The Ankeny Christian Academy boys’ basketball players had no reasons to hang their heads following Saturday’s 66-46 loss to second-ranked Madrid in a Class 1A substate final at the Knapp Center.
The Eagles came within one victory of advancing to the state tournament and finished with a 17-8 record in what appeared to be a rebuilding year for the program.
“We didn’t know what to expect going into the season as we only had three returning players who were on varsity last year,” said senior guard Austin Lundberg. “We ended up making a good run in the postseason, and it was a lot of fun.”
Madrid (25-0) earned its second trip to the state tournament in three years. The Tigers have had only four games decided by single digits.
Madrid’s closest game of the season came on Jan. 6 at Ankeny Christian, where the Tigers escaped with a 70-67 win.
“We were confident that we could play well against Madrid given the fact that no one played them closer than we did,” said ACA coach Jay Nihart. “Tonight we had a close game at 39-33 late in the third quarter. Unfortunately, we were not able to close the game the way we wanted.”
Madrid used a zone defense on Saturday to stifle ACA’s offensive attack. With 6-foot-6 Emerson Bridgewater and 6-5 Jevyn Severson clogging the lane, the Eagles were unable to consistently get the ball into the paint.
Thus, ACA often had to shoot from the perimeter with the shot clock winding down. The Eagles went 5-of-23 from 3-point range (21.7 percent) and 18-of-56 overall (32.1 percent).
“It caught us by surprise that they played zone because when we played them earlier in the season, they had played man and we had a lot of success,” Lundberg said.
ACA took its only lead at 6-4 on a pair of 3-point goals by Hayden Davis and Lundberg early in the first quarter, but the Tigers then responded with an 18-4 run to build a 22-10 advantage at the end of the period.
The Eagles closed the gap to 24-19 on a basket by Marcus Pedersen with 5 minutes 7 seconds left in the second quarter, but they then went scoreless for the rest of the half.
That allowed Madrid to go on a 9-0 run to take a 33-19 lead. Fabian Ortiz-Alaniz scored five of his 12 points during the run.
“At halftime we made adjustments to set some back screens to set up guards in the lane, and we needed to do better at attacking the rim,” Lundberg said.
ACA pulled within 39-33 on back-to-back baskets by Jed Rood late in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Eagles could get. Madrid later used an 11-0 run to extend its margin to 53-35.
Brody Buck made a 3-pointer for the Tigers with 5:03 remaining, then Ortiz-Alaniz completed the run with another trey about 30 seconds later.
“Credit goes to coach (Brian) Surratt and the Madrid team for having a great game plan and ability to hit big shots in the fourth quarter,” Nihart said.
Severson, a freshman, led Madrid with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting while Toryn Severson had 16 points–about seven below his average. Both Seversons dished out five assists and grabbed eight rebounds, helping their team to a 29-24 advantage on the boards.
Buck added 12 points for the Tigers. He also had four steals.
Davis led ACA with 12 points, going 3-of-8 from behind the arc. He was among the four seniors playing their final game for the Eagles.
Lundberg and Pedersen each had 10 points. Aidan Beck had six points and a team-high seven rebounds, Rood also chipped in six points, and Tyson Fincham added five assists and two steals.
“I am incredibly proud of our boys,” Nihart said. “They had great resiliency throughout the season battling injuries and illness, but were able to be conference champs and district champs. Above all, they displayed great character on and off the court.”
