Jim Ecker

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – Patrick McCaffery had a small problem Tuesday night.

The West High star forgot to bring both of his favorite basketball shoes to the U.S. Cellular Center for the Class 4A substate finals against Cedar Rapids Kennedy and he wasn’t too thrilled about playing in his regular street sneakers in the biggest game of the year.

McCaffery had one of his favorite sneakers, but not the other.

About 10 minutes before tipoff, he spotted Muscatine star Joe Wieskamp headed for a radio interview after pouring in 35 points in a 58-55 victory over Linn-Mar in the first game Tuesday.

“Hey Joe,” McCaffery yelled at his friend. “Let me borrow your shoes.”

“Seriously?,” Wieskamp replied, thinking McCaffery was kidding.

Yes, seriously.

As it turned out, McCaffery got off to a slow start in Wieskamp’s shoes and switched to his favorite sneakers after the first quarter.

A friend who plays for the West High girls basketball team had stopped by McCaffery’s house and fetched his other shoe.

The unusual saga had a happy ending for West High, which had to scramble for a 49-40 victory over Kennedy for another trip to the Class 4A state tournament in Des Moines next week.

McCaffery finished with 24 points, but got 14 of those markers at the foul line against the scrappy, pesky Cougars.

McCaffery, a 6-foot-8 junior, and Wieskamp, a 6-foot-6 senior, both have rather large feet, as you might expect.

They’ll be teammates for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the near future and they’re good friends. Good enough to swap shoes.

“They were really warm,” cracked McCaffery. “They’re pretty cool shoes.”

McCaffery missed his first three shots Tuesday and did not appear comfortable on the court. He twice had to stop and re-tie Wieskamp’s shoes, including once with the ball in play.

Kennedy was swarming all over the place, switching defenses and making life tough for the defending Class 4A state champs.

It got really dicey for the Trojans when Kennedy junior Trey Sheets nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Cougars a 36-35 lead with 3:56 left in the game.

West High drilled Kennedy, 72-35, in their only meeting during the regular season Jan. 30 in Iowa City, but suddenly the Trojans were in danger of not making it back to Des Moines.

“We were kind of asleep a little,” West High coach Steve Bergman said. “I can’t explain what we were doing.”

“They switched defenses and we did a lot of standing around. And we didn’t attack the glass.”

Bergman noted that Kennedy is a different team now than it was in the first meeting four weeks ago.

The Cougars had just lost Derrick Diggins, their leading scorer, for the rest of the season and Kennedy coach Jon McKowen was still trying to make adjustments.

McKowen always talks about playing their best basketball at the end of the season and it rang true Tuesday.

“We were still trying to figure out who we were the first time we played them,” he said. “This time we had a little bit more of an identity. The kids executed really well tonight. I couldn't be happier with the way they played.”

McCaffery cashed two free throws to give West High a 37-36 lead with 3:33 left.

The Trojans never trailed again, but the fierce defensive struggle went down to the final minute.

Dante Eldridge hit a big 3-pointer to give the Trojans a 40-36 advantage.

Jack Wetzel scored for Kennedy to make it 40-38 with 2:38 left and the Cougars called a timeout.

Kennedy packed its zone defense into the paint following the timeout and was happy to let Eldridge dribble the ball all by himself near the half-court line, with nobody within 15 feet.

The Cougars were willing to shorten the game and they let Eldridge kill more than 90 seconds before they switched to a zone-trap defense and fouled McCaffery with 61 seconds left.

McCaffery hit both foul shots to make it 42-38. McCaffery then blocked a shot at the other end and Jake Anderson made two free throws to give the Trojans a 44-38 edge with 37 seconds to go.

Kennedy committed a turnover and Evan Flitz hit two free throws for the Trojans to make it 46-38 with 27 seconds remaining.

Kennedy committed another turnover and McCaffery ended the suspense by making two foul shots with 19 seconds left for a 48-38 lead, giving the Trojans their biggest advantage of the night.
Kennedy made West High earn its ticket to Des Moines.

“I’m giving them a lot of credit,” McCaffery said. “They really stuck to their game plan really well. They were switching defenses a lot. All of their guys played hard all the time. They played really well.”

“Luckily, we have a lot of guts,” said McCaffery. “We’ve had to tough out a lot of games this year, so I’m glad we were able to do that tonight. I have a lot of trust in my guys. I knew that we would rally together and pull it out.”

West High heads back to the state tournament with a 19-4 record.

“It feels really good,” said McCaffery. “It’s amazing. It never gets old playing at Wells Fargo Arena in front of all those people, so I’m really excited to have a chance to play for another title.”

Bergman knows his team will need to play better in Des Moines. He has won six state titles during his remarkable career at West High and will be aiming for Lucky No. 7, but he is not ready to push his guys in practice just yet.

“A couple of our guys looked tired,” he said. “We need a little rest.”

Seybian Sims scored 10 points for the Trojans. Jackson Foley scored 11 points for Kennedy and Caleb Schlaak netted 10 for the Cougars.

Kennedy finished the season at 11-13.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy (40) – Foley 4 3-6 11, Griffin 1 0-0 2, Sheets 2 0-0 5, Vanek 1 0-0 2, Gallagher 0 0-0 0, Schlaak 4 0-0 10, Wetzel 3 0-0 7, Koester 0 1-2 1, Sailer 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 4-8 40.

West High (49) – Eldridge 2 0-0 6, Flitz 0 3-4 3, Sims 3 4-6 10, Anderson 1 3-3 5, Hoambrecker 0 0-0 0, McCaffery 5 14-18 24, McGee 0 1-2 1, Adcock 0 0-0 0, Klein 0 0-0 0, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Mabry 0 0-0 0, Hillberry 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 25-33 49.

Halftime – Iowa City West 17, Kennedy 14. 3-point goals – Kennedy 4  (Schlaak 2, Sheets 1, Wetzel 1), Iowa City West 2 (Eldridge 2).