Ryan Crandall and the Ankeny boys’ basketball team picked up a road victory on Friday as the Hawks defeated Mason City, 70-56, in a CIML Iowa Conference game.
Crandall scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win.
“He nearly had a triple-double,” said Ankeny coach Brandt Carlson. “He had a bunch of assists, too.”
Lio Aguirre had 13 points for the Hawks, who improved to 3-2 in the league and 6-2 overall. JJ Kohl and Braden Simonsen each added nine points.
Mason City’s records dropped to 1-4 and 2-7.
“We’re real happy,” Carlson said. “It was a cold trip–we had some bus issues on the way. But I thought our guys really responded. We built on what we had been working on over Christmas break. I just appreciate how hard the guys are working and staying together.”
Ankeny led by only 35-32 at halftime. The Hawks extended the margin to 47-40 after three quarters, then continued to pull away in the final period.
“We played pretty well overall. We had some guys really step up,” Carlson said. “Mason City shot incredibly well, and that wasn’t what we had seen on film. I thought we defended really hard, but they just made a ton of shots in the first half to stay in it.
“It was a pretty tight first half, but then we were able to stretch it out in the third and fourth quarters,” he added.
The Hawks will play a non-conference game at Des Moines East (1-4) on Saturday. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.
Three of the Scarlets’ four losses have come by single digits.
“They’re playing a lot better,” Carlson said. “It’ll be a tough turnaround for us, but hopefully we’ll come out ready to play.”
