The Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team is still seeking its first conference victory.
A slow start on Friday doomed the Jaguars’ hopes of pulling off an upset against visiting Johnston.
The Dragons jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the first quarter, extended the margin to 33-11 at halftime and then held on for a 52-37 road victory.
“We were not fundamentally sound on offense the first quarter,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana. “When you have the live ball turnovers that we had, it led to 14 of their 20 points that they scored in that quarter. And when that happens, it’s hard to get your defense set too. Things just snowballed on us, and when you put yourself behind the eight-ball like that against a really good team, it’s tough to get out of that hole.”
Centennial committed 12 turnovers and shot just 29.7 percent from the field, making 11-of-37 attempts. The Jaguars were just 3-of-16 from 3-point range (18.8 percent).
“You’ve got to come out and play fearless,” Fontana said. “We need to be more connected to start the game. I thought the second half we had some guys who were still playing hard. I just told them at halftime, ‘Let’s just go play. Forget about the score.’ I thought we had some guys who competed, but we can’t wait to do that until the second half in the CIML.”
Sean Tunks had 11 points and five rebounds for the Jaguars, while Evan Abbott scored nine points and grabbed a team-high seven boards. Cabryn Klingner chipped in seven points, and Brody Prill had three steals.
Tino Daye led Johnston with 16 points, all on two-point baskets.
“Half of his points were on live ball turnovers,” Fontana said.
Seth Gipple and Jalen Richardson each made a pair of 3-point goals and had 10 and nine points, respectively. The Dragons have won four straight games since losing to Waukee Northwest on Dec. 13 and moved into sole possession of first place, improving to 6-1 in the conference and 7-1 overall.
Centennial’s records dropped to 0-6 and 1-6.
“I thought they were by far the most physical team in the first half. We just didn’t do a good job of handling that,” Fontana said. “And we also struggled with our defensive positioning, and they’re good enough that they’re going to make you pay. They’re an athletic team, an experienced team, and they’ve got some good length.
“We’ve just got to learn from it and move on,” he added.
The Jaguars will host a conference game against Ankeny on Tuesday. The Hawks are 2-3 in the league and 3-4 overall after posting a 61-55 victory over Linn-Mar (Marion) in the CIML/MVC Crossover event on Saturday at Cedar Rapids.
Ankeny won the first meeting, 58-48, on Dec. 6.
