Ankeny Christian Academy hands Baxter boys first loss

BAXTER — The 54 points the Baxter boys’ basketball team scored against Ankeny Christian Academy on Monday were the second-most the Eagles have allowed this season.

Unfortunately, it also was a season-low total for the Bolts, and the hosts just never found their rhythm during a 69-54 non-conference loss.

“We feel like there were lots of great moments that we can build off but obviously a lot of things we have got to fix,” Baxter head boys basketball coach Zach Hasselbrink said. “And it’s more defensively than offensively. They had too many easy buckets. That’s where the frustration is.”

The 69 points allowed by Baxter were the most scored by an opponent this season. And the Eagles shot nearly 53 percent from the floor and won the rebounding battle.

The Eagles scored the game’s first nine points and led by as many as 11 in the first quarter.

The visitors were in front 18-9 after one and outscored the Bolts in every quarter but the fourth.

“They did have it circled,” Hasselbrink said. “He had made it seem like it was big for them. They wanted to see where they were as a team. We’re going to get every team’s best effort every night.

“They got off to a hot start and we did not.”

Every time Baxter (7-1) got close, the Eagles had an answer. Ben Richardson drew the Bolts within 13-7, but ACA finished the period on a 5-2 run.

Back-to-back layups by Richardson in the second brought Baxter within 20-15, but the Eagles (8-1) used a 9-1 run to extend their advantage to 29-16. They led 33-20 at halftime.

“We were in too many scramble situations,” Hasselbrink said. “They were good at moving the basketball and the scramble looks even worse then. They put the ball where they wanted to and it created a lot of problems. Their speed was a problem for us.”

The Eagles outscored the Bolts 18-15 in the third. The closest Baxter got was 44-32 after Richardson made a free throw, Perrin Sulzle converted a layup and Travis scored twice inside the paint.

Ankeny Christian led 51-35 after three, and it moved the advantage to 55-36 early in the fourth.

Travis scored a career-high 16 points in the loss and five of those came in the fourth. The Bolts lost by 15 and that’s as close as they got in the period.

“They have some really good players. They present problems. That’s what good players do,” Hasselbrink said. “We just didn’t respond well to those problems tonight. We will play teams who are similar to this so we have to figure it out.

“We needed to move the ball better on offense.”

Treyton Travis entered the game averaging more than 30 points per game but was held to four on Monday.

The Baxter senior scored his first point of the game on a free throw with 4:18 to go in the first half. His only field goal came on a layup late in the third.

“The offense doesn’t work when we shoot as bad as we did and TT didn’t have his best night,” Hasselbrink said. “Is it all on TT? Absolutely not. But when your best player who averages 30-something points only gets one field goal, that’s not going to be good.

“We as coaches need to figure out what to do when opposing teams provide so much help on him. They have length and quickness. The shots he’s been making were tougher tonight, but their guys were a little bit taller and a little bit faster.”

Richardson finished with a career-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds and Cainan Travis added two rebounds and two steals to his career-best 16 points.

Sulzle tallied 14 points and nine boards and Treyton Travis contributed four points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Stadan Vansice grabbed four boards.

The Bolts shot 38 percent from the floor, made 2-of-14 from 3-point range and missed nine free throws.

Cade Wierck led the Eagles with 25 points and 16 rebounds. He was 4-of-6 from 3. Tyler Mahoney added 11 points and Garrett Pearson chipped in eight points, six boards and four assists.

ACA made six 3s, was 5-of-7 from the free-throw line and out-rebounded the Bolts 34-27.

The Eagles scored more than 60 points for a fourth straight game.