Most December high school basketball games don’t carry a lot of significance.
That wasn’t the case on Friday for the Ankeny Centennial boys’ squad.
The Jaguars needed to protect their home court in the rugged CIML Conference, and they also had a chance to make a statement with a victory over preseason No. 1 Valley.
Centennial delivered on both counts with a 53-45 triumph, snapping the Tigers’ nine-game winning streak dating back to last season.
“I feel like with our team and our chemistry and everything we’ve got going for us that we can definitely be a contender for anything,” said Centennial forward Chase Schutty, who recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The loss dropped Valley (3-1) out of a first-place tie with Waukee in the conference. Centennial improved to 2-1 in the league and 3-1 overall, moving into a third-place tie with Ankeny.
The Jaguars bounced back from a 79-64 loss at Dowling Catholic a week ago.
“All week we had a chip on our shoulder because we knew last Friday that game wasn’t us,” said senior guard Luke Winkel, who finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. “That wasn’t even close to our potential and where we should be playing at.”
Valley got a 3-point goal from Jayden McGregory to open the game, but that was the Tigers’ only trey of the night. They had shot 37.7 percent from behind the arc (20-of-53) in their first three contests.
“Coach (Bob) Fontana really emphasizes that we should hold them under 48 (points) and we practice a lot of defensive drills, and it showed tonight,” Schutty said.
Curtis Stinson Jr. led Valley with 16 points. He had scored 22 points, going 3-for-3 from 3-point range, in the Tigers’ 83-55 victory at Centennial last January.
That Valley team went on to capture the Class 4A championship.
“We were trying to just plug up the paint when (Stinson) was driving and help in the right spots and rotate,” Winkel said. “I thought we played really good team defense tonight.”
Valley took an early 7-3 lead before Centennial closed out the first quarter on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 11-11. The Jaguars moved ahead for good, 16-13, on a 3-point play by Schutty early in the second period.
“We just didn’t come out ready to play (at Dowling),” Schutty said. “With this game, we knew what we were doing and we were just ready.”
Winkel scored 10 of his points in the first half. He had the last five points of the second quarter to give Centennial a 27-21 advantage at the break.
“We feel like anytime we step on the court we can compete and win,” Winkel said. “We’re a hard-headed group of kids in a good way.”
Valley closed to within four or five points on two occasions in the third quarter, but each time Connor Welsch answered with a 3-pointer for the Jaguars. He made 3-of-6 attempts from behind the arc and scored a career-high 13 points.
“Welsch just keeps getting better,” Fontana said. “He didn’t do a lot of stuff this summer because he was doing football stuff, but he’s been working on (his shooting) in practice and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. We need that. We can’t just rely on Winkel, (Nick) Vaske and Schutty.”
Centennial opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run. The Jaguars took their biggest lead, 49-32, on back-to-back 3-pointers by Schutty and Winkel.
“When you have seniors with experience, you hope that they can step up in big games like this,” Fontana said. “I told the guys I was real proud of them because last Friday we didn’t play very well. But what we were going to do? Were we going to learn from it and take steps one day at a time? I thought we did, and it obviously paid off.”
Another one of those seniors, Joey Oakie, finished with seven points. His driving basket with a little more than a minute left stopped a 10-0 Valley run and essentially sealed the win, giving the Jaguars a 53-44 lead.
“It feels great to win this one,” Winkel said.
Centennial will travel to Johnston on Tuesday for another conference game against the Dragons, who are 2-2 in the league and 3-2 overall after dropping a 56-54 decision at Urbandale on Friday.
