(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
There was nothing the Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball team would’ve loved more than opening 2026 with a big upset victory.
But despite a blazing hot start to the game, the Jaguars eventually fell behind in the second half and suffered a 54-46 loss to sixth-ranked Waukee on Friday night at Centennial.
“We came out of the gate fearless and came right at (Waukee),” said Centennial coach Matt Delger. “You know how games go in the CIML (Conference). There’s the highs and the lows, and you have to ride all of it. We just didn’t have enough of those highs.”
For the first 5 minutes of play, the Warriors weren’t sure what hit them.
The Jaguars carried some of the momentum from their pre-holiday break victory over Valley with them, and they had Waukee facing a double-digit deficit before the Warriors even got on the scoreboard.
Sophomore guard Keaton Kasperbauer scored the first basket of the game and back-to-back buckets from juniors Luke Mitchell and Hunter Runchey forced an early Waukee timeout.
Senior Kolby Bechen then drained a 3-pointer and followed up a second Mitchell basket by getting a floater to fall to give the Jaguars a 13-0 lead with just under 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
“Our pace and tempo were very good right out of the gate,” Delger said. “We were setting physical screens, moving the ball and we had a lot of guys fearlessly attacking the rim.”
But the 13-point lead didn’t last for very long.
Led by Jai White, the Warriors were able to completely erase the deficit and tied the score at 13-13 on a 3-pointer by Kayne Vandis during the opening minute of the second period.
White emerged as Waukee’s scoring leader in the first half as Bechen stepped up as the Jaguars’ top scorer.
Bechen helped Centennial maintain a lead in the second quarter by drawing a goaltending call on an open cut to the hoop and sinking some free throws to finish the half with nine points.
“We think (Bechen) has the best motor in the CIML,” Delger said. “He’s just out there working his tail off, and everybody kind of feeds off that energy. He gets the other team’s best scorers, and he has to lock them down on defense. He handles the ball the other way coming up the floor. He’s kind of our rock out there.”
Waukee took the lead at the end of the half when Landon Hanson got a rebound on a missed free throw and scored through a foul with 0.2 seconds left on the clock. Hanson then converted the ensuing free throw to give the Warriors a 23-21 advantage at the break.
The Jaguars were able to limit White’s impact in the second half by getting him into some foul trouble, but with the talent across the board for Waukee, it was only a matter of time until some of the Warriors’ other top scorers stepped up.
Texas A&M football commit Evan Jacobson had just four points in the first half, but turned around and powered the Warriors with 10 points in the third quarter as the Waukee lead grew to 44-32.
“With teams like (Waukee) that are so balanced, it’s pick your poison,” Delger said. “You’re not going to be able to take away absolutely everything that they want to do, and (Jacobson) made us pay with a couple of (buckets).”
Much like Jacobson for the Warriors, Runchey stepped up in a big way for the Jaguars in the second half.
Runchey had just four points going into halftime and attempted to will his team back into the game with a 15-point second half to finish as the game’s leading scorer with 19 points, surpassing his previous career-high of 14. He went 4-of-4 at the free-throw line and has now made 22 consecutive attempts from the stripe this season.
“Hunter has been playing great,” Delger said. “He’s very aggressive, he made huge plays down the fourth (quarter) which is what we need him to do, and he just played very well for us.”
Runchey accounted for 10 of the team’s 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors were able to hold on for the win behind 14-point nights from White and Jacobson along with a nine-point second half from Max Roach. Bechen and Kasperbauer each had four rebounds and three assists for the Jaguars.
“That’s the positive,” Delger said of his team’s effort. “We played a team that’s likely going to be at the state tournament and competing for it all. We played right with them, it’s just little details here and there that have to get cleaned up that can win or lose a game.”
The Warriors improved to 4-2 in the conference and 6-2 overall. Centennial dropped to 1-5 in the league.
The Jaguars will travel to Southeast Polk on Tuesday for another conference game against the Rams, who are 2-4 in the league and 5-4 overall after dropping a 74-52 decision at Urbandale on Friday.
“We talk about growth a lot,” Delger said. “We really try to learn from each game and grow before the next one. We hope to do that again and keep rolling.”