Top-ranked Iowa City West continues to respond well to loss, blasts Linn-Mar, 80-59

MARION — The loss was good, even if the timeliness of it was crud.

Iowa City West's top-ranked boys' basketball team was stunned by Cedar Rapids Prairie a couple of days before Christmas. The Trojans then had to stew about that loss for the next week and a half before their next game.

'The thing is we had one short little practice, and then we went on Christmas break,' West Coach Steve Bergman said, after West's 80-59 win Tuesday night at Linn-Mar. 'But we spent the whole break working on the things we didn't do very well. We're only going to be as good as our half-court defense becomes, and we show glimpses of being really good. Then we show glimpses of being not so good.'

Which was kind of the way the notoriously hard-to-please Bergman saw this game. West (8-1) led the entire way, but didn't really pull away until the fourth quarter.

One thing the Trojans have had zero issues with is scoring. They shot 59 percent here, the product of great ball movement and a lethal fastbreak.

Devontae Lane came in shooting 3 of 16 from 3-point territory but went 6 for 7 in a 23-point night. Six-foot-seven sophomore Patrick McCaffery continued to impress as well, scoring 17 points, including three vicious dunks.

Connor McCaffery is West's leading scorer, but he was content to distribute and let others get the glory. He had 11 points, nine under his average.

'Offensively, for sure, we played well,' he said. 'We scored 80, and I think we missed some bunnies, so we could have had more. We missed some free throws and layups here and there. I was happy with our execution.'

'I don't know how many assists we had, but, this year, if we score 23 baskets, we've got 18 assists,' Bergman said. 'It looked tonight like we had a bunch of assists again. We're hard to beat if we do that.'

West has beaten its three post-holiday opponents by an average of 29 points.

'That loss was motivating. We were motivated,' Connor McCaffery said. 'I think that's helped us. It kind of showed our young guys that we're not invincible. It gave us all motivation to really improve.'

Impressive sophomore Trey Hutcheson led Linn-Mar (4-4) with 11 points, though he found the interior sledding especially difficult. That's another of the long-armed Patrick McCaffery's considerable attributes.

West doesn't play again until Saturday, when it gets Blue Valley Northwest, the top-ranked Class 6A (biggest class) team in Kansas. The game is in Overland Park, Kan.

AT LINN-MAR

IOWA CITY WEST (80): Seybian Sims 5-5 3-3 13, Patrick McCaffery 8-13 1-1 17, Connor McCaffery 4-11 2-3 11, Izaya Ono-Fullard 1-2 0-0 2, Devontae Lane 8-10 1-2 23, Evan Flitz 1-5 0-0 3, Nate Disterhoft 1-2 0-0 2, Josh Van Roekel 1-2 2-2 4, Jacob Anderson 2-2 0-0 5, Paul McGee 0-0 0-0 0, Hirsche Henstrom 0-1 0-0 0, Hakeem Odunsi 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-53 9-13 80.

LINN-MAR (59): Trey Hutcheson 4-9 2-2 11, Nate Annis 3-6 2-2 8, Nolan Ruff 2-3 3-3 8, Tyler Voves 3-8 0-0 6, Reese Phillips 2-4 0-0 5, Jack Gertsen 4-6 0-0 8, Jacob Robertson 1-4 0-0 3, Brennan McGaffe 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Martin 2-3 0-0 5, Dylan Hand 2-4 0-0 5, Kirby Kerr 0-1 0-0 0, Aaron Pistulka 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 7-8 59.

Halftime — West 40, Linn-Mar 32. 3-point goals — West 9-16 (C. McCaffery 1-5, Ono-Fullard 0-1, Lane 6-7, Flitz 1-2, Anderson 1-1), Linn-Mar 6-17 (Hutcheson 1-2, Ruff 1-1, Voves 0-2, Phillips 1-2, Robertson 1-4, Martin 1-2, Hand 1-3, Kerr 0-1). Rebounds — West 20 (P. McCaffery 7), Linn-Mar 30 (Hutcheson 9). Total fouls — West 10, Linn-Mar 16. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — West 9, Linn-Mar 17.

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