Red Oak falls to Mount Ayr
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Mt. Ayr 52, MStM 47
The Raiders hosted the Martensdale-St. Marys Blue Devils last week and after the final buzzer, the Raiders sat second in the Pride of Iowa after a stunning 52-47 victory.
The Raiders came out hot against the Blue Devils and led at halftime by four, however, by the third quarter Mount Ayr fell behind after a rally by Martensdale’s Gavin Stott who ended the night hitting six three’s and leading the Blue Devils with 19 points.
Mount Ayr trailed by one heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
With just over a minute to go, the game was tied at 46.
Cody Larson gave the Raiders a much needed boost with a bucket while drawing a foul to add a one-and- one to put the Raiders up 49-46.
Jaixen Frost then had a trip to the freethrow line where he added two more.
With a five point lead, Hogan Franey drew a foul on a three point attempt, but was only able to make one as the crowd got loud with Mount Ayr coach Bret Ruggles asking the crowd to get pumped.
With 14.5 seconds left and a four point lead, Braydon Pierson made it a five point lead once more to put the game away with a single freethrow.
Frost led the team with 24 points.
It was a fairly clean game for the Raiders who committed nine fouls to the Blue Devils 16.
The Raiders snagged 29 rebounds on the night, led by Larson with nine and Pierson with eight.
“We told them tonight it’s going to be a big bout,” said coach Bret Ruggles. “When you have a boxing match like this you’re going to have to take a blow and take shot after shot after shot. Franey kept hitting threes, Stott is amazing. We kept fighting back. This team makes a lot of mistakes but they just keep winning. We have a guy that makes tough shots and we have guys around him that just make shots.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
MSM 13 11 17 6 47
MA 16 12 12 12 52
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 4 1-2 0-0 2-2
Reynolds 7 3-8 0-2 1-1
Frost 24 10-19 0-1 4-6
Pierson 9 4-11 1-2 0-1
C.Larson 5 1-2 0-0 3-5
Sackett 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Martin 3 1-3 1-1 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 5 2 1 0
Reynolds 4 2 0 0
Frost 3 2 1 2
Pierson 8 2 1 0
C.Larson 9 3 2 1
Sackett 0 0 0 0
Martin 0 2 1 0
Mt. Ayr 64, Red Oak 53
The Raiders took the trip to Red Oak last Thursday to finish out their regular season against the Tigers.
Mount Ayr was still enjoying the big win over the Blue Devils just days prior and brought with them the momentum from that Pride of Iowa win.
The Raiders defeated the Tigers 64-53 while leading at the end of each quarter to finish out the regular season 17-3.
In the win, Jaixen Frost broke the school All-Time career scoring record after scoring 27 points, while sitting 19 points away heading into the contest.
Ryce Reynolds helped the Mount Ayr boys overcome Red Oak by putting up 15 points himself, including seven that came from the free-throw line.
The Raiders put Red Oak into foul trouble with 30 shots total from the line and sinking 21 of them, while the Tigers shot only nine times from the line.
Cody Larson led the team in rebounds with 10, while Jaixen Frost led the team in assists with five.
“In a week in how many we wouldn’t get, you look around and we weren’t favored to beat Martensdale, we definitely weren’t favored to beat Red Oak, you beat I-35 on a Monday, a lot of toughness in these kids,” said Ruggles. “They really do a nice job of getting after it.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
MA 20 14 11 19 64
RO 14 8 18 13 53
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 4 1-6 1-3 1-4
Reynolds 15 4-7 0-0 7-9
Frost 27 8-15 4-6 7-8
Pierson 3 1-9 0-2 1-3
C. Larson 7 2-3 0-0 3-4
Sackett 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Martin 8 3-6 0-1 2-2
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 4 2 4 0
Reynolds 4 2 2 0
Frost 9 5 1 0
Pierson 4 0 2 0
C.Larson 10 1 1 0
Sackett 0 0 0 0
Martin 3 1 1 0
Mt. Ayr 70, SEY 35
The Raiders hosted the Seymour Warriors once more, this time in a lose and go home scenario in the District opener.
The first matchup between the two teams saw the Raiders victorious 84-37.
Monday nights contest saw the Raiders off to a slow start, but a quick turnaround put the Raiders ahead 14-7 early before closing out the first eight minutes ahead 16-10.
By halftime, the Raiders had increased their lead 37-14 and continued to pressure the Warriors well into the third with a 61-25 lead after the third quarter.
Coach Ruggles put in the reserves in the fourth quarter to rest the legs of the starters for a tough battle against North Mahaska on Thursday in the next round of District play.
The Raiders defeated Seymour 70-35 to advance.
The Raiders shot 31-of-57 from the field and were led by Ryce Reynolds with 24 points.
Reynolds also had four rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block.
Jaixen Frost collected 16 points on the night, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Riley Stark led the team in assists and steals with six and five, respectively.
“It’s the first time we warm up with 25 minutes to go, the National Anthem is new to us so everyone is out of sync a little bit but our defense really took over in the second quarter,” said coach Ruggles. “We got out to a nice lead and let our guys have a chance to play, perhaps for the last time.”
Up next for the Raiders is North Mahaska today, Thursday, February 17.
“I think we are going to try and break it up [the road trip], maybe get a lunch somewhere, light supper as we are headed up,” said coach Ruggles. “A two hour and 15 minute bus ride is tough. I told them no one had us at 18-3 so no one had us playing North Mahaska and here we are. I am excited.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
SEY 10 4 11 10 35
MA 16 21 24 9 70
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 6 2-7 0-1 2-3
Reynolds 24 11-15 1-3 1-1
Frost 16 8-12 0-2 0-0
Pierson 9 4-6 1-1 0-0
C. Larson 2 0-2 0-0 2-2
Victor 0 0-2 0-1 0-0
Sackett 2 1-2 0-1 0-0
M.Larson 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Ehlen 2 1-4 0-1 0-0
Martin 7 3-6 0-2 1-5
Fooken 2 1-1 0-0 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 3 6 5 0
Reynolds 4 1 2 1
Frost 8 4 3 1
Pierson 8 0 3 0
C.Larson 1 1 0 0
Victor 1 3 0 0
Sackett 2 0 0 0
M.Larson 0 0 0 0
Ehlen 2 0 0 0
Martin 3 5 2 1
Fooken 0 0 0 0
