The Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team connected on 13-of-23 attempts from 3-point range and rolled to a 75-38 victory at Des Moines Hoover in a non-conference game on Thursday.
Nick Vaske made four treys and finished with a season-high 17 points as the Jaguars raised their overall record to 6-2. Hoover dropped to 1-5.
“We all shot it really well,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana, whose team is No. 8 in Class 4A in the first rankings of the season from the Iowa High School Athletic Association. “It was nice to get a lot of guys into the game.”
Centennial jumped out to a 23-9 lead and held a 42-22 advantage at halftime. The Jaguars extended their margin to 66-29 after three quarters.
Will Smith scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in the win, while Chase Schutty added 10 points and five boards. Connor Welsch had eight points and six assists while committing no turnovers.
Smith made his first varsity start in place of senior point guard Luke Winkel, who sat out after scoring 30 points in Tuesday’s win over Ankeny. Winkel had turned his ankle during the fourth quarter of last Friday’s game against Waukee, then tweaked the injury on Tuesday.
“We were just taking precaution and gave some other kids an opportunity,” Fontana said. “I also thought we could learn through a game how to play without (Winkel).”
Fontana liked the way his team approached the game. There was no letdown following Tuesday’s emotional win.
“A mark of a good team is that they remember how they were successful against some really good teams, but you’ve got to learn how to be successful against any team,” he said. “The opponent is not the other team but yourself. If you’re mature and a competitive athlete, you’ll go about your business no matter who you’re playing. And I thought we did that.”
Wor Wor led the Huskies with 20 points.
