Three days after the Ankeny boys’ basketball team suffered its worst loss ever under coach Brandt Carlson, the Hawks enjoyed the other end of the spectrum.
Ankeny held visiting Indianola to just 19.1 percent shooting from the field (9-of-47) and cruised to an 81-29 victory in a non-conference game on Monday. It was the Hawks’ largest win ever under Carlson and was the program’s most lopsided triumph since the 2015-16 season, when Ankeny rolled to a 79-27 decision at Southeast Polk in coach John Petersen’s final year at the school.
“We played a little better, that’s for sure,” said Carlson, whose team was coming off a 74-36 loss to Southeast Polk on Friday. “It was definitely a nice feeling to kind of get the other one out of our minds. I’m very pleased–the guys played well and just really competed early. I really thought Indianola was a tough and up-and-coming team, so I was a lot more nervous in preparation for it. I was proud of the guys for their effort and shaking off Friday’s game and getting a win for us.”
Ankeny jumped out to a 22-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Hawks extended the margin to 46-15 at halftime.
“Our guys were just aggressive from the get-go defensively and really tried to take away some of their best players, and we had some success doing that,” Carlson said. “It helped to see the ball go in the basket and to get some stops on defense, and that’s how you win games in general.”
Sophomore Jasani Campbell poured in a career-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting as Ankeny evened its overall record at 7-7. He had two of the team’s 11 3-point goals.
Rio Aguirre went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line and finished with 11 points. He also had eight assists, one steal and one block.
Luke Anderson and reserve Sammy Cowart each went 2-of-4 from behind the arc and had eight points. Drew Sorensen added seven points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, helping his team to a 42-25 advantage on the boards.
Sophomore Easton McGraw had 11 points to lead the Indians, who dropped to 3-9 on the season.
“We made five 3s in the first half and six more in the second half,” Carlson said. “It was a good confidence builder for us, and hopefully it will give us some momentum. We have some tough games coming up.”
Ankeny will travel to Dowling Catholic on Friday for a CIML Conference game against the ninth-ranked Maroons. The two teams will meet again on Feb. 11 at Ankeny.
Dowling is 7-4 in the league and 10-4 overall. The Maroons are coming off a 49-46 win over Johnston on Friday.
“It’s a very tough place to play, and they’re playing really well,” Carlson said. “They’ve had some big wins. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”
