Iowa City West opened a bid for an unprecedented fourth consecutive state title with a win as the top ranked Trojans held off upset minded Sioux City North 69-60 in a class 4A quarterfinal. sophomore guard Connor McCaffery who finished with 13 points, including three of five from three point range.
He says tournament experience is an advantage for the Trojans in close games. “We all like pressure situations, we all like that atmosphere, you know that crowd, that gets going, we all enjoy that,” McCaffery says. “It’s fun to play in this type of environment, you want to respond, you want to be the guy.”
Fourth ranked North Scott had a 16 point second half lead trimmed to one but the Lancers made the plays down the stretch in a 63-54 win over ninth ranked Waukee in a class 4A quarterfinal round game. Cortez Seales led the Lancers with 23 points. “I was very excited…we faced a lot of adversity today and we were able to stick together and stay with the game plan,” Seales says.
Seales admits there was some nerves at the start of the game, but says you have to get used to it and start playing.
Second ranked Pleasant Valley beat Cedar Rapids Kennedy 58-51 and Des Moines Hoover’s smothering defense was on display again as the third ranked Huskies beat number 8 Ames 38-29.