The struggles continued on Friday for the Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team.
The Jaguars fell behind by 20 points at halftime and eventually dropped a 77-36 decision at third-ranked Waukee Northwest. It was their worst loss of the season.
“We were down by nine with 4 minutes left in the second quarter, but then they outscored us by 11 the rest of the half,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana. “That’s a huge hole to dig out of against a really good team.”
Northwest jumped out to a 22-8 lead before Centennial rallied. The Jaguars got a deep 3-point goal from Cayden Clark to pull within 24-15 with 5 minutes left in the half.
Clark scored seven of his career-high nine points in the first half.
“He keeps getting better,” Fontana said. “He was a bright spot for us tonight. It’s nice to have your point guard taking steps forward like he’s taking.”
However, Northwest then closed out the half on a 15-4 run to build a 39-19 advantage. Peyton McCollum and Colin Rice each had five points in the run.
The Wolves extended the lead to 62-26 after three quarters.
“They beat us in every phase of the game,” Fontana said. “They outrebounded us (by a 38-10 margin). It’s a very good team that is long and athletic.”
The Wolves shot 66 percent from the field (33-of-50) and made 6-of-14 attempts from 3-point range (42.9 percent). They improved to 6-2 in the CIML Conference and 8-2 overall, while Centennial’s records dropped to 0-8 and 1-8.
McCollum led four players in double figures with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Bode Goodman had 15 points, six assists and five steals, while post players Landon Davis and Rice each added 11.
Davis didn’t miss a shot all night, had three dunks in the first half and also contributed three blocks. Rice grabbed 10 rebounds.
“We had 11 turnovers for the game, and they ended up scoring on all of them,” said Fontana, whose team shot just 33.3 percent (14-of-42). “It also seemed like every time they blocked a shot they got a runout and scored in transition as well.”
Freshman Keaton Kasperbauer had a career-high six points and Evan Abbott added five points, four assists and three steals for the Jaguars, who will host a conference game against Urbandale on Tuesday. The J-Hawks are 1-7 in the league and 1-8 overall after dropping a 64-53 decision at No. 9 Dowling Catholic on Friday.
Urbandale won the first meeting, 58-57, on Dec. 13, getting the go-ahead basket with 4 seconds left.
