Short-handed West finds enough firepower to beat Linn-Mar

IOWA CITY — It sounds ludicrous, but Iowa City West may have been an underdog Friday night. At least that's what some Trojans players felt others thought.

You're missing a pair of Division I college players, you're playing a really good team, you're not favored. You're going to lose.

But this is West, and West doesn't lose very often, even under pretty dire circumstances.

'We never came into the game with the mindset that Iowa City West High is the underdog,' guard Devontae Lane said after his Class 4A second-ranked team brushed past No. 7 Linn-Mar, 77-71.

West (8-3, 6-1 in the MVC's Valley Division) played again without starting forward Tanner Lohaus, a UNI signee whose timetable to return from a dislocated ankle and torn ligaments is still uncertain. It also went without leading scorer Connor McCaffery, who suffered a concussion in the closing seconds of Tuesday night's loss to Dubuque Wahlert in a collision with future Iowa Hawkeye teammate Cordell Pemsl.

His status is day to day.

'After where we were Tuesday night coming home, not even knowing what the deal was with Connor, I was pretty down in the dumps Wednesday,' said West Coach Steve Bergman. 'We just kept watching film, and I thought, well, if we've got to play a really good team, this is one we match up a little better with, with the guys we had.'

The guys they had were good enough. Wali Parks was unstoppable on the interior, finishing with 24 points as West took the lead in the third quarter and crept away from Linn-Mar (7-3, 6-1).

Lane was able to shake off first-half foul problems, finishing with 16 points. Freshman Patrick McCaffery, Connor's brother, came up huge with 14 points, as did Nate Barnes with 13.

A complete team victory, even though that team was short handed.

'We've got a great group of players. This was a big win for us,' Parks said. 'I mean, Linn-Mar doesn't really key in on defense, so I don't think they had any guys who could guard our guys. They score a lot of points, but they also give up a lot of points.'

'Our guys played hard,' said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. 'Them not having two players obviously hurt them, but they're so good. They (still) have guys that can play, and we knew that type of effort was coming from them. I thought our guys matched their effort. We gave up some untimely offensive rebounds, and that was the tough part for us. And apparently they did a better job of not fouling in the second half than they did in the first half. It's hard to get to the rim on them, and if the officials are not going to blow their whistles, you're not going to get to the rim.'

Both teams shot over 50 percent in an enjoyable game to watch. Unheralded guard Jordan Brandt had a huge 14-point first half that allowed Linn-Mar to lead throughout, including at the break, 38-37.

But Parks had a transition dunk and ensuing reverse layup late in the third quarter to put West ahead for good. The Trojans did a better job defensively on Linn-Mar's plethora of 3-point shooters, too, as the Lions went from 6-for-10 distance shooting in the first half to 5-of-17 in the second half.

Jordan Bohannon, another Iowa signee, had a team-best 22 points for Linn-Mar, matching his season average. Jared Printy had 13. Brandt didn't score in the second half.

'When Connor got hurt, we kind of went into practice with a different mindset,' Lane said. 'We knew big guys were going to have to step up in big moments. Bergman said 'You're a big player on this team, you're a big player on this team, you're a role player. Just do your jobs.' Those guys just stepped up in moments when we needed them tonight.'

'There's a lot of season left, five weeks left,' Robertson said. 'They're the (division) favorite, and even without those two guys, I'd put them as the favorite. They have all the pieces, a lot of guys who can chip in. They don't take bad shots, they share it, find a way to get it around the basket, exploit some matchups. They did that tonight. We'll just go back to work.'

AT IOWA CITY

LINN-MAR (71): Jordan Brandt 5-9 2-2 14, Jared Printy 4-9 1-2 13, Riley Murphy 3-6 4-4 11, Jordan Bohannon 9-17 0-0 22, Beau Klostermann 3-5 1-2 7, Reese Phillips 0-1 1-2 1, Tyler Voves 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 25-48 10-14 71.

IOWA CITY WEST (77): Patrick McCaffery 5-8 3-6 14, Wali Parks 10-16 3-4 24, Nate Barnes 4-6 4-5 13, Devontae Lane 5-8 5-12 16, Alex Henderson 1-5 3-4 5, Nate Disterhoft 2-5 0-0 5, Dallas Majors 0-0 0-0 0, Izaya Ono-Fulard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-48 1-31 77.

Halftime — Linn-Mar 38, West 37. 3-point goals — Linn-Mar 11-27 (Brandt 2-5, Printy 4-8, Murphy 1-2, Bohannon 4-11, Klostermann 0-1), West 5-11 (McCaffery 1-3, Parks 1-1, Barnes 1-2, Lane 1-2, Disterhoft 1-3). Rebounds — Linn-Mar 25 (Bohannon 6), West 26 (McCaffery, Parks 7). Total fouls — Linn-Mar 19, West 15. Fouled out — Brandt, Klostermann. Turnovers — Linn-Mar 11, West 6.

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