Five Takeaways: Dowling Catholic 65 vs Ankeny 57
Ankeny — It’s now three straight wins for Dowling Catholic, which came into Ankeny’s house and left with an impressive wire-to-wire win. Maroons sophomore big-man Ryan Riggs was the aggressor early Dowling, and junior guard Matt Stillwill was dominant throughout.…
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Continue ReadingAnkeny — It’s now three straight wins for Dowling Catholic, which came into Ankeny’s house and left with an impressive wire-to-wire win.
Maroons sophomore big-man Ryan Riggs was the aggressor early Dowling, and junior guard Matt Stillwill was dominant throughout. The two are on their way to becoming one of the better inside/outside combos in the state.
Ankeny has been middling after a 6-0 start to the season, they’re 4-6 since the red-hot start. The Hawks got down 23-11 after the first quarter and could never fully recover. There were moments when it seemed they were poised to take control, but then the Maroons, usually Stilwill, would thwart the charge.
Stilwill, an athletic 6-foot combo-guard, led all scorers with 22 points. Riggs added 11 for the Maroons (8-8). It was Dowling’s second win over Ankeny this season.
Ankeny drops to 10-6 and was led by junior guard Jaxon Smith’s 16 points. Senior guard Dillon Carlson added 12 in the loss. Braxton Bayless scored 14.
Team Scoring
Dowling — 23 12 15 15 — 65
Ankeny — 11 16 10 20 — 57
Individual Scoring
Dowling: Matt Stillwill 22, Ryan Riggs 11, Drew Daniel 7, Jack Keough 6, Jack Lyman 6, Luke Kavan 4, Andrew Lentsh 4, Matt Reidl 3, Drew Kueter 2.
Ankeny: Jaxon Smith 16, Braxton Bayless 14, Dillon Carlson 12, Nolan Otten 8, Jordan Kumm 5, Drake Bennett 2.
Five Takeaways
Ryan Riggs
Riggs/Stillwell Combo
Two underclassmen were the best players tonight for Dowling, and the duo of junior Matt Stillwill and sophomore Ryan Riggs projects to be one of the more dynamic inside/outside combos in the state next season. Right now, even , they are at the very least a formidable twosome in the ultra-tough CIML. Riggs, a spindly 6-foot-8 big-man was flashing some soft touch, range and skill around the rim in the first half. Stillwill is an athletic and aggressive guard who crashes glass and has blow by ability. Both were impressive tonight.
Maroons’ Chemistry
My seat tonight was about 15 feet from the Dowling bench, so I got a pretty good glimpse into the team’s demeanor tonight. They were fun to watch, because it’s clear how much the guys on the team genuinely like and care for each other. In other words: they had great chemistry on this night. When reserve big-man Luke Kavan got into the game, his teammates were sincerely excited. When Kavan went on to promptly score two big buckets, the guys on the bench went nuts. There were lots of smiles, and lots of love on the Dowling bench tonight, an amiable group; fun to watch. Of course, when you’re winning wire-to-wire, smiles tend to be abound.
One of Those Nights
We’ve seen this Hawks team come back from deficits before, they have the speed, dynamism and skill to overcome big deficits. But tonight, whenever it seemed like they had a chance to get the lead, the shots just wouldn’t drop. Their points were coming from scrappy and tough plays around the rim, or fast-break points from steals, which Ankeny is particularity adept at. But the long-ball just wasn’t falling, and worse yet, they were halfway down and then spinning out. Simply pout: it just wasn’t Ankeny’s night.
Hawks’ Hands
Coming into the game, the Hawks already had a reputation as one of the state’s quickest and most scrappy bunch. They have no player in their rotation taller than 6’2, so scrappy kind of comes with the territory. Tonight, that quickness on D and especially the quick hands they seemingly all possess, was almost crippling for the Maroons. The shots weren’t falling for Ankeny, so they relied on the quick hands of Jordan Kumm, Braxton Bayless, Jaxon Smith and Dillon Carlson, and no long pass is safe with those four guys on the floor. there’s no easy shots at the rim when those hands are around either.
Dowling Sweeps
This win is just another feather in the cap for Dowling, which despite having a record of 8-8 (at one point they were 5-8), now have two pretty impressive wins on their resume. The Hawks were 10-5 coming into this one, and impressively, the Maroons got the wire-to-wire win in Ankeny’s gym. Dowling also got a win over Ankeny back on Jan. 4, that one was in the Maroons’ gym, and it was when the Hawks were 6-2. The Maroons have the size that makes Ankeny uneasy, Ryan Riggs goes 6’8, four other guys go 6’4 or taller. And the season series might now be done just yet, the two teams are in the same Substate bracket, along with Des Moines Roosevelt, Southeast Polk, Valley and Indianola.