Raiders top Cardinals, continue torrid start to season

LEON – It was a dogfight between Class 1A No. 8 Mount Ayr and Central Decatur Thursday night, with both sides battling out in a Pride of Iowa Conference matchup that saw the No. 1 and No. 3 team in the conference square off with each other.

The CD boys were unable to hold off the Raiders on their homecourt, falling in a 65-48 final.

With Central Decatur’s presence at the top of the conference a recipe for a potential upset, Mount Ayr head coach Bret Ruggles said it was easy to keep his boys locked in and focused for Thursday due to the friendly rivalry between the two schools.

“The rivalry, I think, takes care of that,” said Ruggles. “... This is a friendly rivalry. We love (Central Decatur head coach Zach Clark) and we love what he does with his kids. We’ve always enjoyed this game. I think the rivalry kept us a little more grounded.”

The Cardinals jumped out ahead of the Raiders early, leading 14-13 through the first quarter after a Dawson Frost score closed the gap to one before the buzzer.

Two free throws to start the second quarter from Isaac Grose changed the lead to 15-14 Mount Ayr, putting wind in its sails. A score to tie and then back-to-back buckets from Grose gave the Raiders their biggest lead of the night at six, 27-21.

From then on, Central Decatur did its best to claw back at Mount Ayr, but nothing came of it. CD closed the deficit and took back a one-point lead on consecutive 3-point shots, but nine straight points put the Raiders ahead and a well-traveled visiting crowd behind them.

It was a 22-12 third quarter that helped sway the game as Mount Ayr rolled on for its seventh conference victory.

“I think people were hoping we would be looking at Martensdale-St. Marys next week, but I kept telling them that Martensdale doesn’t exist unless we beat Central Decatur,” said Ruggles. “If we lose here, then that game doesn’t exist a whole lot, ... we’ve got to take care of business. We can’t just go in there and take it.”

Personnel battle

Led by Iowa State football commit Cole Pedersen, the Cardinals paired up equally with a very talented roster against Mount Ayr.

Complementing Pedersen has been Michel Evertsen and Matthew Boothe, both of whom are alongside Pedersen as some of the best athletes in the conference. Ruggles knew it was going to be tough to limit the three along with multiple role players

“It’s tough. You really can’t take away Cole Pedersen,” said Ruggles. “... His ability to seal and get a backside look with that bounce pass from Evertsen, that’s a handful. To have Michel Evertsen on the high post and Cole Pedersen at the low was really causing us a lot of problems, especially if their role players are going to hit shots.”

Ruggles gave praise to the style of offense Clark and the CD boys run, noting if their role players can hit shots the offense will be difficult to play against.

Grose goes down

In the second half, Mount Ayr’s Grose fell on the offensive end clutching his ankle. After walking off under his own power, the do-it-all scorer sat on the bench for some time before returning to finish the game.

After the game was over however, Grose walked off into the locker room with his ankle wrapped in ice.

“Isaac is a competitor, and the second I got to him he said ‘I’m fine, get away’,” said Ruggles. “I grabbed him and took him to the bench and he talked to the trainer. He came back and we used him a little bit, but once we got to 17 point lead I told (assistant coach Jeff Levine) to take him off. ... He needs the rest.”

Grose finished the night with 12 points, returning to action before getting sat with the large lead.

“He (Grose) is a warrior,” said Ruggles. “I’ve got several of those guys. When times get tough, we had a few moments where we were down and they’d get a couple shots. We had a seven point lead get erased and we hit tough shots. Those guys are (Dawson) Frost, Isaac, Payton Weehler and Jaixen Frost.

“I think Jaixen hit the biggest three of the night. I drew it up so Dawson would come around the dribble weave, we knew they’d over help, he kicked it out to his cousin and he drilled a three to seal it,” Ruggles said.

Dawson Frost posted the team lead in points with 18. Jaixen Frost scored 13 points and Payton Weehler scored 11.

UP NEXT – Mount Ayr will play Monday against Murray for the start of a five-game homestand. Tip will come at 7:30 p.m. or after the girls game concludes.

Editors note: It was published in print the Raiders are ranked No. 10 in Class 2A. This is incorrect due to Mount Ayr boys basketball being a Class 1A school. The current (updated) ranking used in the lede is the Raiders' BC Moore rating, No. 8 in Class 1A.

Mount Ayr 65, Central Decatur 48

MA (65) — 13 16 22 14

CD (48) — 14 12 12 10

MOUNT AYR (FG FT PTS) — Totals —24 14-17 65. Dawson Frost 5 7-10 18, Jaixen Frost 6 0-0 13, Isaac Grose 5 2-2 12, Payton Weehler 5 0-0 11, Cayden Lambert 2 5-5 9, Cole Clymer 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 3 (J. Frost 1, D. Frost 1, Weehler 1). Team fouls — 15. Fouled out — None.

CENTRAL DECATUR (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 15 11-16 48. Michel Evertsen 5 6-7 17, Cole Pedersen 4 5-9 13, Matt Bothe 3 0-0 9, Trey Hullinger 1 0-0 3, Haden Leyaster 1 0-0 3, Dawson Kernan 1 0-0 3. 3-point goals – 7 (Boothe 3, Leymaster 1, Evertsen 1, Hullinger 1). Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.