No. 3 I.C. West ramps up pressure in comeback win

IOWA CITY - They practice it every day, Connor McCaffery said.

Class 4A No. 3 Iowa City West, led by head coach Steve Bergman, simulates long defensive possessions with a lead to test the Trojans' discipline and effectiveness in a high-pressure situation.

West cashed in on that preparation Friday night at home against Cedar Rapids Kennedy. After coming back from a 24-14 halftime deficit, the Trojans found themselves up, 40-39, with just less than a minute to play. Fifty seconds, a drawn charge, two free throws and a rimmed-out 40-foot heave later, West left with a 42-39 victory.

It wasn't a pretty performance, but in the end it counts the same.

'We talk about it every day. Do you want to be on defense with 30 seconds to go and up one, or on offense and down one? I always say I want to coach a team that would rather be on defense and get a stop. And we did,” Bergman said. 'We played really, really good defense. They got a decent look there at the end, even though we had a foul to give.

'We defended. I have no complaints about the defense second half.”

Defense has been a calling card for the Trojans (11-3, 8-1 Mississippi Valley Conference) most of the season. Bergman's assessment drew from his team forcing 20 total turnovers in the game, 12 in the second half and six in the Cougars first seven possessions of the third quarter.

That defense turned into offense, in the way of a pair of fast break dunks from Wali Parks - who led West with 17 points and seven rebounds - and a pair of steals and layups from Devontae Lane.

West held Kennedy (5-9, 3-6) to just six points in the final quarter, and a change in focus and energy - something both coach and players said wasn't there in the first half - on both ends were the spark. Getting to that final minute with the lead allowed the Trojans' preparation to take over.

'I think we came out in the first half and didn't play with enough energy, and offensively we were stagnant. But we came out in the start of the second half and put the pressure on, and that was the difference,” said McCaffery, who had 12 points and five assists. 'We practice it every day, those defensive possessions that just last forever. We do that, staying in a stance, staying disciplined and following our rules. That wasn't anything new for us.”

For the Cougars, Friday night was emblematic of a season in which near-misses keep piling up. They had a chance to win it with 0:16 left, and got a look in the post from Derrick Diggins, but he was called for the offensive foul.

Their unique brand of defense has caught many teams off guard - evidenced once again against the No. 3 team in Class 4A. For Coach Jon McKowen, though, there were no moral victories. He loved what he saw from his group in the first half, and wished his Cougars could've handled the Trojan pressure just a little better in the second half.

'We almost played 32 minutes - we had a little stretch there, in the first two minutes of the second half where we couldn't handle the pressure and turned it over; gave them some easy buckets,” McKowen said. 'But we limited it pretty quickly and got back going. Our kids battled all night. There were things that didn't go our way, but it didn't affect them.

'We got down six, went on a 4-0 run, then got the ball down one with a last-second shot and got a bit of a tough call. But I told Derrick (Diggins) after that I'll take that 100 percent of the time. He was making a play towards the hoop.”

Even in a win, Bergman was more than a little frustrated with his team's attention to detail on offense specifically, and wants to see a change in how they approach things as the season winds down.

With six games before postseason play begins, Bergman hopes the change happens quickly, or they might not be able to overcome adversity as they did Friday night.

'They've got to develop some self-discipline and motivation that there's a right way to do this - and we're better when we do it right. Their way wasn't very good (tonight),” Bergman said. 'You can't force people to do things, you can just take them out.

'I don't know (why). You spend a lot of time making sure they understand that team is actually, despite their record, much better. Sometimes I'm not sure they - I don't want to put words in their mouth, but they were not focused.”

AT IOWA CITY

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY (39): Drake Brewster 3-4 0-0 6, Derek Girling 1-2 1-2 3, Matthew Berst 1-2 0-0 2, Michael Bisenius 4-6 0-0 12, Adam Wall 1-1 0-1 2, Shaun Beyer 3-4 0-0 6, Matthew Gardner 2-3 0-0 5, Derrick Diggins 1-5 1-2 3, Nicholas Duehr 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-27 2-5 39

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IOWA CITY WEST (42):, Wali Parks 6-8 5-5 17, Alex Henderson 1-2 1-2 3, Devontae Lane 3-9 4-5 10, Connor McCaffery 3-11 3-4 12, Nate Barnes 0-3 0-0 0, Nate Disterhoft 0-0 0-0 0, Patrick McCaffery 0-1 0-0 0, Dallas Majors 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-34 13-16 42

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Halftime - Kennedy 24, West 14. 3-point goals - Kennedy 5-10 (Brewster 0-1, Bisenius 4-6, Gardner 1-1, Diggins 0-2). West 3-14 (Henderson 0-1, Lane 0-3, C. McCaffery 3-8, Barnes 0-1, P. McCaffery 0-1). Rebounds - Kennedy 17 (Brewster, Berst, Diggins 4), West 13 (Parks 7). Total fouls - Kennedy 12, West 9. Fouled out - Diggins (Kennedy). Turnovers

- Kennedy 20, West 9.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com