(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
It wasn’t exactly the way they wanted to close out the regular season, but the Ankeny boys’ basketball players are still confident heading into substate play.
The Hawks traveled to Waukee Northwest on Thursday for a showdown against the fourth-ranked Wolves. After a strong start turned into a 90-52 loss, the Ankeny players have their sights set on a postseason run.
“We definitely didn’t want to lose how we did tonight,” said junior guard Rio Aguirre. “It was a tough game, but we still have confidence in each other. We’ve proved all year that we can battle the top teams, and it’s just about making that postseason run. We’ve just got to keep working and get ready for that stretch.”
The 2024-25 season has been a season of growth for Ankeny, which closed the regular season with records of 6-10 in the CIML Conference and 10-11 overall. Northwest improved its marks to 12-3 and 18-3, but saw its hopes for a share of the league title disappear when No. 8 Waukee lost at No. 3 Valley.
The Hawks came into the year with just one returning starter from last season, but they knew it was just a matter of time before the new-look lineup gelled together and the wins would follow.
And when they were on their “A” game, they could compete with anyone.
It’s what led to close games with some of the top teams in the CIML, like Valley and the first meeting against Northwest on Feb. 3. It’s exactly how they started Thursday’s rematch against the Wolves.
Drew Sorensen set the tone by cashing in from deep for the first bucket of the game, Aguirre scored a pair of baskets, Luke Anderson knocked down a shot from beyond the arc, and Dylan Gloviak found Jasani Campbell on a fast break for an early 12-6 lead.
“We were getting shots to fall, and we were playing a lot harder in the first half,” Aguirre said. “But I think a lot of guys got fatigued down the stretch, and (Northwest) is a really good team. All five guys can go, so if we’re all not on the same page, it’s easy for them to go on the run they did.”
The Hawks led most of the way in the first quarter as they were hoping to pull off an upset and tally a win after back-to-back losses in the previous week.
When it comes to a foot race, though, there’s not many teams that are able to keep pace with the Wolves.
Northwest managed to take the lead late in the first quarter, 22-17, as Colin Rice scored 14 of his 22 points in the opening period.
Ankeny started getting its wheels turning again with a pair of 3-pointers from Sorensen and some buckets from Aguirre and Anderson to keep the game within four points. But just like Rice in the first quarter, Bode Goodman helped the Wolves go on a 10-0 run to open things up.
Aguirre tried to spark Ankeny with a 3-pointer to start the second half, but it was answered with a 13-0 run from the Wolves. The Hawks just couldn’t find the same success they had in the first quarter as Northwest outscored them, 47-23, in the second half.
“We’re still confident,” Aguirre said. “I think this game was just something to learn from. We’re not going to be down too much on it. We’ve just got to take what we can from it and take what we struggled with and improve on it next week.”
Aguirre led Ankeny with 20 points. Sorensen chipped in 13.
Goodman had 19 points and four steals for the Wolves, while Peyton McCollum finished with nine points and six assists. Landon Davis grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked six shots.
Second-seeded Ankeny will host a Class 4A substate semifinal on Feb. 28 against the winner of a game between No. 3 Dallas Center-Grimes (16-5) and No. 6 Fort Dodge (5-16). The Hawks pulled out a 50-48 win at Dallas Center-Grimes on Jan. 21.
“Our focus all year was to get to the state tournament, and we still have that goal in mind and we all still believe in it,” Aguirre said. “The main thing to focus on is just keep growing as a family every day and staying on the same page. When we’re on the same page and firing on the same cylinders, we’ve definitely shown we’re hard to beat.”
