(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Going into the fourth quarter down just two points, the Ankeny boys’ basketball team had a chance at pulling off a major road upset on Tuesday night.
Third-ranked Waukee Northwest kept the door cracked open wide enough that the No. 7 Hawks were within striking distance at handing the Wolves their third loss in the last four games.
But Ankeny couldn’t get the buckets it needed down the stretch as Northwest held on for a 58-49 victory.
“It’s really nice seeing guys come around and want to keep playing,” said Ankeny coach Brandt Carlson. “That’s a great team and we had to play almost perfect to win, and we were darn close there for a while.”
Neither team got out to the exact start that they wanted to, but it was the Wolves that took an early lead with an 8-0 run.
Ankeny’s only point to that point came off a free throw from senior Drew Sorensen.
It was fellow seniors Andrew Brandhorst and Sammy Cowart checking into the game that completely turned things around for Ankeny.
Brandhorst and Cowart made two straight 3-pointers that pulled the Hawks back within one possession at the end of the quarter, and from there until the final period, they never fell too far behind.
Ankeny went into the game without its second-leading scorer in junior Jasani Campbell, who missed his second consecutive game due to a knee injury. Campbell led the Hawks with 16 points during their 64-45 loss to Northwest on Jan. 9.
Without Campbell in the lineup, the Hawks were going to need some others to step up and help carry some of the load if they wanted a shot at knocking off Northwest.
“I’m really proud of our effort without (Campbell) playing,” Carlson said. “A lot of guys stepped up. We were going to try to run some different guys out there today to give them a taste of it, and they really performed.”
Brandhorst, Cowart and junior Landon Hutchins contributed some big buckets at the end of the first quarter and into the start of the second period that kept the Hawks in the game.
Senior center Max Allison finished the game with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. All of his points came on dunks during the second and third quarters, which included back-to-back slams that closed the gap to three points.
One of Ankeny’s biggest contributors was senior Cayden Clark, who scored a season-high 14 points in the loss.
“Landon did a good job, Andrew got us going there in the first quarter finally, and Cayden came alive,” Carlson said.
Northwest had threatened to take a double-digit lead in the second quarter when Clark re-entered the game and knocked down two shots–with one coming from beyond the arc–that pulled Ankeny back within five points.
Senior Rio Aguirre scored back-to-back baskets at the end of the third quarter that cut the margin to 41-39. He finished with 11 points, seven boards and four assists.
“It makes you hard to guard when you have more guys get involved and guys are trusting each other,” Carlson said. “We had a couple other open looks that we just didn’t find those guys, and we got to continue to try to do that.”
Northwest relied heavily on Illinois commit Landon Davis up to that point as he led all scorers with 17 points. But between him and Nebraska commit Colin Rice, the Wolves found a way to stay in front.
Davis finished with a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Rice added 14 points, eight boards and three blocks.
Another thing that didn’t help Ankeny’s cause was Northwest senior Isaiah Oliver, who scored seven of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. Oliver picked up three early fouls that kept him sidelined for most of the first half.
Ankeny kept it within four points with around 2 minutes left to play thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Aguirre and Clark.
“That’s what you want,” Carlson said of his team. “As you’re getting ready for tournament time, you want a team that’s not going to give in and I feel like that’s been our team and our program here since I’ve been here and even before.”
But down the home stretch, the only points the Hawks could find in the final 2 minutes were a pair of free throws from Clark.
Oliver got Northwest’s lead up to six points and sophomore Nash Kooken extended the lead with some free throws with 35.8 seconds left, allowing the Wolves to complete a sweep of the season series. They improved to 13-1 in the CIML Conference and 16-3 overall, while Ankeny’s records fell to 6-7 and 9-8.
Northwest can wrap up the league title with another win on Friday at No. 4 Dowling Catholic, while the Hawks won’t have much time to dwell on the loss with two more games coming up in the next few days. They will travel to Urbandale on Thursday before hosting Johnston on Friday.
The J-Hawks are 8-7 in the conference and 9-8 overall. They won the first meeting at Ankeny, 71-63, on Jan. 6.
“I think the big thing is what we have been doing lately, which is being consistent on both ends of the floor,” Carlson said. “I feel like our rebounding has been better, our decision making has been better, our shot selection has been better, and we’re going to need all of that on Thursday.”
