Raiders advance to district finals

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Mount Ayr defeats East Mills, Lenox on tourney trail before falling to Stuart

The Mount Ayr Raider boy’s basketball team has advanced to a district final for the second time in three seasons after winning a pair of postseason games last week at home.

The Raiders beat Lenox 64-50 on Monday, February 17, and then beat East Mills 56-44 on Thursday.
The wins will give the Raiders a chance at a district title for the fourth time under head coach Bret Ruggles. Ruggles has led six previous Raider teams to a district final winning three and losing three.

The Raiders played No. 7 Coon Rapids-Bayard at West Central Valley High School in Stuart on Tuesday, February 25. The winner of that game will play in a substate game Saturday night against the winner of the other district final between Bedford and No. 9 Woodbine.

Mount Ayr improved to 20-3 while East Mills finished the season 18-6.

“East Mills plays scrappy and you have to maintain effort against that. I thought we did that well. Going to the fourth quarter, we wanted to execute on our first four possessions in the fourth and we went on a 7-0 run we hit a could of three-point hoops,” said Mount Ayr head coach Bret Ruggles.

Mount Ayr led 14-8 after the first quarter and 25-16 at halftime. The Raiders were outscored by nine points, 22-13 in the third quarter to see the game tied at 38 after the third quarter.

The 22 points scored by East Mills was the most for either team in a quarter of the game.

The Raiders would take control of the game in the fourth quarter, using an 18-6 run to seal the 56-44 win. The Raiders began the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run with big three-pointers from seniors Trevin Victor and Jaize Frost.
Mount Ayr was led in scoring by Jackson Ruggles with a game-high 26 points to go with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocked shots. Jaize Frost and Tyler Martin each had 9 rebounds. Tate Dugan led Mount Ayr with 14 rebounds with 6 points while Frost had 9 rebounds. Mount Ayr made five three-pointers and as a team was 5-for-7 from the free-throw line.
East Mills was led by two players with double figures. Jackson Embree led with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Mason Camden added 12 points. East Mills made ten three-pointers in the game but only shot three free throws in the game.
Coon Rapids-Bayard reached the district final with a quarterfinal win over Nodaway Valley 81-29 and a semifinal win over Stanton 55-36. The Crusaders improved to 21-2 and come into the game with the Raiders winners of their last four games. The Crusader’s last loss was a 60-56 loss to AC/GC.

Coon Rapids-Bayard has three players that average double figures and two others that average 8.6 and 7.3 points a game. The Crusaders are not necessarily a deep team, but they are very skilled. The 21 wins is the most for the program since at least the 2007-08 season. The Crusaders were 20-3 back in the 2013-14 season, the previous high win total.
The top-5 scorers are one junior and four sophomores. Junior Cal Heydon leads with a scoring average of 22.4 points and 7.5 rebounds a game. He also averages 3.2 assists a game. Ty Heydon averages 11.2 points and 11.5 rebounds a game and Caden Oswald averages 10.3 points and 4.0 rebounds a game.

“Coon Rapids-Bayard has a good basketball team. They have balanced scoring and they can pass the basketball very well,” said Ruggles. “We can’t let them pick us apart on offense and dissect us until they find an open spot in the defense. Rebounding will be very important too as they are athletic and rebound well,” he said.

Raiders beat Lenox in first postseason game

The Mount Ayr Raider boy’s basketball team picked up their first postseason win and their third win this year over Lenox last week at home.
The Raiders beat the Tigers 64-50 on Monday, February 17. The win gave the Raiders another postseason game at home, three nights later, against East Mills. Mount Ayr beat Lenox at home 57-42 on January 7 and won at Lenox on January 28, 63-55.
The win in the postseason over the Tigers was the fourth straight win for the Raiders.

“We weren’t crazy to see Lenox as our first game. Lenox was better than a seven-seed. They should have been a four-seed,” said Mount Ayr coach Bret Ruggles. “Anytime you have a chance to beat a team three times in a season, it is difficult. We did some nice things on both ends of the floor and we are glad to get to play at home again,” he said.

Mount Ayr led by eight points, 19-11 after the first quarter, and used an 18-6 run in the second quarter to take a 37-17 halftime lead. Lenox would outscore Mount Ayr in the second half, 36-27, but the Raiders lead was too great for the Tigers to get closer.
The Raiders shot 47-percent from the floor in the game, made six three-pointers, and made 8-of-9 free throw attempts. Three Raiders scored in double figures. Jackson Ruggles led with 25 points followed by Tyler Martin with 18 points and Tate Dugan had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Other district 13 quarterfinals scores were Coon Rapids-Bayard 82, Nodaway Valley 29; Stanton 53, Murray 41; and East Mills 61, Griswold 25.

Mount Ayr 56, East Mills 44
Thursday, February 20 at Mount Ayr

1 2 3 4 Final
EM 8 8 22 6 44
MA 14 11 13 18 56

EAST MILLS (44): Mason Camden 4-15 1-2 12, Caleb Urban 2-9 0-0 4, Sheldon Vandenberg 2-7 0-0 6, Fletcher Proctor 1-4 0-0 2, Jackson Embree 5-11 1-1 15, Mitchell Stoakes 2-7 0-0 5. Totals: 16-53 2-3 44.

MOUNT AYR (56): Jackson Ruggles 10-19 5-6 26, Trevin Victor 1-1 0-0 3, Jaize Frost 4-6 0-0 9, Tyler Martin 4-10 0-1 9, Tate Dugan 3-6 0-0 6, Hayes Stogdill 0-0 0-0 0, Adler Reed 1-1 0-0 3, Louden Main 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 23-45 5-7 56.

3-Pt. FG: EM 10-30 (Embree 4-7, Camden 3-11, Vandenberg 2-5, Stoakes 1-5, Urban 0-2), MA 5-13 (Ruggles 1-6, Martin 1-3, Reed 1-1, Frost 1-1, Victor 1-1, Main 0-1). Rebounds: EM 26 (Embree 8, Vandenberg 7), MA 37 (Dugan 14, Frost 9, Ruggles 6, Martin 4, Main 2, Victor 1, Reed 1). Assists: EM 7 (Camden 2, Urban 2, Proctor 2), MA 13 (Ruggles 3, Martin 3, Dugan 3, Frost 2, Victor 2). Steals: EM 9 (Vandenberg 4, Embree 3, Urban 2), MA 7 (Ruggles 3, Victor 1, Frost 1, Martin 1, Reed 1). Blocked Shots: EM 2 (Embree 1, Stoakes 1), MA 6 (Frost 3, Ruggles 2, Dugan 1). Turnovers: EM 11, MA 5. Total Fouls: EM 16, MA 8. Fouled Out: EM none, MA none.

Mount Ayr 64, Lenox 50
Monday, February 17 at Mount Ayr

1 2 3 4 Final
L 11 6 14 19 50
MA 19 18 11 16 64

LENOX (50): N/A.
MOUNT AYR (64): Jackson Ruggles 8-15 4-4 25, Trevin Victor 0-3 0-0 0, Jaize Frost 2-3 0-0 4, Tyler Martin 8-18 0-0 18, Tate Dugan 4-6 2-3 10, Hayes Stogdill 1-1 0-0 3, Adler Red 0-5 2-2 2, Louden Main 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 25-53 8-9 64.
3-Pt. FG: 6-20 (Ruggles 3-6, Martin 2-6, Stogdill 1-1, Reed 0-3, Victory 0-3, Frost 0-1). Rebounds: 30 (Dugan 10, Martin 5, Ruggles 4, Main 4, Frost 3, Reed 2, Victor 1, Stogdill 1). Assists: 15 (Victor 5, Frost 3, Ruggles 2, Martin 2, Reed 2, Main 1). Steals: 6 (Reed 3, Martin 2, Ruggles 1). Blocked Shots: 5 (Frost 3, Ruggles 1, Dugan 1). Turnovers: 9. Total Fouls: 7. Fouled Out: none.