March 29, 2024

Defense holds strong in Mount Ayr District final win

Raiders move on to Substate final against talented Montezuma

LEON – The Mount Ayr Raiders (19-4) are moving on in the Substate 6 bracket with a 62-51 win over Moravia Tuesday night at Central Decatur Community High School.

The win clinched the Class 1A District 12 title, an accomplishment Raiders head coach Bret Ruggles said he wasn’t sure they’d get to, but feels is well deserved for the team.

“I don’t think anybody in the year thought we’d win 19 games, be sitting here in this moment. I wasn’t one of them,” said Ruggles. “Honestly, I’ll tell you, I thought if we win 14 games we’re good, 15 games, all of a sudden it’s 18. This is their title, and they’ve earned this. The fight they’ve had and the battles they’ve gone through, they earned this.”

Clinching the District title for Mount Ayr came off a strong defensive battle, something the Raiders have excelled at all season.

“I love our defense. I said all year long, we’ve lived on our defense,” said Ruggles. “... Our defense has always been really, really good. And it was great tonight. Twelve points at the half was outstanding against a District finalist.”

The win for Mount Ayr nets them an opportunity to face No. 6 Montezuma (21-2) Saturday night with a trip to state on the line.

Ruggles knows Montezuma is a world beater, having lost no more than five games in a season since the start of the 2014-15 season. Last year, Montezuma rolled through Nodaway Valley in a Substate final to make the state tournament.

“Montezuma is really good,” said Ruggles. “There are two kinds of teams that go to the state tournament. There’s teams who want to qualify, and teams who want to win it. They’re a team who wants to win it. It’s going to be a big process.”

On what needs to go right for the Raiders, it comes down to the first eight minutes, Ruggles said.

“First quarter is key. We have to be in it,” said Ruggles. “... We can’t have (Trey Shearer) hitting shots, (Cole Watts) hitting shots, (Eddie Burgess) in the lane. They’re going to be a matchup problem. ... They’re really good.”

Staying ahead

In the first half against Moravia, it was a battle as both teams missed chip shots under the basket, second-chance opportunities and attempts from beyond the arc. Through the first quarter, it was 11-6 with the Raiders holding a lead off a Payton Weehler three and an Erik Trujillo score.

With both sides missing opportunities to either pull away or take the lead, Ruggles said he’s glad it was both sides struggling early.

“You’re kind of frustrated because with all the missed chip shots, they’re missing them too. If you could just bury four or five of them, we’re taking a 12-point lead into the end of the quarter,” said Ruggles. “We just weren’t getting anything, but you are relieved in a way because you’re missing and so are they so it wasn’t going anywhere. ... Boy, I would have liked to hit some chip shots early.”

Through the second quarter, the Raiders got scoring from their leading point getter in Jaixen Frost. Moravia missed from underneath the basket as the ball continued to bounce in and out, unable to get the ball to fall.

Another Weehler three, this time from a few feet beyond the arc, made it 24-12 going to half with the Raiders leading.

Exiting halftime, Ruggles said he was mixed on how he felt seeing a 12 on the scoreboard next to the 24, thinking there’s both a good and bad side to the numbers.

“[It was] just our offense. We’re a team that can get going a little bit and we had lapses of mental (problems),” said Ruggles on what the problems were. “Jaixen is dribbling the ball, he gets it stolen from the backside. We throw and inbounds pass, and it gets stolen. Little lapses like that. I understand it’s 27-12, or 24-12, but we could have had it easily to 35-12. Now, you come out of the half different.

“Credit to them, they’re a good ball club. (Carson Brown) is pretty impressive and (Riley Hawkins) played well tonight for them,” Ruggles said.

Brown scored 18 points. Hawkins scored 17.

Exiting halftime, the Mohawks started driving to the basket and capitalizing on turnovers more. A score by Brown after two made free throws made the game 32-23, but Frost and Weehler continued to rack up points, not letting Moravias get closer than a nine-point game.

Entering the fourth quarter it was 43-31, and the Mohawks were unable to close the gap in the early stages as two Rhett Larson free throws, a basket by Weehler and a free throw by Trujillo made it a 49-35 game.

Weehler scored on back to back plays with a dribble-drive to the hoop for the layup score, making it a 55-35 game. Despite the best efforts of Moravia to claw its way back and make it interesting, the Raiders held on.

“For four years I’ve been complaining because he can’t dribble-drive and get to the rim,” said Ruggles on Weehler. “And then he shoved that one right in and I went nuts. I right about ran out here (to half court). ... Right there, his leadership, he came to us and said ‘(Tanner Cormeny) is going to work, I can get to (Cormeny) on a backdoor cut,’ and we dropped that down. ... He’s been great all year in understanding the ball needs to be around Jaixen in critical times and he did that tonight.”

Leading the way for Mount Ayr was Frost with 21. Weehler scored 20, Trujillo scored seven and Rhett Larsen scored five.

Ruggles remarked Frost played well, Weehler was outstanding and they got a great contribution from the bench Tuesday night.

Mount Ayr 62, Moravia 51

MORAVIA (51) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 16 17-26 51. Carson Brown 7 3-6 18, Riley Hawkins 6 4-4 17, Logan Johnson 1 5-7 7, Gage Hanes 2 1-2 5. 3-point goals — 2. Team fouls — 19. Fouled out — none.

MOUNT AYR (62) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 22 14-26 62. Jaixen Frost 7 6-6 21, Payton Weehler 7 3-4 20, Erik Trujillo 3 1-2 7, Rhett Larson 1 3-6 5, Cody Larsen 2 0-4 4, Brayden Pierson 1 0-0 2, Ryce Reynolds 1 0-2 2, Riley Mauldin 0 1-2 1. 3-point goals — 4 (Weehler 3). Team fouls — 22. Fouled out — None.