By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The West High stars put on their usual strong performance on Tuesday.

It was a couple of members of the Trojans’ supporting cast that were the difference against Bettendorf.

Connor McCaffery, Patrick McCaffery and Devontae Lane combined for 36 points but top-ranked West High got nine each off the bench from juniors Evan Flitz and Hakeem Odunsi to hold off No. 8 Bettendorf 59-45 in a non-conference contest at West High.

Flitz hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to give West High a lead it would never give up as the Trojans won their fourth straight game in January.

“We have a lot of talent up and down, we are very deep, (Coach Steve) Bergman talks all the time in practice that everybody needs to be ready to go because on a team with a lot of talent you never know whose night it is going to be,” Flitz said. “A lot of times it’s Connor or Patrick or Devontae but when myself or Izaya (Ono-Fullard) or Nate (Disterhoft) or Hakeem all the way down the line can contribute it really helps out.”

Patrick McCaffery had a game-high 15 points, Connor McCaffery added 14 and Lane had seven as West High improved to 9-1 on the season.

The trio had help on Tuesday as Odunsi and Flitz combined to make 6-of-7 field goals as West High shot 49 percent from the floor.

“It takes a lot off the starting five to have guys come in and play well like that,” Lane said. “I just thank them for coming out and not playing scared and playing hard, it takes a lot of pressure off of us.”

Odunsi scored six of his nine points in the fourth quarter as West High went 6-of-7 from the field to put the game away.

A transition layup by Odunsi to open the fourth quarter gave West High a 44-37 lead and Bettendorf would never got closer than seven the rest of the game.

The 6-foot-6 Odunsi nearly matched his season scoring output of 13 with his career-high nine points.

“I just try to take advantages of my opportunities,” Odunsi. “I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win.”

Bettendorf closed the first half on an 11-4 run to close an eight-point West High lead to 25-24 at the half.

The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game on a basket by J. Michael Young with 3:46 left in the third quarter.

A 3-pointer by Flitz on the ensuing West High possession gave the lead back to the Trojans.

The second 3-pointer from Flitz in less than a minute put West High up 39-33.

“We struggled in the first half, we settled for a lot of early jumpers,” Flitz said. “In the second half coach talked to us about where we could attack and get easy buckets and we converted in the second half.”

West High scored the final three points of the quarter on free throws by Odunsi and Connor McCaffery to take a 42-37 lead.

The quick start to the fourth quarter helped West High put the game away.

“It was just kind of a slug fest,” Bergman said. “It’s not the way we prefer to play but we made it work.”

Young led Bettendorf with 14 points while Joe Martens added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs.

West High       18   7  17  17 – 59

Bettendorf       11  13  13   8 – 45

West High (59) – Devontae Lane 2-5 3-3 7, Evan Flitz 3-4 0-0 9, Seybian Sims 0-1 0-0 0, Hakeem Odunsi 3-3 3-4 9, Nate Disterhoft 0-2 0-0 0, Patrick McCaffery 6-12 2-3 15, Connor McCaffery 4-10 4-5 14, Izaya Ono-Fullard 2-4 0-0 5, Team 20-41 12-15 59.

Bettendorf (45) – Michael Baer 1-3 0-0 2, J. Michael Young 7-16 0-0 14, Dylan Clearman 2-6 0-0 6, Justin Hutter 0-1 0-0 0, Suni Lane 3-4 0-0 6, Joe Martens 5-11 0-1 10, Cole Grothusen 2-4 0-0 4, Mark Kallenberger 1-4 1-2 3, Team 21-49 1-3 45.

3-point field goals – ICW 7-23 (Lane 0-3, Flitz 3-4, Disterhoft 0-1, P. McCaffery 1-4, C. McCaffery 2-8, Ono-Fullard 1-3), BET 2-11 (Baer 0-1, Young 0-4, Clearman 2-4, Hutter 0-1, Martens 0-1). Rebounds – ICW 26 (C. McCaffery 5), BET 28 (Martens 8). Turnovers – ICW 8, BET 13. Total fouls – ICW 4, BET 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.