It was a dejected Ky Kramer who walked out of the Cedar Rapids Jefferson locker room on Thursday night.

The J-Hawk senior guard had just taken off his uniform for the final time following a 56-27 loss to top-ranked Iowa City West in the Class 4A Substate 6 final at Cedar Rapids Prairie.

A three-year regular for Jefferson, Kramer has plenty to be proud over his 73-game career, which included a pair of state tournament trips.

But that didn't mean much to Kramer after his team was manhandled by the defending state champions.

"It's definitely not the way I wanted to go out," Kramer said. "They are just so big and athletic and we just don't see teams like that around here."

Try as they might, the J-Hawks couldn't do much against West's sticky defense. Kramer is a versatile player who does a little bit of everything for Jefferson. Trojan Coach Steve Bergman was aware of Kramer's ability, assigning his most physical player, senior Myzeah Batie-Gattie to guard the J-Hawk senior.

"I was scared to death to play Jefferson," Bergman said. "They have been shooting the ball so well lately. We've only had one game in two weeks, so I didn't know how we would respond."

The West offense took a little time to get going, but the defense was there from the opening tip. Jefferson was held to six points in the first half.

"I actually thought our defense wasn't that bad," said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. "We had them rip the ball away from us for six of their 23 points in the first half, but we just had the toughest time getting looks. They just play really good defense."

Kramer agreed with his coach.

"They are just unstoppable," Kramer said. "It's going to be hard to beat them. You pretty much have to play perfect to beat them."

West (23-0) will take a 49-game winning streak to state. Despite being top-ranked all season, the Trojans are the No. 2 seed in the 4A state tournament behind unbeaten Bettendorf. They will meet No. 7 seed West Des Moines Dowling next Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. in Des Moines.

"We're going to have to play better offensively if we want to play more than one game in Des Moines," Bergman said. "Our defense has been pretty good. We need to get the offense going again."

Ordman's team, which was shooting for a fourth straight trip to state, finished at 13-11. The veteran Jefferson coach took a moment to look back on Kramer's contribution to the program.

"Ky is a tough cookie," Ordman said. "He's an outstanding defender and has improved the level of his game every year. He's been on teams each year that have upset (top 5 teams). He'll just try his darnedest and has always been very coachable. It was a real privilege to be his coach for three years."

Kramer got a bit misty-eyed when recalling his career.

"This kinda sucked, but I'll never forget the state tournament teams I got to play on," he said. "It was a memorable moment to go to state."

JEFFERSON (27): Jacob Olson 2 6-8 10; Creighton Robinson 1 0-0 2; Ky Kramer 4 0-0 8; Jake VanOort 1 0-0 2; Layne Sullivan 2 1-2 5; Brandon Wiederin 0 0-0 0; Lucas Larson 0 0-0 0; Marcus Floyd 0 0-0 0; Bryce Cardis 0 0-0 0; Curt Waltmann 0 0-0 0; Spencer Van Scoyoc 0 0-0 0; Tyler Konigsmark 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 7-10 27.

IOWA CITY WEST (56): Jeremy Morgan 6 1-1 15; Wyatt Lohaus 6 0-1 12; Myzeah Batie-Gaddy 2 3-3 7; Austin Swank 2 3-4 8; Jason Stewart 3 0-0 6; Chike Ukah 1 0-0 2; Mark Lowe 1 0-0 2; David DiLeo 1 0-0 2; Justin Fleming 0 0-0 0 Nick Gallagher 1 0-0 2; Melvyn Chatmon 0 0-0 0; Nicholas Spiess 0 0-0 0; Garrett Grimsman 0 0-0 0; Marquise Yarbrough 0 0-0 0; Harley Shear 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 7-9 56.

Halftime - IC West 23, Jefferson 6. 3-point goals - Jefferson none. I.C. West 3 (Morgan 2, Swank). Total fouls - Jefferson 13, I.C. West 10. Fouled out - None.