Iowa City West’s Bergman gets his 500th, C.R. Xavier also wins

DES MOINES – Steve Bergman got his milestone, and it came in a rather meaningless game, of all things.

You'd say it wasn't the way the Iowa City West boys' basketball coach probably envisioned it, but if you know him, Bergman never envisioned 500 wins, period. He just doesn't care that much.

'It's going to be cliché,” he said, after West beat Des Moines Hoover, 56-49, in Saturday afternoon's Class 4A state tournament third-place game. 'I've coached a long time and had a lot of good players … I'm just glad it's done, so I don't have to listen to the questions anymore.

'Honestly, it wasn't even on my radar until people started talking about it. It's just not that big a deal to me. When I look back on it 10 years down the road, it'll be nice. I am sorry it happened in a consolation game, but games are games.”

Bergman, 56, is 500-176 in a quarter century at West, three at Monticello and one at West Liberty. He said he got a text from a former player recently telling him how vividly he remembered helping his coach get victory number 300, which moved West to the state tournament.

Bergy didn't remember it. When asked Saturday, he couldn't even recall who his Monticello team beat for his very first win.

'When I look at the names of guys who have done it, including my assistant coach and my uncle, I know they were really good,” he said. 'Maybe I didn't something right.”

West assistant coach Gordon Rundquist won 559 games, mostly at Maquoketa Valley, before retiring and joining the staff at West as a volunteer. Bergman's uncle, Bud Bergman, won 533 games, most of them at Waverly-Shell Rock.

Iowa High School Athletic Association Director of Officials Roger Barr presented Steve Bergman with the game ball in the West locker room postgame. That's how West's players were tipped off about the milestone.

Their coach never said a word to them about it.

'It's pretty special to be part of something like that,” said West's Tanner Lohaus. 'Obviously it's not the game we wanted to win for him. But it's nice. He's a very successful coach, and it's nice to be part of it.”

West (25-1) was upset in Friday afternoon's semifinals but overcame Hoover (22-3) to end the season on a positive. The Trojans have placed here the last five years, including the record three-consecutive 4A championships in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

They'll be a favorite again next season, considering the only senior on the roster is David DiLeo, who had a team-high 22 points.

'Me being the only senior, they're going to have a real talented group,” DiLeo said. 'I'll definitely be following them and expect them to go far next year.”

Consolation games are a tricky thing in that few people attend them, there is zero atmosphere and the players don't necessarily like them. So it took Cedar Rapids Xavier awhile to get going in their 3A consolation win over Williamsburg, 49-38.

The Raiders held a 26-17 lead at halftime, but Xavier (18-9) came out with much more energy in the second half, holding Williamsburg (24-3) to 12 points. Adam McDermott finished his fine three-year career with 16 points. Calvin Winker, another three-year starter, added 15.

'It's been really fun,” McDermott said. 'We're the best team to go through Xavier. The most wins, our first win at state. It's been a lot of fun … It was kind of difficult to play today, a difficult one to get pumped up for. But it's a game you've got to play. I'm glad we got third place. It was a great team effort in the second half.”

Coach Ryan Luehrsmann called an early timeout and got into its team for its lackluster demeanor.

'Coach just told us we had to focus and have energy,” Winker said. 'We didn't take it too seriously at first. It was hard to get pumped up for this game after losing Thursday. But we kind of came together as a team and said we needed to finish strong, play for each other and not ourselves. That's what we did.”

Junior Mitch Berger, whose emergence in the second half of this season was key to Xavier's run, also scored 15 points. Certainly, he'll be a building block for next season.

'A good note to end on,” Burger said. 'This will help us go into next season strong and with confidence.”

Josh Koeppel had 10 points to lead Williamsburg, which also had a season that could go down as the school's best. The Raiders came into this tournament as the top seed and won their quarterfinal over Glenwood to become the first Williamsburg team to win at state.

'Our kids wanted to be here today, no question,” Williamsburg Coach Dave Schlabaugh said. 'But when you walk off getting fourth or third, it doesn't matter. I couldn't be any less proud of my guys. One thing about them, if there is something they can compete in, they're going to go. It might be back in the hotel last night playing Xbox, it might be at the restaurant doing something. But if it's a chance to compete, the Raiders are at the front of the line, and that's why we had the year we had.”

'It would have been nice to play in the championship game, but this season has been incredible,” said Williamsburg's Adam Klein. 'Just being with this team, everyone gets along. All the guys love each other. So to be supported by a community like this and everything, there's no better feeling. I'm glad I made the switch.”

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