DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Wyatt Lohaus and three teammates each scored 13 points and Iowa City West beat West Des Moines Valley 57-45 Saturday night to win its third straight Class 4A state championship.
Fourth-ranked West (23-3) held unranked Valley to single digits in each of the first three quarters, becoming the sixth school to three-peat- and the first to do it in 4A since that class was created in 1992-93.
It was the sixth title overall for West and the fifth for coach Steve Bergman, putting him behind only Davenport’s Paul Moon and Western Christian’s Jim Eekhoff on the state’s career list.
Eekhoff won his seventh championship Friday night to match Moon.
Nick Gallagher, David DiLeo and Chike Ukah also scored 13 for West and Ukah grabbed 13 rebounds.
Valley had upset top-ranked Dubuque Senior and No. 2 Bettendorf to reach the championship game. But the Tigers couldn’t overcome their miserable shooting against the Trojans.
They had just eight field goals to show for three quarters of play and didn’t put together any offense until garbage time in the fourth quarter, when Valley’s 25 points were five more than it had in the first 24 minutes.
Lohaus, the son of former Iowa and NBA player Brad Lohaus, converted a three-point play to give West a 14-5 lead after one quarter and the Trojans controlled the game from then on.
When freshman Connor McCaffrey, the son of Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffrey, found Ukah alone under the basket for a layup, the lead grew to 28-17.
McCaffrey finished with seven assists and three points.
A 3-pointer by Gallagher and two straight 3s by DiLeo made it 39-22 early in the fourth quarter and the Trojans coasted from there, scoring six straight at one point to hike the lead to 21.
Lohaus, who’ll play at Northern Iowa next season, started on all three state championship teams and helped the Trojans to a 75-3 record in that span - including a 60-game winning streak that ended earlier this season.
There was some solace for Valley coach Jeff Horner, who was inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame at halftime in recognition of his playing career at Mason City High and Iowa.
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