It won’t be easy for the Ankeny boys’ basketball team to replace injured guard Jasani Campbell.
But the 10th-ranked Hawks showed on Saturday, though, that they have some other players capable of filling the void.
Seniors Cayden Clark, Carson Bright, Sammy Cowart and Kael Roush all played key roles as Ankeny defeated Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 74-60, in the CIML/MVC Crossover Classic at Waukee.
The game was played less than 24 hours after Campbell injured his right knee during a loss at No. 4 Dowling Catholic.
“Our guys were kind of banged up from Friday and not just Jasani, but we got some great contributions from a lot of different guys,” said Ankeny coach Brandt Carlson. “It was a lot of fun.”
Clark replaced Campbell in the starting lineup and contributed a season-high seven points in 19 minutes of action. Bright, Cowart and Roush came off the bench and also played double-digit minutes while combining for 37 points.
Bright scored 16 of his career-high 18 points in the second half, when the Hawks outscored Kennedy by a 42-26 margin to erase a 34-32 halftime deficit. He went 8-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
“Carson just played really hard,” Carlson said of Bright, who also had six rebounds and two assists. “He just played like a senior should, and it was really neat to see. He had some big 3s, and so did Sammy.”
Cowart tied his career-high with 12 points, going 4-of-6 from deep. As a team, the Hawks went 12-of-25 from behind the arc (48.0 percent) and shot 60.4 percent overall (29-of-48).
Roush, meanwhile, added seven points and four boards.
“It was a really good win for us,” Carlson said. “It was a great game for us to come through without one of our leading scorers.”
Ankeny also got a big effort from senior star Rio Aguirre, who nearly recorded a triple-double while playing all 32 minutes. He finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Aguirre helped the Hawks to a 35-21 advantage on the boards.
“Kennedy just plays a style that is hard to practice for, but we scrimmaged them over Christmas and I think that helped a little bit,” Carlson said. “We took a couple of quarters to figure it out, but we had a good second half. Drew (Sorensen) pretty much handled their pressure a lot of times all by himself and just distributed the ball. Max (Allison) and the other guys finished at the rim when they needed to, so it was just a good overall team win for us.”
Ankeny raised its record to 9-7 while snapping Kennedy’s six-game winning streak. The Cougars fell to 10-7 on the season.
The Hawks will travel to Waukee Northwest on Tuesday for the first of three CIML Conference games in four days. The No. 2 Wolves are 12-1 in the league and 15-2 overall.
Northwest won the first meeting at Ankeny, 64-45, on Jan. 9. The Wolves can clinch the conference title with a win on Tuesday and another one on Friday at Dowling.
Carlson said it’s likely that Campbell will be out of action for at least a week. The Hawks will play at Urbandale on Thursday before hosting Johnston on Friday.
“They don’t think he tore anything; it’s a hyperextension or a knee sprain,” Carlson said. “He’s been a quick healer in the past, so we’ll see. But it doesn’t appear to be a season-ending type of injury.
“We just have to start over on Monday and work our way through the week,” he added.
