DES MOINES (AP) — Harrison Barnes did a lot in his final high school game.
With the coach he will play for in college watching, Barnes scored 19 points, led Ames to its second straight Class 4-A boys basketball championship and helped put a record crowd in the seats.
Ames capped a second consecutive unbeaten season by defeating Southeast Polk 47-37 Saturday night before a Wells Fargo Arena crowd of 13,000, the largest ever for the final night of the tournament.
Barnes, who already has won a national player of the year award, will play at North Carolina next season, and Tar Heels coach Roy Williams was among those in attendance, watching from a suite with Iowa Gov. Chet Culver.
Northern Iowa recruit Doug McDermott scored 21 points for Ames (27-0), which ran its winning streak to 53, the eighth-longest on record in the state. Ames became just the third large school to repeat since boys basketball went to classes and the first to go unbeaten in back-to-back seasons.
The 6-foot-8 Barnes wasted no time showing the crowd why Williams — and a slew of other college coaches — wanted him.
Before the game was 3½ minutes old, Barnes hit two long jumpers, drove for a dunk and made a layup. He knocked down another jumper in a 5-for-5 start and capped a 12-point first quarter by following a teammate's missed layup with a two-hand, buzzer-beating jam that shook the backboard.
That put Ames up 22-9 and on the verge of a quick blowout.
Southeast Polk, which lost to Ames 67-46 during the season, kept its composure, however, and drew to 24-20 late in the second quarter behind Kody Ingle, who led the Rams (21-4) with 11 points. They would get no closer.
McDermott, the son of Iowa State coach Greg McDermott, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and a jumper from the baseline to make it 29-20 at halftime. He hit another 3 from the top of the key early in the third quarter for a 32-20 lead, and the Little Cyclones were in control the rest of the way.
McDermott, overshadowed by Barnes but a solid player in his own right, finished 4 for 5 from 3-point range and 8 for 10 overall.
Barnes, voted captain of the all-tournament team, made nine of 15 shots, handed out three assists and made two steals.
It was the eighth state championship for Ames. Davenport Central, with nine, is the only Iowa school with more.
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