Raider basketball sees big milestones reached
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Mt. Ayr 64, NV 41
The Mount Ayr Raiders took to the big stage at Wells Fargo Arena last Tuesday, where they defeated POI rival, Nodaway Valley.
The Raiders came out ahead 16-6 after the first quarter, but the Wovlerines kept the game interesting in the second and third, scoring 28 to Mount Ayr’s 30.
The Raiders would go on to put the game away in the fourth with a showing of 18 points to the Wolverines 7.
Mount Ayr was led by Jaixen Frost who had 27 points, followed by Cody Larson with 13.
Frost also led the team in rebounds with 10, while Braydon Pierson led the team in steals with six.
The Raiders shot 41.9 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from the line.
The Raiders were careful with the ball as well, committing only four turnovers and being called on only nine fouls, compared to the Wolverines 18 turnovers and 15 fouls.
“I’m feeling fantastic. this is a big rivalry game, I don’t care what the records are. I’m happy for our guys, it’s a great venue tonight,” said coach Bret Ruggles. “These guys played hard tonight. This is a huge floor and we put a lot of minutes on tonight. I wish we could stop our attack mode sometimes, but that’s this team. They just keep coming at you.”
The win was also a milestone for coaches Bret Ruggles and Jeff Levine as it marked the 200th win for the duo.
“The fact that it’s been with Jeff the entire time means a lot. A lot of head coaches go through assistants left and right and to have him here the entire time, and to go through the struggles and successes we’ve been through. We’ve had sub-state runs, district final runs, conference championship,” said coach Ruggles. “For 200 wins, it comes down to my kids and the ability of our youth coaches. They keep producing athletes and I keep using them.”
Coach Jeff Levine shared the same sentitments as coach Ruggles.
“It’s great [200 wins]. to get it against Nodaway Valley, one of our biggest rivals, it’s great and the longevity we have had and the support we’ve got, it’s really nice,” said coach Levine. “We have a really good relationship. We are quite alike. We are really into sports, and basketball and get along really well.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
MA 16 20 10 18 64
NV 6 15 13 7 41
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 6 2-10 1-3 1-2
Reynolds 9 3-11 1-2 2-4
Frost 27 12-17 1-2 2-2
Pierson 7 3- 1-3 0-0
C.Larson 13 5-10 0-0 3-5
Victor 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Sackett 0 0-1 0-1 0-0
M.Larson 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Ehlen 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Martin 2 1-4 0-0 0-0
Fooken 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 1 2 0 0
Reynolds 7 4 3 2
Frost 10 2 1 1
Pierson 5 2 6 0
C.Larson 9 3 1 1
Victor 0 0 0 0
Sackett 0 0 0 0
M.Larson 0 0 0 0
Ehlen 0 0 0 0
Martin 9 3 1 1
Fooken 0 0 0 0
Mt. Ayr 44, Bedford 41
The Raiders improved to 9-1 on the season after a close contest against the Bedford Bulldogs Friday night.
The Raiders led the Bulldogs in the first, 12-10 before taking a nice lead heading into halftime, 22-15.
Junior Jaixen Frost also hit a major milestone in the first half, scoring his 1,000th career point.
“It feels great. I’m glad I got there, now I can get back to playing basketball,” said Frost. “Once I hit the 10 points, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders.”
Frost had plenty of family in attendance Friday night that were able to see him achieve his goal.
“Family is everything. I’m glad they got to see it,” said Frost.
“It’s one of the hardest things. When you get to that 1,000 points, you really want to press and push and get it done and that’s hard,” said coach Ruggles. “I was proud of him. He took really good shots and he did what he normally does. I can’t tell you enough how hard that kid works on his craft. He’s constanlty working to get a little bit better and he never settles and I really appreciate that about him.”
The Bulldogs won the second half, against the Raiders, but weren’t able to put the contest away, falling to the Raiders by three.
The Bulldogs outscored the Raiders 26-22 in the second half and what looked like could be the first loss the Raiders would suffer since opening night, Mount Ayr found a way to win.
With 30 seconds to go on the clock, the Bulldogs called timeout with possession of the ball.
The Raiders still led, by one and under the Bulldog bucket, Jaixen Frost was fouled and went to the line with .4 seconds on the clock.
Frost went 2-2 at the line to make it a three point contest and the Bulldogs were unable to tie the game, giving the Raiders a 44-41 victory.
“We had a good 5-6 point lead, we should’ve been able to put it away but we couldn’t, but you have to go through these things when you anhave an inexperienced team,” said coach Ruggles. “We put ourselves in the front of the West and we are tied for first in the conference right now and that’s great for our kids.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
Bed 10 5 10 16 41
MA 12 10 10 12 44
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 5 2-6 1-3 0-0
Reynolds 6 2-7 0-2 2-4
Frost 18 7-16 0-4 4-4
Pierson 12 6-16 0-5 0-0
C.Larson 3 0-2 0-0 3-4
Martin 0 0-1 0-0 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 2 1 1 0
Reynolds 8 1 3 0
Frost 9 4 2 0
Pierson 10 2 7 0
C.Larson 2 1 1 1
Martin 3 0 2 1
Mt. Ayr 41, SWV 31
The Raiders had a tough outing against the Southwest Valley Timberwolves on Monday night, when they found themselves in unfamiliar territory, trailing by 10 points at the end of the first quarter.
The Raiders made up a little ground heading into halftime, but trailed the Timberwolves 16-10 after two quarters.
The Raiders were missing their starting post in Cody Larson, and coach Bret Ruggles was finding it hard to replace him.
“Our entire defense is built around Cody,” said coach Ruggles. “We slipped Reynolds, who has some post experience, in that interior and we just wanted to reverse the ball. It worked for four straight possessions.”
In the past, this season, the Raiders would head into halftime in the lead and a lull in the third would see the opposing team close the gap, however, Monday night it was the Raiders that needed to get to work.
Defensive adjustments at halftime proved to be enough and the Raiders outscored Southwest Valley 20-8 to take a third quarter lead.
The Raiders held the lead the remainder of the night and were able to get the 41-31 lead at the final buzzer.
This is the only game for the Raiders this week and something coach Ruggles is looking forward to.
“We are going to take tomorrow off and watch our wrestlers,” said coach Ruggles. “It’s something we don’t get to do often. We have a chance to watch them at home and we need some rest. We will get back on Wednesday.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
SWV 12 4 8 7 31
MA 2 8 20 11 41
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 2 1-5 0-2 0-1
Reynolds 9 3-11 1-3 2-3
Frost 17 7-17 -13 2-3
Pierson 10 4-13 2-6 0-0
Martin 3 1-7 1-2 0-0
Victor 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Sackett 0 0-2 0-1 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 1 0 3 0
Reynolds 7 1 1 1
Frost 13 4 1 2
Pierson 7 4 3 0
Martin 5 1 0 1
Victor 0 0 0 0
Sackett 2 0 0 0
