West rolls over Twin Cities opponent

IOWA CITY - You can get wrapped up in the hyperbole that sometimes is associated with the Iowa City West boys' basketball program.

There's the hall of fame head coach, all that individual talent present and past, including the Mr. Basketballs and the guys at Division I college programs. There's the fact that the Trojans have won a record three consecutive Class 4A state championships.

But when you hear the heaping praise from the coach of an out-of-state program in a major Midwestern city that also has won three straight state titles, you understand it's not hyperbole. This coach runs a national program that has traveled to places like Chicago, Milwaukee and Las Vegas for games.

He knows.

'As good a team as we've played in four years,” Minneapolis De La Salle Coach Dave Thorson said Saturday, after his Islanders were handed a 57-42 whipping. 'And we've played a lot of people.”

Few have dished out such a licking to the Islanders. They've won the past three Class 3A titles in their state, have three high-major D-I college players in their starting lineup and another who has signed with D-I North Dakota.

Yet West (21-0) never trailed, rolling to a 16-6 advantage after a quarter and leading by as many as 18 points. Saying this was impressive only scratches the surface.

'To be honest, we were looking right past our game against Dubuque Hempstead (Thursday night) and right at this game,” said West's Wali Parks. 'They are a really good team, and Coach (Steve) Bergman told us he's never beaten them. We just tried to do our best, and get the job done.”

West lost last season to De La Salle (20-4) at a tournament in Wisconsin. The Islanders traveled to Iowa City for a game 15 years ago with a lineup that included NBA player Allan Anderson and beat West.

Not this time, though. Not this time.

'Bergy does a great job,” said Thorson, 'They've got such a great program, and they have an identity to their program that we have a lot of respect for. I'd like to think we have an identity with our program as well. That's why you play games like this. It puts us both into a situation going into the playoffs where we get a high-intensity game. It's worth us driving, whatever, six hours, and doing something like this.”

De La Salle gets in your grill defensively, overplays the passing lanes and looks to create turnovers and fast-break points. But West handled that pressure, turning the ball over only eight times, and getting a plethora of buckets on back-door layups.

'They're really athletic,” said West's David DiLeo. 'We knew we had to have a good game plan and execute the game plan, which I thought we did.”

'They defended us like no other,” Bergman said. 'It's the aggressiveness ... They hope you panic. Other than one stretch in the first half, I thought we kept our compsure.”

Parks was tremendous in a 17-point performance. DiLeo added 16, and Tanner Lohaus 11.

This had to be one of the better games the Trojans played defensively as well, as they limited De La Salle to 38-percent shooting.

'We worked all week in practice on defense,” DiLeo said. 'Just when we get tired, we know we have to still stay solid and push through the fatigue. Not let that fatigue affect our defense. We knew we had to defend well because they were going to get a lot of transition points. They couldn't also get points in the half court, too. I thought we did a really good job defending them in the half court.”

'We did a lot of good stuff offensively,” Bergman said. 'You're going to have times like that. But your defense is going to get you through the other stuff. That's what we've been trying to sell these guys. We don't always do it. But we were good tonight.”

West, which has won 26 straight games, begins its 2015 tournament trail Friday night at home in a substate semifinal against an undetermined opponent. You watched the Trojans Saturday and came away with the impression there is only one team that can beat them.

That would be themselves. No hyperbole there, either.

'If you follow the basketball world on social media, there is a hashtag called #PTRW,” Thorson said. 'That means ‘Play The Right Way.' There's no question that West plays the right way. They share the ball, it's not just about one guy. Obviously they have a couple guys who are very talented, but I think they do a great job of understanding that there is so much good that happens, particularly offensively, when you share the basketball.”

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AT IOWA CITY WEST

MINNEAPOLIS DE LA SALLE (42): Goanar Mar 2-6 0-0 4, Sacar Amin 5-12 0-0 11, Jeffrey Daubanton 1-2 2-2 4, Jarvis Johnson 2-11 0-0 4, Joshua Collins 4-6 3-4 11, Gabe Kalscheur 3-6 0-0 8, Samm Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 5-6 42.

IOWA CITY WEST (57): Tanner Lohus 4-7 3-4 11, Wali Parks 5-7 6-6 17, David DiLeo 7-12 0-0 16, Connor McCaffery 3-5 0-0 8, Devontae Lane 1-5 1-2 3, Alex Henderson 0-1 0-0 0, Dallas Majors 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-38 9-12 57.

Halftime – West 32, De La Salle 20. 3-point goals – De La Salle 3-9 (Mar 0-1, Anim 1-4, Kalscheur 2-4), West 5-9 (Parks 1-1, DiLeo 2-5, McCaffery 2-3). Rebounds – De La Salle 23 (Daubanton 6), West 24 (Parks, McCaffery 6). Total fouls – De La Salle 13, West 8. Fouled out – None. Turnovers – De La Salle 7, West 8.

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