The Dowling Catholic boys’ basketball team led from start to finish in a 69-54 victory over visiting Ankeny Centennial on Tuesday.
The Maroons jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage and eventually led by as many as 23 points. They improved to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and overall, while Centennial’s records dropped to 0-3 and 0-3.
Dowling had opened the season a week ago with a 69-64 win at Urbandale, where the Maroons battled back from a 13-point deficit after the first quarter.
“The way they came back against Urbandale, I knew they had the ability to play like that,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana, whose team has lost the last four meetings in the series. “They set the tempo right away, and we were playing from behind all night.”
Dowling closed out the first half with a 13-6 run to build a 37-23 margin. Charlie Crane scored the Maroons’ last seven points in the flurry, capped off by a 3-point goal.
Crane, a 6-foot-9 junior, led Dowling with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting. He blocked six shots and also grabbed 11 rebounds, helping his team to a 31-16 advantage on the boards.
Crane scored on a dunk with 3 minutes 28 seconds remaining to give the Maroons a 61-43 lead.
“He hurt us in the paint,” Fontana said of Crane. “They hurt us on the glass, and we gave up way too many points in the lane.”
Dowling used a 9-0 run midway through the third quarter to extend its margin to 51-28. Nathan Jenkins and Noah Martens each had four points in the run.
The Jaguars then rallied behind sophomore forward Evan Abbott, who scored 14 of his career-high 20 points in the second half. He had 11 of his team’s 13 points during one stretch, allowing Centennial to close the gap to 67-52 with about 1 minute left to play.
“We’ll keep working with him to become a complete player,” Fontana said of Abbott, who went 7-of-8 from the field and had four steals. “He has the ability to do that.”
Will Smith contributed 13 points for the Jaguars. Cabryn Klingner chipped in nine points and two assists, while Sean Tunks added seven points.
Martens had 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Dowling. Jenkins and Lucas Paoli each added 10 points.
“We never seemed to be able to get out of that hole,” Fontana said. “But we’re a work in progress. We’re only three games into the season, and we’ve just got to keep plugging away at what we’re trying to do. In this league, it’s not easy.
“As a team, we’ve just got to get into a better flow,” he added.
The Jaguars will play another conference game on Friday at Urbandale. The J-Hawks are 0-2 in the league and overall.
