Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Playing for just the second time in more than two weeks Class 4A second-ranked West High wasn’t razor sharp on offense Tuesday night.

The Trojans did more than enough on the defensive end to extend their winning streak to six.

West High held Waterloo West to 12 first-half points and limited the WaHawks to 33 percent shooting in a 64-45 win in a Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division matchup in Iowa City.

“We worked a lot on defense over winter break and I think the last few games that has been our main focus,” Koch said. “That has helped us pull through even in games when we haven’t been as good on offense.”

In just its second game since January 6 West High had a nearly five-minute scoreless stretch in the second quarter, committed 11 first-half turnovers and 17 in the game and went 4-of-13 from 3-point range.

It was defense that carried the day for the Trojans.

West High forced eight Waterloo West turnovers in the first quarter while sprinting to a 19-7 lead and never let the WaHawks get closer than eight the rest of the way while improving to 10-1 with its sixth consecutive win.

“We played good defense but we were super sloppy,” West High coach Steve Bergman said. “On our books we had 11 turnovers at half and we are kind of an 11 turnover a game team. We’ve only played one time in two weeks and maybe that showed.”

The top two scorers for West High this season, junior Jack McCaffery and senior Jacob Koch, were a combined 7-of-29 on Tuesday.

The rest of the Trojans stepped up.

Senior Kareem Earl led four players in double figures with 13 points while sophomore Julian Manson had 12 and junior Jack Wallace came off the bench to score 10 points.

“I have great players around with guys like Jack, Kareem and Jacob so they are going to attract people and that helps me get open,” Wallace said. “They did a great job of finding me.”

West High jumped to a 10-2 lead less than five minutes in and led 19-7 after one quarter as the Trojans made 9-of-13 field goal attempts in the opening eight minutes.

The Trojans then went nearly five minutes without a point to open the second quarter as Waterloo West trimmed the lead to 19-11.

“We’ve missed a lot of practice so we certainly aren’t playing the way you would like to be playing midseason,” Bergman said. “Our defense has been better out of break and that has helped us in some these close games.”

West High closed the first half on an 8-0 run sparked by its defense and Wallace who scored five consecutive points during the run.

Wallace entered the game with two points on the season but Bergman said the junior forward earned playing time by the way he has performed in practice.

“He’s kind of that eighth guy so some games with the rotation he isn’t in there but today during the shoot around I said ‘he’s playing tonight’ because he’s been doing a good job in practice and he came off the bench and he just does what you ask him to do,” Bergman said. “He doesn’t try to do too much and sometimes that’s better than a kid that goes in and tries to do too much. He was awesome.”

Wallace made all four of his field goal attempts and finished with 10 points and a pair of offensive rebounds helping West High hold a 43-26 rebounding edge.

“I don’t always know going into it how many minutes I am going to get so I have to be ready,” Wallace said. “When I do get in I just try to play as hard as I can and do what I can to help our team.”

Koch had 11 points and McCaffery had nine points and five rebounds as five different West High players had at least nine points.

“We do pass it very well, with Jack (McCaffery) leading it,” Koch said. “Teams can’t just focus on him and double him with how he passes because we have all guys out there that can score.”

Jahlil Manago had a game-high 29 points for Waterloo West (5-7) which was playing its fourth road game in the last five days.

Waterloo West           7   5  13  20  –  45     

West High                  19  8  17  20  –  64                                           

Waterloo West (45) – Parker Berns 1-6 0-0 3, Jahlil Manago 11-17 3-5 29, Zion Cook-Berns 3-5 0-0 8, Cooper Doland 0-1 0-0 0, Bryce Westemeier 0-5 0-0 0, Joseph Hudson 1-9 0-0 2, Shuncere Wortham 1-9 0-0 3, Totals 17-52 3-5 45.

West High (64) – TaeVeon Stevens 1-3 0-0 3, Canaan Barnes 2-4 0-0 4, Jacob Koch 4-15 0-0 11, Adrien Westergaard 0-1 0-0 0, Jack McCaffery 3-14 3-4 9, Kareem Earl 5-7 3-4 13, Jack Wallace 4-4 2-4 10, Julian Manson 6-6 0-0 12, Mason Goering 1-3 0-2 2, Totals 26-57 8-14 64.

3-point field goals – ICW 4-13 (Koch 3-7, Stevens 1-2, Westergaard 0-1, McCaffery 0-3), WW 8-25 (Cook-Berns 2-4, Berns 1-4, Manago 4-7, Westemeier 0-2, Hudson 0-2, Wortham 1-6). Rebounds – ICW 43 (Manson 9), WW 26 (Hudson 9). Turnovers – ICW 17, WW 16. Total fouls – ICW 8, WW 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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