The Ankeny boys’ basketball team took a two-game winning streak into Tuesday’s contest at fourth-ranked Waukee.
A matchup against one of the state’s hottest squads brought the Hawks’ midseason momentum to a sudden halt.
The Warriors completed a sweep of the season series by rolling to a 76-53 victory in a CIML Conference game. It was their seventh straight win since they suffered back-to-back losses right before Christmas.
“Their balance is really good–they’re a great team,” said Ankeny coach Brandt Carlson. “And they’ve given us trouble for three years now. Hopefully, someday we’ll have a chance to figure it out.”
Evan Jacobson had a double-double to lead Waukee, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds. He also had three blocks.
Pete Craig contributed 15 points, seven boards and three blocks, while Jai White had 13 points and three steals. Landon Hanson added 10 points and four assists.
“They’re tough to defend when you’ve got five guys who can all put the ball in the basket,” Carlson said. “If you try to double (Jacobson), somebody is going to hit a 3.”
Rio Aguirre paced the Hawks with 21 points, going 8-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range. He scored 20 or more points for the fifth time this season and the 20th time in his career.
Jasani Campbell contributed 12 points. Drew Sorensen had nine points, three assists and two steals, while Max Allison grabbed five rebounds and had four blocks.
“The big thing tonight, I thought, was that we were a little fearful with our offensive production,” Carlson said. “We were kind of hesitant and turned it over (14 times), and we let them get runouts.”
Ankeny trailed by just 8-7 midway through the first quarter before Waukee went on an 8-0 run. Craig and Hanson each hit a 3-pointer before White converted a steal into a layup to give the Warriors a 16-7 advantage.
Aguirre made a trey to close the gap to 18-12 at the end of the period, then later made a jumper to cut Waukee’s lead to 27-17 in the second quarter. But the Warriors then reeled off nine straight points to close out the half.
Jacobson grabbed a rebound and drove the length of the court for a layup at the buzzer to give his team a 36-17 margin at the break.
“You just can’t get behind,” Carlson said. “We’ve done that a few times this year with the best teams around, and then we played pretty even after that. I think we kind of wait around to see how things are going to go and then we start playing, and you can’t do that. You’re not going to win games playing like that.”
The Warriors twice led by 24 points in the third quarter before Campbell and Sorensen combined for seven consecutive points to cut the deficit to 44-27. The Hawks later pulled to within 63-47 on a Sorensen 3-pointer in the final period before Waukee closed out the game with a 13-6 run.
“We still weren’t down by that much, but then the end of the second quarter got away from us,” Carlson said. “We won the third quarter and then we did ok in the fourth quarter, but by then you’re just too far behind.”
Both teams went deep on their bench in the final minutes. Senior guard Samuel Cowart saw his first action for the Hawks since suffering a leg injury during a loss to Southeast Polk on Dec. 16.
“It was good for him to get out there,” Carlson said. “His recovery has really been miraculous. I just wanted to give him an opportunity to get up and down the court a little bit. He’s looked great in practice the last day or so, and it’s good to have our team back whole.”
Waukee remained in third place in the conference, improving to 8-2 in the league and 11-2 overall. Ankeny’s records dropped to 5-5 and 6-6.
The Hawks will host a conference game against Johnston on Friday. The Dragons are 3-7 in the league and 5-7 overall after losing to No. 2 Waukee Northwest, 69-46, on Tuesday.
Ankeny won the first meeting at Johnston, 63-58, on Dec. 9.
