Smith scored 20 of Marshalltown’s points but most of those came after a slow first quarter that saw the Bobcats trailing the Little Cyclones 19-4.

“We gave them some easy shots where guys are standing open from three that we needed to be guarding a little better,” MHS head coach Michael Appel said. “And we only turned it over 10 times but we had six or seven in that first half where they were able to get easy layups.

“But ultimately we just had a really hard time scoring the ball against them tonight.”

The Bobcats didn’t have the depth to match the Little Cyclones, and were also outsized as Ames gave regular minutes to four players measuring 6-foot-3 or higher, including 6-foot-5 Manny Lueth and 6-8 starter Marach Dau.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown sophomore guard Drake Gersema goes up for the shot against Ames during Friday’s game at the Roundhouse.

Marshalltown was hanging on an outside chance at 30-13 at halftime after a running, leaning 3-pointer from Smith before the buzzer, but a 10-2 run to start the third quarter effectively put MHS out of range, no closer than 19 points the rest of the way.

“We executed our offense better than we did against Waterloo East,” Appel said. “But we’re missing guys that are open sometimes on cuts and we have to get the ball to them sooner. If that timing isn’t right, we miss that window, Ames recovers, and they’re going to make it really tough. We had to take a lot of tough, contested shots tonight, and we knew that would happen, but we could have also helped ourselves by getting to those spots sooner.”

Drake Gersema and Jacob Hayes had five points each for MHS.

Smith averaged 17.4 points per game coming in to Friday’s game, helping his average on the night, including three 3-point baskets.

“Kyle did some nice things tonight considering how they guarded him, trying to deny him the ball, he did a nice job making some plays for us,” Appel said. “But it’s tough because besides Kyle, we just didn’t have anyone else going tonight.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - MHS senior guard Adam Boone (11) attempts a 3-pointer in front of the student section during Friday’s basketball game against Ames at the Roundhouse.

“Sometimes we gotta rely on our defense to keep it a low-scoring game and get some stops to give ourselves a chance.”

Marshalltown is at home again for back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday with Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Des Moines North.

“We’ve got to be ready to play,” Appel said. “Just be really, really solid and see where it takes us.”

Ames 60, Marshalltown 30

AMES (10-1, 4-0) — Jamison Poe 3 0-0 7, Isaiah Knight 6 0-1 12, Will Thomas 1 2-2 5, Abram Vos 3 0-0 6, Marach Dau 2 1-1 5, Manny Lueth 4 1-1 12, Trevor Goodwin 1 0-0 2, Cole Swartz 0 0-0 0, Finley DeLisi 0 0-0 0, Garang Deng 0 0-2 0, Isaac Bivins 0 0-0 0, Luke Brekke 0 0-0 0, Max Sutton 0 0-0 0, Brandon Johnson 3 1-1 7, Athian Deng 0 0-0 0, DJ Bijiek 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 25 5-8 60.

MARSHALLTOWN (3-6, 1-3) — Jamison Niehouse 0 0-0 0, Drake Gersema 2 1-2 8, Kyle Smith 7 3-4 20, LaMar Johnson 0 0-0 0, Jacob Hayes 1 0-0 2, Dominyc Clure 0 0-0 0, Adam Boone 0 0-0 0, Zane Moore 0 0-0 0, Will Swartz 0 0-0 0, Arion Hancock 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 7 4-8 30.

AMES 19 11 13 17 — 60

MHS 4 9 11 6 — 30

3-Point Goals–Ames 5 (Lueth 3, Poe, Thomas), MHS 4 (Smith 3, Gersema). Team Fouls–Ames 15, MHS 12. Fouled Out–none.