-1 12, Kyler Bell 4-10 3-4 11, T.J. Kuennen 2-2 0-0 4, Curtis Shaw 0-2 1-2 1, Dakota Hulsing 0-0 0-0 0, Isaiah Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Dedrick Hawkins 1-3 0-0 3, Isiah Williams 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-52 10-12 61.

Halftime — West 42, Jefferson 25. 3-point goals — West 7-18 (Disterhoft 1-2, Ono-Fullard 1-2, P. McCaffery 1-3, C. McCaffery 2-5, Lane 1-1, Flitz 1-2, Odunsi 0-2, Barnes 0-1), Jefferson 5-10 (Kramer 3-5, Webb 1-1, Bell 0-2, Hawkins 1-2). Rebounds — West 31 (Lane 8), Jefferson 25 (Kuennen 5). Total fouls — West 11, Jefferson 12. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — West 10, Jefferson 17.

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