The Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team had to wait a week to cut down the nets.
The top-ranked Jaguars clinched the outright CIML Central Conference title on Feb. 7 with a 50-48 victory at Ankeny, so they waited until after Friday’s 62-48 win over visiting Urbandale to bring down the nets in the Centennial gym.
Each of the players and coaches grabbed a piece of the net before they posed for a team photo afterwards.
“I’m happy for our seniors on Senior Night (to get a win) along with winning a conference championship,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana.
It was the 13th straight victory for Centennial, which finished 9-1 in the league and improved to 19-1 overall. Urbandale’s records dropped to 1-9 and 7-12.
Cody McCullough led the Jaguars with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Preston Kelling added 13 points.
It wasn’t Centennial’s best game of the season, but it was good enough to defeat the J-Hawks by double digits for the second time. The Jaguars won the first meeting at Urbandale, 70-60, on Jan. 18.
“We played well in spurts,” Fontana said.
Centennial captured its first conference championship since 2015. The Jaguars won the league by three games.
Centennial will play at Fort Dodge (2-18) on Tuesday before hosting Des Moines Lincoln (11-7) on Friday in its regular-season finale.
