Earlier this month, the Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team was reeling after suffering four straight losses by an average of 18.5 points.
Now, the Jaguars are one of the hottest teams in the CIML.
Centennial placed four players in double figures and held off a late rally by host Marshalltown to post an 80-75 victory on Friday, its fifth in a row. The Bobcats had won four of their previous five games and had nearly knocked off eighth-ranked Ankeny a week ago.
“They’re a talented ball club,” Centennial coach Bob Fontana said. “This is the best Marshalltown team we’ve played, in my opinion, since we’ve been open. When you have an explosive guard like (Armonniey) Thomas, you’ve got to try to limit him as much as you can.”
Thomas, who became the Bobcats’ all-time leading scorer earlier in the week, finished with 27 points. But it wasn’t enough to offset Centennial’s balanced attack.
Reece Robinson led the Jaguars with 19 points and six rebounds. Caden Kelling had 16 points, five assists and five steals.
Jackson Snyder, who had missed the last three games due to an injury, scored 12 points off the bench. Luke Winkel chipped in 10, and Chris Louis added nine.
“I was really proud of our kids,” Fontana said. “We had a really good second quarter and a really good third quarter. We shared the ball well, and we took care of the ball. We had 16 assists to just eight turnovers and we shot the ball well–we shot 67 percent for the game, 50 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent at the free-throw line.”
Centennial built a 55-41 lead after three quarters before Marshalltown rallied. The Bobcats closed the gap to 76-75 in the final minute.
“They shot the heck out of the ball in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter,” Fontana said. “They hit some tough 3s, so credit to them. They had nine (of their 12) 3s in the second half.”
The Jaguars improved to 5-4 in the CIML Iowa Conference and 8-6 overall. Marshalltown’s records dropped to 3-6 and 9-7.
Centennial will host a non-conference game against Davenport West (7-8) on Saturday. The game will be played at Northview, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
