Mount Vernon hangs tough, but Iowa City West pulls away for 63-42 win

IOWA CITY — A funny thing happened on the way to what virtually everyone figured would be a blowout. It didn't really materialize.

Iowa City West won its boys' basketball season opener over Mount Vernon, 63-42, Thursday night. You never had the feeling this was going to be a monumental upset.

But, to tell the truth, West didn't exactly bowl over its smaller and football-legged opponent, either.

'Not surprised,' West Coach Steve Bergman said. 'We haven't really been practicing that well. And their guys see our guys during the summer and everything, so they aren't intimidated. That's going to be a good team. You'll see them ranked in Class 3A by the time it's all said and done.'

West, of course, is a clear, early favorite to win the Class 4A state championship. Four starters are back from a team that lost just once last season, that in the 4A semifinals.

The starting lineup is loaded, with Northern Iowa signee Tanner Lohaus, Iowa commit Connor McCaffery and Indian Hills Community College signee Wali Parks. Junior guard Devontae Lane had an offer from Iowa State when Fred Hoiberg was the head coach.

Talent is not an issue for the Trojans. But, as Bergman noted, possible pitfalls include complacency and not continuing to be receptive to coaching, hard work and improvement.

'I think we'll do a good job with that,' said McCaffery, whose freshman brother, Patrick, is part of the playing rotation this season. 'I think Bergman does a good job of handling how we deal with that. He keeps us focused, doesn't let us slack. We haven't had great practices, but I think they'll pick up now. That game, we did not play our best. We just didn't. That needs to change.'

West led by 14 points at halftime, but Mount Vernon (1-1) cut it to seven at the end of three quarters, 42-35. Sharp-shooting guard Austin Ash had an open look at a 3-pointer to begin the fourth, too, but it dipped out.

McCaffery then took over offensively for West, scoring seven straight points that widened the spread. He finished with 12 in the quarter and 21 overall.

'We kind of went away from our movement (offensively) a little bit,' Bergman said. 'He'll probably tell you he got a little frustrated with that and took over a little bit. He's capable of doing it. He's more capable now than he was a year ago. That's what you hope for every kid, each year to add something to their game. Jeremy Morgan did that, Wyatt Lohaus did that, now Connor's doing that.'

'I just want to be more aggressive this year,' McCaffery said. 'Last year, I started out pretty aggressive. Then toward the end of the year, I thought that, with my position on our team, I thought I would be better distributing to everybody else ... But this year, I do think I need to shoot a little bit more. We're not as good a 3-point shooting team without David (DiLeo), so I need to be able to put the ball in the hoop. I started out slow with that tonight, but picked it up in the second half.'

As Bergman noted, this Mount Vernon team will be a load for opponents, most likely after the Christmas break. Leading scorers Connor Herrmann and Tommy Hook are part of a group that helped take the Mustangs to the Class 2A state championship football last week.

They just began practicing Sunday and didn't play in MV's season-opening win Tuesday night over Williamsburg. Hook finished with a team-high 17 points.

'We've had our whole team for one and a half practices, so I was pretty pleased with some of the things we did, as far as hanging in there and competing and getting better,' said Coach Ed Timm, back at the helm after a three-year layoff. 'It looked pretty disjointed at the beginning, but we got a little bit better and figured some things out. The kids tried to play hard and execute the things we do. It's good to play these guys, too, because when you make a mistake, they punish you.'

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AT IOWA CITY

MOUNT VERNON (42): Marquis Dew 1-1 0-2 2, Connor Herrmann 3-7 0-0 6, Adam Ketelsen 2-6 0-0 4, Tommy Hook 6-10 4-6 17, Austin Ash 4-7 1-1 10, Jeremy Krogmann 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Bevans 1-1 0-0 2, Travis Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Joe Corcoran 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Bootsmiller 0-0 0-0 0, Zachary Krogmann 0-0 0-0 0, Gabe Golberg 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Axtell 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Randall 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-35 5-7 42.

IOWA CITY WEST (63): Wali Parks 5-8 1-3 11, Tanner Lohaus 4-5 2-2 10, Connor McCaffery 8-16 3-3 21, Devontae Lane 2-8 0-0 4, Alex Henderson 2-5 0-0 6, David Pederson 0-0 0-2 0, Patrick McCaffery 1-3 0-0 2, Dallas Majors 2-2 0-0 4, Nate Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Disterhoft 0-0 1-2 1, Izaya Ono-Fullard 2-2 0-0 4, Bo Nock 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Carter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 7-12 63.

Halftime — West 33, Mount Vernon 19. 3-point goals — Mount Vernon 3-7 (Herrmann 0-1, Hook 1-1, Ash 1-3), West 4-15 (C. McCaffery 2-6, Lane 0-2, Henderson 2-4, P. McCaffery 0-2). Rebounds — Mount Vernon 20 (Herrmann 6), West 23 (Parks 6). Total fouls — Mount Vernon 15, West 11. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — Mount Vernon 17, West 7.

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