West wins 60th straight, prepares for No. 3 Dubuque Senior

IOWA CITY - Now you can focus officially on the big one Friday night.

Guess not if you are Dubuque Senior. The Rams still have a game to worry about Tuesday night against city rival Hempstead, depending on a weather call by the schools' administrators.

But the Iowa City West Trojans are a full go, as far as looking toward and preparing for a potentially delectable matchup between Class 4A's top-ranked and third-ranked teams.

"I haven't watched one second of tape on them. I never will do that (ahead of time)," said West Coach Steve Bergman, after his team's 70-34 dismantling of Iowa City High at the City High gym. "We'll start tomorrow morning. We don't have school, so that will give me some time to look at it. I know they're huge, they're experienced, they're bigger than us, they're stronger than us, and we've got to play them up there. I think they're just kind of laying and waiting for us. But we showed a little bit tonight that we've got competitors."

Some competitors and some really good basketball players. West (8-0) never gave City High (4-3) any chance of even contemplating a huge upset, strolling to a 20-2 lead in the first quarter.

The quarter margins were 25-5, 41-13 and 56-21, the latter getting the continuous clock rolling. A 60th straight victory was an impressive display of offense and defense.

"I thought we played really well," said junior wing player David DiLeo, who had 13 points, all in the first half. "We really focused in practice the past couple of days, and we tried to bring that into this game. I thought we played a complete game."

"They deserve to be number one, looked like the number one team," said City High Coach Don Showalter, who found out Monday morning he had been selected as Co-Developmental Coach of the Year by USA Basketball, for his offseason work with the national U16 team. "They just have so many weapons. Shooting wise, they just always seem to get such a fast start. When you let them get a fast start, then everything flows for them. Our game plan was not to let them get a fast start, and, obviously, that didn't work."

West moved the basketball so well against City High's zone defense, constantly getting good looks on the interior and perimeter. But it was the defensive intensity Bergman liked best.

That's not surprising, if you know anything about him.

"I thought we came out really ready to play," Bergman said. "It's tough. We haven't been in school for two and a half weeks. If you base it on what I saw Friday (in practice), we weren't very ready to play. This team has had its worst performances on the days we haven't had school. Today we brought them in and kept them a little busier ... Some of them are new to this. Wyatt (Lohaus) understands how to get ready for a game. Some of the other guys have never done it before. They've just got to learn."

A big second half helped Lohaus - the Northern Iowa signee - earn scoring honors with 17 points. Six-foot-6 center Chike Ukah was very active in a 10-point night.

He'll be of utmost importance Friday against a very tall Senior team.

"Lately Coach has been on our defense," said DiLeo. "Just kind of play more intense. Try and take them out of their game. Make them go to Plan B and Plan C."

Mitch Wieland's seven points led City High. Keep in mind, the improved Little Hawks came in with four wins and two close defeats.

"You just flush it," Showalter said. "You know, we've actually played six pretty good games. So you can't let one game (take away from) what you've done previously."

Here is the game boxscore:

AT IOWA CITY HIGH

IOWA CITY WEST (70): David DiLeo 5-10 1-2 13, Chike Ukah 4-6 2-2 10, Wyatt Lohaus 5-10 4-4 17, Connor McCaffery 1-2 2-2 5, Garrett Grimsman 1-2 0-0 3, Adam Klein 1-1 0-0 2, Nick Gallagher 2-5 0-1 4, Tanner Lohaus 1-1 2-2 4, Malik Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Nicholas Spiess 0-1 0-0 0, Devontae Lane 0-0 0-0 0, Marquise Yarbrough 1-1 2-3 4, Wali Parks 2-2 4-4 8, Alex Henderson 0-1 0-0 0, Harley Shear 0-0 0-0 0, Ahmed Ismail 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 23-43 17-22 70.

IOWA CITY HIGH (34): Logan LaFauce 1-4 0-0 3, Quinton Forrester 1-4 0-0 2, Austin Withrow 1-4 1-2 3, Mitch Wieland 3-8 1-2 7, Ladarius Taylor 2-7 0-0 4, JaMarty Hall 3-5 0-0 6, Emmanuel Hooper 0-1 0-0 0, Gionni Hickman 1-2 0-0 2, Conner Danielson 1-3 0-0 2, Brady Cotton 0-0 1-2 1, Tieron James Jr. 1-1 0-0 2, Henry Craig 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Grace 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Forrester 1-1 0-0 2, Joe Britton 1-1 0-0 2, Carter McNutt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-42 3-6 34.Halftime - West 41, City High 13. 3-point goals - West 7-20 (DiLeo 2-6, McCaffery 1-2, W. Lohaus 3-7, Grimsman 1-1, Gallagher 0-2, Williams 0-1, Henderson 0-1), City High 1-9 (Lafauce 1-4, Wieland 0-3, Taylor 0-1, Britton 0-1). Rebounds - West 30 (W. Lohaus 5), City High 22 (Withrow 6). Total fouls - West 12, City High 23. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - West 13, City High 19.