Raiders setting sights on POI after wins

Mount Ayr 87,
Lenox 59
The Mount Ayr Raiders traveled to Lenox last week where they faced the Lenox Tigers.
Things stayed close in the first quarter, but Mount Ayr led 21-17 after the first quarter.
Lenox struggled to score against the Mount Ayr defense in the second, scoring only eight, while the Raiders led at halftime 41-25.
The Raiders won the second-half against the Tigers and late in the contest, the Raiders were able to rest the starters and get valuable time on the floor with the bench.
The Raiders would defeat the Tigers, for the second time, 87-59.
In the win, Jaixen Frost led the team with 31 points and was able to secure a triple double, securing 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Frost also led in steals with five.
“Most of it is just having fun. When you’re having fun and playing well, there’s nothing better than that,” said Frost. “We’re not trying to overlook anybody and just trying to play ball.”
Braydon Pierson had a good night at the bucket as well, scoring 21.
“They didn’t catch on that I was in a hot spot but I took it and snuck behind them and took what I could,” said Pierson. “It feels great. We beat them one time but it feels good to come in and do it at their home.”
Jackson Ruggles stayed busy on defense, grabbing seven rebounds and grabbing five steals while scoring nine points.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better way to start a ballgame. We should have been down 2-0, but we shot a really nice ballgame, especially when Frost got going, Pierson got going, Ruggs [Jackson Ruggles] had a huge third quarter and had contributions from Ryce [Reynolds] and Martin,” said coach Bret Ruggles. “We got moving and tonight was the first night I saw us actually run an offense and do really nice things.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
MA 21 20 25 21 87
LT 17 8 19 15 59
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 4 2-4 0-1 0-2
Reynolds 8 3-6 0-1 2-2
Frost 31 13-25 4-8 1-3
Pierson 21 8-15 5-9 0-0
Martin 8 4-7 0-1 0-0
Ruggles 9 3-7 0-3 3-3
Dugan 0 0-1 0-0 0-0
Fooken 2 1-1 0-0 0-0
JaizeFrost 4 2-2 0-0 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 2 3 0 0
Reynolds 5 2 2 2
Frost 14 10 5 3
Pierson 3 1 0 0
Martin 4 3 0 1
Ruggles 10 2 5 2
Dugan 3 0 0 0
Fooken 1 0 1 0
JaizeFrost 2 2 0 0
Mount Ayr 64,
MStM 32
The Raiders traveled to Martensdale to face the 2-13 Blue Devils.
Mount Ayr was able to improve to a 13-2 record after snagging yet another Pride of Iowa victory to help push them closer to another conference title, but with plenty of work still left to do.
The Raiders defeated the Blue Devils by 32 points, 21 of which was scored by Pierson, while the only other double-points scorer was Frost with 12.
The Raiders ended the first quarter, ahead 22-0, not allowing a single point to the Blue Devils.
In the second quarter, Martensdale was able to get on the board, scoring nine, but the Raiders led by 30 at the halftime buzzer.
The Blue Devils had a better second half, scoring 23, altogether, but the Raider offense continued to score, eventually defeating the Blue Devils 64-32.
“We really wanted to get to the press early and establish ourselves which we did, going up 22-1 early,” said Ruggles. “What we were disappointed in tonight was we wanted to transition into and work on some things like our man-to-man, which I thought was pretty good tonight, but we wanted to work on our offense and we didn’t really have a lot of offense looks and we need to work on those things.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
MA 22 17 18 7 64
MSM 0 9 13 10 32
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 3 1-2 0-0 1-2
Reynolds 6 2-3 0-1 2-2
Frost 12 5-9 1-3 1-2
Pierson 21 7-11 2-3 5-6
Martin 7 3-8 0-3 1-2
Ehlen 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Ruggles 4 2-5 0-0 0-0
Victor 0 0-2 0-1 0-0
Trujillo 0 0-1 0-0 0-0
Dugan 4 1-3 0-0 2-2
Main 0 0-1 0-0 0-0
Fooken 5 1-3 0-0 3-4
JaizeFrost 2 1-4 0-1 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 2 1 2 0
Reynolds 4 2 3 0
Frost 4 0 3 0
Pierson 4 0 3 0
Martin 5 4 0 0
Ehlen 0 0 0 0
Ruggles 9 4 4 1
Victor 0 0 0 0
Trujillo 1 0 1 0
Dugan 4 0 0 0
Main 0 0 0 0
Fooken 2 0 0 1
JaizeFrost 4 1 0 0
Mount Ayr 72,
Centerville 47

The Raiders hosted the Centerville Big Red (2-12) on Monday night to start off a short week of basketball.
The offense began slow, falling behind early but eventually taking a 20-14 lead after the initial first eight minutes.
The second quarter saw the Raiders get more aggressive and finding more physicality under the bucket to score, to lead the Big Red 42-26 headed into the locker room at halftime.
Mount Ayr was able to put bench players in throughout the contest, getting them valuable court time, while keeping the starters fresh.
The Raiders won each quarter in the second half to come out on top 72-47.
The Raiders were led by Jaixen Frost and Braydon Pierson at the bucket again, each with 24 points.
Frost led the team in rebounds and assists with nine and seven, respectively.
Pierson led the team in steals with six.
Coach Bret Ruggles was pleased with how his team performed in the win, getting to work on things that he wanted to see in last Friday night’s matchup with Martensdale-St. Marys.
“The first half we went to the same-old and I told them at halftime this isn’t going to work,” said coach Ruggles. “Finally in the second-half we got guys in spots, moved the ball well and got some good looks and scored. Hopefully we can take that into practice and get ready for Friday.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
CBR 14 12 11 10 47
MA 20 22 14 16 72
Offense
Pts FG 3 FT
Stark 3 1-2 1-2 0-0
Reynolds 2 1-5 0-1 0-0
Frost 24 7-17 3-6 7-9
Pierson 24 9-17 5-8 1-2
Martin 6 1-4 0-0 4-5
Ehlen 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Ruggles 8 3-9 1-5 1-2
Victor 3 1-1 1-1 0-0
Trujillo 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Dugan 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Main 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Fooken 2 0-4 0-0 2-2
JaizeFrost 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Defense
R Ast S B
Stark 3 3 3 0
Reynolds 3 1 1 0
Frost 9 7 1 0
Pierson 5 1 6 0
Martin 4 1 1 0
Ehlen 0 0 0 0
Ruggles 4 1 0 0
Victor 0 0 1 0
Trujillo 1 0 1 0
Dugan 3 1 1 0
Main 0 1 0 0
Fooken 6 0 0 0
JaizeFrost 0 0 0 0