WarHawks stun Raiders at home
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The SE Warren War Hawks stunned a packed Mount Ayr gym last week when they beat the home team 61-60 to earn a share of the POI boy’s title with one week left in the regular season. The Raiders fell behind early, and a furious comeback attempt came up short in the 1-point loss.
The Raider’s loss put them two games back of SE Warren in the Pride of Iowa Conference standings. SE Warren improved to 14-1 in the POI while Mount Ayr is 12-2. The Raiders traveled to Leon Tuesday night for a game with the Cardinals who are 7-7 in the POI and 8-9 overall. Friday the Raiders end the regular season with a road POI game at East Union.
The Raiders will find out their postseason plans on Monday when the state releases the 2025 tournament brackets.
Mount Ayr head coach Bret Ruggles said that his team had to let the game with SE Warren go, as there is more basketball left in the season.
“We have a rule. It’s called the midnight rule. They (players) can celebrate a win or fuss over a loss until midnight of the night of that particular game, then you have to get up and go forward,” said Ruggles.
“We got back together over the weekend, watched film and talked about it. We have a lot of basketball left and have to get back to work,” he said.
Mount Ayr’s Tate Dugan battles for a show against two Southeast Warren players in the Raiders heartbreaking one-point loss to the Warhawks last week. PHOTO BY DARLA SOBOTKA.
Jackson Ruggles went nuclear in the game scoring 31 of his season-high 40 points in the second half of the game. Ruggles was 13-for-24 from the floor and made six of his nine three-point attempts. He was also 8-for-10 from the free-throw line and had 7 rebounds. Tyler Martin scored 7 points and had 8 rebounds and Tate Dugan had 6 points and 7 rebounds.
SE Warren had three players reach double figures in the game. Cam Seuferer had a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Brogan Ewing scored 13 points and made four three-pointers, and Reece Youmans had 11 points.
SE Warren led after each quarter in the game and started with a 10-point lead, 20-10 after the first quarter. The War Hawks extended their lead to 33-16 at halftime. Mount Ayr trimmed off six points from the lead by the end of the third quarter to trail 46-35 going to the final quarter. Though the Raiders poured in 25 points in the final quarter, it wasn’t enough.
The week began with a big 61-45 win at Lenox on January 28. The victory was the second over the Tigers this season. The Raiders scored 34 first-half points and led 34-14 at halftime. The Raiders extended their lead to 46-23 going to the final quarter. Though Lenox dropped in 22 fourth-quarter points, the Raiders never trailed in the final quarter of their win, 61-45.
Mount Ayr had a pair of 20-point scorers in the game led by Jackson Ruggles with 24 points and Tyler Martin with 22 points. Tate Dugan added six points and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. Mount Ayr was on fire in the game, making 50 percent of their shots in the game. Lenox was led by Gabe Funk with 17 points including three, three-pointers. Dayton Tull scored 9 points and Jack Reed scored 9 points and led the Tigers in rebounding with 8.
“I was proud of their resilience to maintain who we were and we could be 12-5 or 13-6 and drop a game to SW Valley and Lenox and we don’t set up the importance of the SE Warren game last week. Our guys did what they needed to do,” said Ruggles.
SE Warren 61, Mount Ayr 60
January 31 at Mount Ayr
1 2 3 4 Final
SEW 20 13 13 15 61
MA 10 6 19 25 60
SEW (61): Reece Youmans 3-7 3-6 11, Jamison Ewing 4-8 1-2 10, Lucas Dirkx 2-6 3-4 7, Cam Seuferer 7-17 5-10 20, Brogan Ewing 4-9 1-2 13, Caden Carruthers 0-1 0-0 0, Jaydon Dippold 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Lillig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48 13-24 61.
MOUNT AYR (60): Jackson Ruggles 13-24 8-10 40, Trevin Victor 0-1 0-0 0, Jaize Frost 2-4 1-1 5, Tyler Martin 2-8 2-4 7, Tat Dugan 2-5 2-2 6, Hayes Stogdill 0-0 0-0 0, Adler Red 1-3 0-0 2, Louden Main 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-46 13-17 60.
3-Pt. FG: SEW 8-21 (B. Ewing 4-7, Youmans 2-4, J. Ewing 1-3, Seuferer 1-3, Dirkx 0-3, Carruthers 0-1), MA 7-14 (Ruggles 6-9, Martin 1-2, Victor 0-1, Frost 0-1, Reed 0-1). Rebounds: SEW 34 (Seuferer 13), MA 32 (Martin 8, Dugan 7, Ruggles 7, Frost 4, Victor 3, Main 2, Reed 1). Assists: SEW 16 (Dirkx 5), MA 7 (Ruggles 2, Martin 2, VIctor 1, Frost 1, Reed 1). Steals: SEW 6 (B. Ewing 2), MA 8 (Dugan 2, Ruggles 1, Victor 1, Frost 1, Martin 1, Reed 1, Main 1). Blocked Shots: SEW 5 (Seuferer 3), MA 2 (Ruggles 2). Turnovers: SEW 14, MA 12. Total Fouls: SEW 18, MA 22. Fouled Out: none.
Mount Ayr 61, Lenox 45
At Lenox January 28
1 2 3 4 Final
MA 18 16 12 15 61
L 7 7 9 22 45
MOUNT AYR (61): Jackson Ruggles 10-22 0-0 24, Trevin Victor 2-2 0-0 5, Jaize Frost 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Martin 10-17 0-1 22, Tate Dugan 3-6 0-0 6, Hayes Stogdill 1-2 0-0 2, Adler Reed 0-2 0-0 0, Louden Main 1-1 0-0 2, Rowan Sackett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 27-54 0-1 61.
LENOX (45): Laramie Stoakes 1-7 0-0 3, Dayton Tull 3-10 1-2 9, Gabe Funk 7-16 0-0 17, Jack Reed 4-11 1-4 9, Brody Brokaw 1-1 1-1 3, Cade Cordell 2-5 0-0 4, Brogan Petersen 0-2 0-0 0, Owen Grundman 0-1 0-0 0, Caleb Menefee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-53 3-7 45.
3-Pt. FG: MA 7-21 (Ruggles 4-13, Martin 2-2, Victor 1-1, Reed 0-2, Main 0-1, Stogdill 0-1, Frost 0-1), Lenox 6-18 (Funk 3-6, Tull 2-7, Stoakes 1-4, Petersen 0-1). Rebounds: MA 31 (Dugan 12, Ruggles 8, Martin 5, Victor 3, Frost 1, Stogdill 1, Main 1), Lenox 32 (Reed 8). Assists: MA 12 (Ruggles 4, Victor 3, Main 2, Martin 1, Dugan 1, Stogdill 1), Lenox 14 (Tull 5, Funk 4). Steals: MA 8 (Main 4, Reed 2, Dugan 1, Frost 1), Lenox 7 (Funk 3). Blocked Shots: MA 6 (Ruggles 3, Frost 2, Dugan 1), Lenox 3 (Funk 2). Turnovers: Mount Ayr 7, Lenox 10. Total Fouls: MA 8, Lenox 9. Fouled Out: none.
