A 92-71 loss at Johnston on Tuesday night left Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball coach Bob Fontana shaking his head.
“I’ve coached a long time,” Fontana said. “We had four guys in double figures and a fifth with nine points, we make more free throws than they attempt, we hit 10 3-pointers, and we get beat by 21 (points).”
Third-ranked Johnston (4-1), last year’s Class 4A state runner-up, erupted for 58 points in the second half to erase a 38-34 halftime deficit. The 92 points were the most ever allowed by the Jaguars (2-2) under Fontana.
The previous high of 83 points came in losses at Valley and Dowling Catholic last year.
“They’re an experienced team with three returning starters, and those three seniors all played really well–especially in the second half,” Fontana said of the Dragons, who were ranked No. 1 before losing at Cedar Rapids Prairie on Dec. 6.
Centennial simply had no answers for the trio of Trey Lewis, Masen Ryan and Steven Kramer. Those three players combined for 72 of Johnston’s points.
Lewis poured in a game-high 34 points, 23 of them in the second half. He had four 3-pointers.
Ryan didn’t score until he made a trey to end the first half. He then added six more 3-pointers in the second half, most of them from the corners, and finished with 23 points.
Kramer added 15 points for the Dragons, who connected on 15-of-25 attempts from behind the arc.
“Some of our youth and inexperience really showed on the defensive end tonight, because a couple schemes that we were supposed to be doing…we didn’t execute,” Fontana said. “We were either out of position, or we forgot who we were guarding. Johnston is really explosive, and they were able to take advantage of our mistakes. Hopefully, we learned from it.”
After Johnston rallied to take a 52-47 lead in the third quarter, the Jaguars tried to answer. Reserve Luke Winkel hit a 3-pointer, then Jackson Snyder followed with a basket to tie it up at 52-52.
But Lewis then took over for the Dragons. He made a long 3-pointer with 2:19 left in the period to put his team ahead for good.
Jaxsen Cahill made a pair of free throws to extend the lead, then Lewis followed with a floater in the lane before making another 3-pointer off a nifty pass from Kramer to cap a 10-0 run that took just 66 seconds off the clock.
Centennial could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
“Offensively, we played really well the first half,” Fontana said. “In the second half we didn’t reverse the ball like we needed to. And then we took some bad shots–some quick shots–and I thought that led to some bad defensive possessions at the other end.”
Caden Kelling led the Jaguars with a career-high 19 points. He also had four assists, two steals and a block.
Kelling scored on a drive midway through the second quarter, then turned a steal into a 3-point play to ignite a 14-4 run that gave Centennial a 36-27 advantage. He had the first nine points in the run.
Chris Louis contributed 13 points. He made seven straight free throws in the Jaguars’ 25-point second quarter.
Snyder had 12 points, while Reece Robinson added 11 points and seven rebounds. Winkel chipped in nine points.
Winkel made 3-of-4 3-point attempts for Centennial, which went 10-of-21 from behind the arc.
“We played really well at times, but you’ve got to play 32 minutes in this league,” Fontana said. “It’s going to be a learning process.”
The Jaguars will play a CIML Iowa Conference game on Thursday at Mason City (2-2).
