Sixth-ranked Ames entered the Roundhouse without one of its big men in uniform, but that didn’t deter the Little Cyclones from pounding the ball into the paint.

Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 20 points and DJ Bijiek added 12 more as Ames claimed the rights to the Iowa Alliance Conference North Division title with a 60-44 victory over the Marshalltown boys’ basketball team on Tuesday night at the Roundhouse.

Far different from the 37-35 Ames win in their first meeting, the visiting Little Cyclones (15-2, 7-0) looked determined to touch the lane with every possession. The end result was a substantially different outcome than the first time around.

“They definitely had a gameplan to attack the rim and get it inside to those guys and we had a really hard time stopping it obviously,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “That’s an area they’ve got a huge difference in just their size and their strength and they capitalized on that and we had a really hard time slowing them down once they got it going.”

Even without 6-foot-8 Marach Dau in the starting lineup, the Little Cyclones were too tall and too big for the Bobcats (10-7, 5-3) and decided to act like it. The 6-foot-3 Johnson banged his way to eight field goals and more than three times as many points as he scored (6) the first time these two teams met three and a half weeks ago.

“We could have done a little bit better job of just throwing a couple guys at him here and there, but for the most part they were really solid and tough to stop,” Appel added.

Ames — the top defensive team in Class 4A by allowing just 41.06 points per game — was too much on offense this time for a Marshalltown team that ranks third defensively (43.75) but couldn’t atone for the loss of two regular roster players. Sophomore guard Gavin Misek and freshman forward Larrs Schoenfelder remained out of the lineup with injuries, and the Bobcats couldn’t keep pace.

Drake Gersema scored a team-leading 17 points to go with four rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots, while Damian Segovia scored 11 points and Jacob Hayes had 10. Kyle Smith cashed in a pair of 3-pointers in the first half, but the Little Cyclones locked him down for the most part.

Jamison Niehouse didn’t score but pulled down a team-leading six rebounds for the Bobcats, who host Ottumwa back inside the Roundhouse on Friday night.

Ames 60, Marshalltown 44

AMES (15-2, 7-0) — Kuach Kuach 1 2-2 4, Will Thomas 2 3-3 8, Max Burgason-Sutton 3 0-0 6, Brandon Johnson 8 4-5 20, DJ Bijiek 6 0-0 12, Saul Negrete 0 0-0 0, Nyier Chuol 0 0-0 0, Ben Weiss 2 0-0 6, Jaishaun Brooks 1 0-0 2, Moses Lueth 0 0-0 0, Dau Lual 0 0-0 0, Masiah Younis 1 0-2 2. TOTALS 24 9-12 60.

MARSHALLTOWN (10-7, 5-3) — Jamison Niehouse 0 0-0 0, Drake Gersema 7 1-1 17, Kyle Smith 2 0-0 6, Damian Segovia 3 3-4 11, Jacob Hayes 4 0-0 10, Aiden Holmgren 0 0-0 0, Bennett Ricken 0 0-0 0, Talon Halsted 0 0-0 0, Tyler Dorothy 0 0-0 0, Oliver Young 0 0-0 0, Garrett Thede 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 4-5 44.

AMES 17 17 13 13 — 60

MHS 9 11 5 19 — 44

3-Point Goals–Ames 3 (Weiss 2, Lueth), MHS 8 (Gersema 2, Smith 2, Segovia 2, Hayes 2). Team Fouls–Ames 6, MHS 10. Fouled Out–none.