It took awhile for the Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team to figure out its opponent’s zone defense on Monday night.
After trailing by one point at halftime, the 10th-ranked Jaguars pulled away in the second half for a 59-47 non-conference win over visiting Winterset, the No. 7 team in Class 3A.
It wasn’t pretty, but Centennial improved to 15-6 while bouncing back from Saturday’s loss to Dowling Catholic. The Huskies’ record dropped to 13-9.
“We’ll definitely take the win,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana. “But credit to (Winterset)–they’re ranked and they just beat the No. 2 team and No. 8 team in 3A, and as you can see they’ve got some kids who can shoot it.
“The thing that I liked about having to play them is that they play all zone, and they’ll do different things out of their zone and they’ll press. So it was good to have to work against that (defense) going into the postseason,” he added.
Winterset scored the last six points of the first half to take a 28-27 lead at the break. Sam Hensley made a 3-point goal with 1 minute left to put the Huskies ahead.
The Jaguars then opened the second half with a 17-5 run to build a 44-33 advantage. Luke Winkel ignited the run with three baskets in the first 1:12 of the third quarter, then later connected for a trey midway through the period.
Winkel later hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give Centennial a 46-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“Coach Fontana said in the locker room that our successful possessions were when we went inside out and got the ball on two sides of the floor and got everyone involved,” said Winkel. “The emphasis coming out of the half was to do what we needed to do.”
Centennial then scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to extend the margin to 53-40. Chase Schutty capped the flurry with a 3-pointer.
“I thought we played a lot better the second half,” Fontana said. “We missed some open shots in the first half, and we had four defensive breakdowns that cost us 12 points. You can’t do that, but we played better defense and made some plays in the second half.”
Winkel finished with 21 points, seven assists and two steals, while Schutty went 3-of-5 from 3-point range and chipped in 15 points. Joey Oakie had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Connor Welsch added seven assists.
Hudson Wilmes led Winterset with 19 points and three assists. Hayden Wilmes went 4-of-8 from behind the arc and finished with 16 points.
The Jaguars will close out the regular season on Thursday by hosting a CIML Conference game against Johnston (12-8). The Dragons will be looking to avenge a 76-49 loss on Dec. 12.
“We know with substate coming up that we want to play our best basketball at the end of the season going into substate,” Winkel said.
Earlier on Monday, Centennial was awarded the No. 2 seed in Class 4A Substate 8 after dropping two spots in the final rankings from the Iowa High School Athletic Association. The Jaguars will host third-seeded Des Moines Roosevelt (17-4) or sixth-seeded Indianola (1-18) in a substate semifinal on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
“We need to worry about ourselves and get some rest for our guys because we’ve had a tough stretch here (with four games in the last seven days),” Fontana said. “But we’re in a tough substate. Roosevelt’s good–they’ve very athletic.”
With a win, Centennial would likely meet No. 8 Ankeny–the top seed–in the substate final on Feb. 27 at a neutral site. The Hawks (15-6) are riding a five-game winning streak into the postseason.
“Obviously, Ankeny is very good and they’re on a roll right now,” Fontana said. “In a way, it’s similar to last year when we had Iowa City West and Cedar Falls in our substate. It’s not going to be easy.”
Winkel said he had mixed feelings about a potential third meeting against the Jaguars’ crosstown rival.
“It’s definitely a hard road to state, but at the same time if we want to be where we want to be and that’s to win state, we’re going to have to beat the best teams in the state anyway,” he said.
