Ankeny boys’ basketball coach Brandt Carlson didn’t have to give his players a fiery pregame speech on Friday.
The Hawks were already highly motivated.
Ankeny pulled away in the second half to defeat visiting Ames, 58-42, in a non-conference game. The win avenged last year’s substate semifinal loss to the Little Cyclones, who erased a 13-point halftime deficit in that game to post a 72-51 victory.
“I think we owed them an effort,” said Carlson. “We’ve ended their season before too, and it’s been a fun rivalry. Coach (Vance) Downs is awesome. They’re a really well-coached team, and they’ve added a transfer from (Des Moines) Hoover–(Abram) Vos. It was a fun challenge. It felt good to come out with the win.”
The Hawks outscored Ames in the second quarter, 20-12, to build a 31-23 lead at halftime. They extended the margin to 41-30 after three periods.
Ankeny raised its overall record to 3-1 with its third straight win. The Little Cyclones dropped to 2-2.
“It wasn’t easy,” Carlson said. “The first two quarters were pretty tight, and then the third quarter we kind of expanded the lead a little bit, which was great. It was just a good overall effort. Ames is a pretty tough team, and they’re going to be good at the end of the year. So it was a good win for us.”
Lio Aguirre led Ankeny with 16 points and seven rebounds. Carson Johnson had 13 points and dished out six assists.
“Carson was a warrior all night,” Carlson said. “He was getting knocked around and wasn’t getting to the free-throw line, but I thought he did a great job of keeping his composure. And Lio just manhandled guys at times in the third and fourth quarters. He made some big shots to kind of get us going.”
Dylan Gloviak connected on 3-of-4 3-pointers and had a career-high 11 points for the Hawks. Rio Aguirre chipped in 10, and Cade Pederson added three blocks.
“Dylan hit some big 3s and just played lights-out defensively,” Carlson said. “He’s been a sparkplug for us.”
Ankeny will hit the road this week for three games in a five-day stretch, beginning with Monday’s non-conference contest at Indianola (0-3). The Hawks will then return to CIML Conference play with games at Waukee Northwest (2-3) on Tuesday and at Dowling Catholic (2-3) on Friday.
