Steven Kramer scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and third-seeded Johnston rallied to beat sixth-seeded Ankeny, 55-53, in the Class 4A quarterfinals of the boys’ state basketball tournament on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena.
Kramer made a 3-point goal with 5 minutes 15 seconds left to put his team ahead for good, 45-44, in a seesaw affair that featured five ties and eight lead changes. He later connected on two free throws with 9.5 seconds to go to seal the win.
“That’s a veteran team on their side,” Ankeny coach Brandt Carlson said of the Dragons. “It stinks–we wanted to keep winning. We wanted to keep playing obviously. But at the end of the day, that’s the way basketball goes sometimes. We’re proud of our guys.”
JJ Kohl scored 14 points and Carson Johnson added 10 for Ankeny, which finished the season at 19-5. The Hawks made 7-of-17 3-point attempts, but could not overcome Johnston’s 39-27 rebounding advantage and a huge disparity at the free-throw line, where the Dragons outscored Ankeny by 18 points.
Johnston (20-3) will play seventh-seeded Cedar Rapids Prairie (18-6) in the semifinals on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. Prairie ousted second-seeded Cedar Falls, 62-52.
Check back on Thursday for complete coverage of the Hawks’ season-ending loss.
