AMES — A back-and-forth battle gave way to a one-sided affair, and Ames was on the high side of the tide.

The Marshalltown boys’ basketball team got swallowed up by the Little Cyclones after a spirited start, falling 64-25 in Tuesday’s Iowa Alliance Conference North Division collision.

The Bobcats (8-11, 3-4) were dealt their worst loss and their lowest-scoring performance since a 60-16 loss to Ames on Feb. 11, 2020. It’s the Little Cyclones’ sixth straight win in the series between archrivals.

The Bobcats were within striking distance early, going blow for blow with the hosts, but couldn’t keep the pace on either end of the court. It was 15-13 Ames before the Bobcast went cold late in the first quarter.

MHS trailed 20-13 going into the second period but didn’t score another 13 points the rest of the game (12).

“We started well, they obviously came out firing as well, and that made it tough to get stops,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “They made some tough shots early on. We’ve just got to eliminate some of the easy ones, those straight-line drives, because that’s what gets them going. Once they see that ball go in, it’s tough to stop them.”

The Little Cyclones (13-5, 7-0) finished the night with nine 3-pointers, including four for Jack Wynter and two more off the bench for Manny Lueth.

Wynter finished with a game-high 18 points, Will Thomas added 10 and Jamison Poe nine for Ames.

Cory Smith scored nine points to pace Marshalltown, while Tre Brooks finished with seven. Rogelio Ceren chipped in with four points and a team-leading six rebounds.

The Bobcats shot just 1-of-15 from 3-point range in this decisive defeat.

“We tried to spread the floor a little bit more to create spaces and actions to get to the rim and hopefully get something going, and unfortunately we just couldn’t do that,” said Appel. “We couldn’t get by them. Give credit to Ames, we really struggled to score. They’re the best defensive team on our schedule, they don’t have any breakdowns, so you’ve got to have that ability to create on our own and get to the rim and we had a hard time doing that.”

The Bobcats are back at home for their last two games of the regular season — this Friday night against Waterloo East and Feb. 16 versus Southeast Polk.

Ames 64, Marshalltown 25

MARSHALLTOWN (8-11, 3-4) — Carter Giannetto 1 0-0 2, Tre Brooks 1 5-6 7, Kyle Smith 1 0-0 2, Cory Smith 4 0-0 9, Rogelio Ceren 1 2-4 4, Adam Boone 0 0-0 0, Jacob Hayes 0 0-0 0, Ryan Schmit 0 1-2 1, Gatleel Joar 0 0-0 0, Davis Ragland 0 0-0 0, Tate Riang 0 0-0 0, Blane Landeros 0 0-0 0, Will Swartz 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 8-12 25.

AMES (13-5, 7-0) — Jack Wynter 6 2-3 18, Kavon Ferrell 0 0-0 0, Garang Kear 0 0-0 0, Cameron Strawhacker 1 0-0 3, Marach Dau 3 0-0 6, Manny Lueth 3 0-0 8, Trevor Goodwin 0 0-0 0, Jamison Poe 4 1-2 9, Isaiah Knight 1 0-0 3, Will Thomas 5 0-0 10, Garang Deng 1 0-0 2, Abram Vos 2 0-0 5, Fin DeLisi 0 0-0 0, Luke Brekke 0 0-0 0, Athian Deng 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 28 3-5 64.

MHS 13 5 4 3 — 25

AMES 20 12 19 13 — 64

3-Point Goals–MHS 1 (C. Smith), Ames 9 (Wynter 4, Lueth 2, Knight, Vos, Strawhacker). Team Fouls–MHS 5, Ames 11. Fouled Out–none.