After getting off to a 1-11 start, the Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team has now won two of its last three games–by an average of 30 points.
The Jaguars built a 32-12 halftime lead and cruised to a 65-36 victory at Des Moines Lincoln in a non-conference game on Saturday. They are now 3-12 on the season, while Lincoln’s record fell to 7-9.
“We got off to a good start, and even got stronger in the second quarter,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana. “I thought our defense was really good the first half. Lincoln’s got some athletic kids, but we were able to control the game.”
Sean Tunks led the way for Centennial. He racked up 19 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
“I thought he did a good job defensively too,” Fontana said. “He took a couple of charges for us.”
Cayden Clark had 10 points and three assists. Both Clark and Tunks made a pair of 3-point goals, and so did freshman reserve Keaton Kasperbauer–who went 2-of-2 from behind the arc.
Centennial dished out 16 assists while committing just seven turnovers.
“That’s something we’ve been working on–our assist to turnover ratio,” Fontana said.
Luke Mitchell contributed eight points for the Jaguars, while Kasperbauer added six. Both of them left Friday’s game at Waukee with ankle injuries, but were able to play on Saturday.
The Jaguars will play a CIML Conference contest at Johnston on Tuesday. The Dragons are 7-7 in the league and 8-8 overall.
Johnston won the first meeting at Centennial, 52-37, on Jan. 3. But the Dragons have lost five straight games–including the last four by a combined nine points.
