The Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team didn’t go down without a fight.
The Jaguars put a scare into fourth-ranked Waukee Northwest before the host Wolves pulled away in the second half for a 78-44 victory in a Class 4A substate semifinal on Friday.
“Our kids were playing hard and playing fearless,” said Centennial coach Bob Fontana. “It was tied up with 3 minutes to go in the first half, but then we got outscored 28-5 in the last 3 minutes of the first half and the first 4 minutes of the second half and all of the sudden we’re down by 23 midway through the third quarter.”
It was the 10th straight win for Northwest (20-3), which will host Sioux City East (19-3) in the substate final on Tuesday. The Wolves defeated Centennial for the third time this season.
The Jaguars finished with a 5-17 record.
“It’s been a tough year,” Fontana said. “We obviously wanted to win more games. We knew coming into the season that it was an inexperienced group, and I was proud of how they stuck with it. They just kept battling and fighting. We had to deal with some injuries, but life is full of adverse moments and sometimes you have to learn from those things, and hopefully it’ll make you better in the long run.”
Cabryn Klingner scored 12 points and Cayden Clark added 11 points and two steals for Centennial, which kept the game close in the first half by switching up its defenses.
The Wolves found some success from behind the arc though, making eight 3-point goals to build a 34-24 advantage.
“They shot it really well,” Fontana said. “We were switching up our defenses to try to take them out of their flow and their rhythm, but they hit those eight 3s. All but one of them were contested–and they hit some deep ones on us.”
Northwest coach Brett Watson told Fontana after the game that only one other team had played a zone against the Wolves this season.
“I’m not saying we had them rattled, but we did not give up any transition points the first half,” Fontana said. “We just had a couple of bad possessions at the end of the half, and they scored on both of them. That’s how it went to a 10-point lead at the half.”
Northwest then erupted in the third quarter to break the game open. The Wolves extended their margin to 59-29 after three periods.
“They got it going in the second half,” Fontana said. “They were more physical in attacking the rim and on the glass. When they get it going like that, they’re really good.”
All five Northwest starters scored in double figures. The Wolves shot 60 percent from the field (30-of-50) and made 14-of-26 attempts from 3-point range (53.8 percent).
Peyton McCollum went 4-of-5 from behind the arc and scored 16 points. He also dished out eight assists.
Mack Heitland had 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep. Bode Goodman had a double-double, finishing with 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and four blocks.
The Wolves committed just five turnovers and also won the rebounding battle, 32-17.
“They seem to have a big run in every game,” Fontana said. “And if they shoot it like they did against us, they’re going to be a tough out. You’ve got to play almost a perfect game to beat them.”
Sean Tunks had eight points and four assists for the Jaguars. Devin Vessely went 2-of-4 from deep and scored six points, while Luke Mitchell added four points and four rebounds.
