Raiders win two after opening night loss
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Jackson Ruggles goes hard to the bucket in the Raiders’ win over Southwest Valley. PHOTO BY DARLA SOBOTKA.
The Mount Ayr boys’ basketball team rebounded from an opening night loss at Clarke on Monday, November 27 with two victories. The Raiders record sits at 2-1 after the first week.
Mount Ayr fell 91-41 at Clarke on November 27. The Raiders evened their record at 1-1 with a 49-15 drubbing of Mercer Co. Missouri the next night on November 28. Mount Ayr finished off the week by winning their Pride of Iowa Conference opener at home, a 60-54 win over SW Valley.
The Raiders have an important week ahead with a pair of anticipated games. Tuesday, December 5 Mount Ayr hosts Lenox who is a surprising 0-3 to start the year. Then, on Friday, Mount Ayr travels to Bedford to play the Bulldogs who many pick as the top team in the POI this year. Both Bedford and Mount Ayr shared the POI title last year with Central Decatur.
Clarke came out and took the Raiders out of the game early, leading 28-6 after the first quarter and 58-18 at halftime.
The Raiders played with the Indians in the third, being outscored only 18-15, but it wasn’t enough to get back into the game.
Mount Ayr had trouble containing the senior duo of Ashton Giza and Jack Cooley. The two combined to score 50 of the 91 Clarke points. Giza scored 29 and Cooley 21. Giza did his damage from behind the three-point line with nine made three-pointers in 14 tries. Cooley added nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
Jackson Ruggles led Mount Ayr with 14 points and Tyler Martin with 11 points and eight rebounds.
The Raiders shot just 23-percent for the game but did shoot well from the free-throw line, making 16-of-21 attempts.
The next night saw the Raiders play their first away game of the season.
There, the Raiders scored 49 points for a new season-high total in a 49-15 win over Mercer Co. The win set the Raiders record at 1-1.
Three Raiders scored in double figures. Jackson Ruggles led with 17 points to go with six assists, four steals, and four rebounds. Ryce Reynolds scored 11 points and had five rebounds and five steals. Tate Dugan chipped in ten points and nine rebounds.
The Raiders opened their POI schedule by hosting SW Valley on Friday, December 1.
There, the Timberwolves gave the Raiders a close game, but Mount Ayr prevailed 60-54 to improve to 2-1.
The win was the 14th straight over SW Valley by Mount Ayr. The last win by the Timberwolves came in the 2016 season. SW Valley fell to 2-1 with the loss.
Mount Ayr led 12-10 after the first quarter and used a big 20-9 run in the second quarter to extend their lead to 12 points at halftime, 31-19. The Timberwolves tried to cut into the lead and did in the third quarter, outscoring Mount Ayr by four points, 16-12, in the third quarter to set the score at 43-35 going to the final quarter. The Raiders would hang on in the fourth, scoring 19-16, to take a six-point win.
Mount Ayr was led in scoring by Jackson Ruggles with 28 points. Ruggles scored half of his points from the free throw line where he was 14-for-17 in the game.
Clarke 91, Mount Ayr 41
MA 6 12 15 8 41
C 28 30 18 15 91
MOUNT AYR (41): Jackson Ruggles 3-15 8-10 14, Ryce Reynolds 2-3 0-0 5, Jaize Frost 0-5 3-4 3, Tyler Martin 4-10 2-3 11, Tate Dugan 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Still 1-1 0-0 3, Adan Trujillo 0-1 2-2 2, Hayes Stogdill 0-2 0-0 0, Louden Main 0-2 0-0 0, Aidan Murphy 0-3 1-2 1. Totals: 11-46 16-21 41.
CLARKE (91): Ashton Giza 10-15 0-0 29, Jesus Vega Torres 4-6 0-0 8, Brock Watson 3-7 0-0 7, Jack Cooley 10-13 1-4 21, Cole White 4-6 1-3 9, Nash Bishop 2-3 0-2 6, Ryan Diehl 2-4 0-0 5, Brock Nall 1-1 0-0 2, Peyton Lynn 0-1 0-0 0, Logan Gracey 0-0 0-0 0, Oscar Castro 0-1 0-0 0, Shawn McAfee 2-3 0-1 4. Totals: 38-60 2-10 91.
3-Pt. FG: MA 3-16 (Martin 1-4, Reynolds 1-1, Still 1-1, Ruggles 0-5, Frost 0-3, Main 0-1), Clarke 13-22 (Giza 9-14, Bishop 2-2, Watson 1-2, Diehl 1-3, Castro 0-1). Rebounds: MA 16 (Dugan 8), Clarke 38 (White 10, Cooley 9). Assists: MA none, Clarke 23 (Torres 5, Cooley 5). Steals: MA none, Clarke 10 (Cooley 3, Bishop 3). Blocked Shots: MA 2 (Reynolds 1, Frost 1), Clarke 4 (McAfee 1, White 1, Torres 1, Giza 1). Total Fouls: MA 11, Clarke 19. Fouled Out: MA none, Clarke none.
Mount Ayr 49, Mercer Co. 15
MOUNT AYR (49): Jackson Ruggles 8-13 0-0 17, Ryce Reynolds 3-8 4-5 11, Jaize Frost 0-3 0-2 0, Tyler Martin 1-9 0-0 3, Tate Dugan 4-6 2-3 10, Tyler Still 0-0 0-0 0, Adler Reed 0-2 0-0 0, Adan Trujillo 1-1 0-0 2, Hayes Stogdill 0-2 0-0 0, Louden Main 2-6 0-0 4, Rowan Sackett 1-1 0-0 2, Aidan Murphy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-51 6-10 49.
3-Pt. FG: 3-19 (Reynolds 1-6, Ruggles 1-5, Martin 1-5, Reed 0-2, Stogdill 0-1). Rebounds: 38 (Dugan 9, Main 6, Reynolds 5, Ruggles 4, Still 3, Frost 2, Martin 2, Stogdill 2). Assists: 18 (Ruggles 6, Martin 5, Stogdill 3, Reynolds 2, Main 1, Sackett 1). Steals: 17 (Reynolds 5, Ruggles 4, Martin 2, Stogdill 2, Main 2, Still 1, Sackett 1). Blocked Shots: 1 (Still 1). Total Fouls: 14. Fouled Out: none.
Mount Ayr 60, SW Valley 54
1 2 3 4 Final
SWV 10 9 16 19 54
MA 12 20 12 16 60
MOUNT AYR (60): Jackson Ruggles 6-16 14-17 28, Ryce Reynolds 1-4 3-4 5, Jaize Frost 4-10 0-0 8, Tyler Martin 0-2 5-6 5, Tate Dugan 0-3 1-2 1, Trevin Victor 1-2 2-2 5, Louden Main 4-5 0-0 8. Totals: 16-42 25-31 60.
3-Pt. FG: MA 3-12 (Ruggles 2-8, Victor 1-2, Reynolds 0-2). Rebounds: 27 (Dugan 12, Frost 8, Reynolds 7, Martin 4, Main 3, Ruggles 1, Victor 1). Assists: 8 (Ruggles 3, Reynolds 2, Frost 2, Victor 2, Dugan 1, Martin 1). Blocked Shots: 3 (Frost 3). Total Fouls: 19. Fouled Out: Frost.
