A slow start proved costly for the Ankeny boys’ basketball team.
The seventh-ranked Hawks fell behind No. 5 Waukee, 19-5, in the first quarter of Thursday’s game at Ankeny.
Ankeny eventually closed the gap to three points in the final seconds before the Warriors held on for a 68-63 victory.
“It was all about the start,” said Ankeny coach Brandt Carlson. “It’s tough to recover against a great team, so lesson learned I guess. At the end of the day we’ve had three tough losses to really good teams and didn’t come out very (strong) in those games. Hopefully, we’ll take advantage of the next opportunity.”
The Hawks pulled to within 32-23 at halftime, but Waukee then extended the lead to 50-37 after three quarters.
Ankeny started its comeback when the Warriors were called for a technical foul to open the final period. Carson Johnson made both free throws, then Lio Aguirre followed with back-to-back 3-point goals to pull the Hawks within 52-45.
Ankeny later closed the gap to 60-56 on a 3-pointer by Luke Anderson with 2 minutes 52 seconds left. The Hawks made five treys in the final period.
Johnson hit a floater to cut Waukee’s lead to 64-60 with 57 seconds to go. However, Mason Costello drove for a basket with 25 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a 66-60 advantage.
Johnson made another 3-pointer with 5 seconds left to cut the deficit to 66-63, but Owen Schipper then connected on two free throws with 3.5 seconds to go to seal the win.
“They got too many easy baskets down inside,” said Carlson, whose team was outrebounded by a 38-24 margin. “Some teams are bigger and stronger at different times of the year. I hope we’ll get stronger toward the end of the year and work through some of the things we need to get better at. I thought defensively the last three quarters we were better. We definitely competed. I’m proud of our guys. We hung in there.”
Johnson scored 24 points to lead the Hawks–14 of them in the fourth quarter–and dished out four assists. He surpassed the 1,000-point career mark.
Aguirre had 17 points and six rebounds. Rio Aguirre added 11 points.
Costello had 14 points to lead five Waukee players in double figures. Evan Jacobson added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Warriors improved to 9-0 in the CIML Conference and 9-3 overall. Ankeny’s records fell to 5-3 and 8-3.
Waukee also defeated the Hawks, 83-73, on Nov. 28.
“Every one of their guys can shoot it, so you kind of pick your poison (defensively),” Carlson said. “Costello played like he normally plays, and Jacobson is great. We had to pick who we wanted to let run free, and that was a tough decision. But I’m just proud of the way our guys fought and stayed together.”
Ankeny will play a non-conference game at Dallas Center-Grimes (6-2) on Tuesday.
