The outcome of Saturday’s non-conference boys’ basketball game at Ankeny Centennial was decided shortly after the contest began.
The sixth-ranked Jaguars jumped out to a 30-8 lead in the first quarter, built a 53-10 halftime advantage and rolled to an 87-25 victory over visiting Waterloo West.
It was the most lopsided win in school history, eclipsing Centennial’s 84-28 triumph over Sioux City North during the 2019-20 season.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be that way, but we got off to a great start,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana, whose team improved its overall record to 10-3. “We shared the ball really well and knocked down some shots. We hit a bunch of 3s.”
Isaac Runchey scored 11 points to lead Centennial’s balanced attack. Harrison Jensen, Connor Welsch and Luke Winkel each added nine points.
The Jaguars dished out 23 assists while committing just six turnovers and made 11-of-15 attempts from behind the arc.
“Our starters didn’t play more than 9 or 10 minutes,” Fontana said. “With three games this week, it was nice to get some minutes for our bench guys.”
Kael Jones and Cabryn Klingner each had six rebounds for Centennial, which held Waterloo West (4-6) to just 26.2 percent shooting from the field (11-of-42). The Wahawks were 2-of-18 from 3-point range (11.1 percent) and 1-of-7 at the free-throw line (14.3 percent).
“We obviously defended pretty well,” Fontana said.
The Jaguars will travel to Waukee on Tuesday for a CIML Conference game against the No. 5 Warriors (10-4). Waukee won the first meeting at Centennial, 70-51, on Dec. 15.
The Warriors suffered their first league loss on Tuesday against Dowling Catholic, 65-63, but rebounded on Friday with a 56-35 victory at Waukee Northwest.
“We’re going to have to play a complete game,” Fontana said. “I know Dowling got (Waukee) on Tuesday, but then they went over to Northwest and held them to 19 points through three quarters.”
