It was the first time they had played in Hilton Coliseum or on ESPN, and the Ames High boys delivered in their matchup against Waukegan.

The Little Cyclones scored a season high en route to an 87–59 victory over the Bulldogs in front of a crowd of 6,494 and a national audience on ESPN.

“It was great to just be able to showcase Ames High and just have our team on national television, to show the whole world what we are like,” star forward Harrison Barnes said.

Since ESPN had not televised an Iowa High School team before, it was also a showcase for the state, to some degree.

“Hopefully it’s a reflection on the state of Iowa,” Ames coach Vance Downs said. “We play some really good basketball in the state of Iowa, and sometimes we are overlooked. Hopefully it will open some eyes.”

The game was close through most of the first half, with Ames High taking a 36–29 lead into the locker room. They were able to break the game open in the third quarter, however, as Barnes and Doug McDermott, son of ISU men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott, took over the game.

Barnes and McDermott combined for the team’s first 15 points in the third quarter and scored 20 of the 25 points in the period, as Ames built a 19-point lead, heading into the final period.

Barnes finished the game leading all players with 26 points and 13 rebounds, and McDermott was close behind in both categories, scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 boards. Aaron Johnson led the way for the Bulldogs, scoring 16 points; Jereme Richmond added 14.

“We didn’t play our basketball,” Richmond said. “ I thought that they did a good job of preparing for what we like to do, which is pushing the ball up the court.”

Although Ames High shares their city with Iowa State, this was the first time they have played in Hilton Coliseum.

“It was an unbelievable experience,” Barnes said. “I thought we definitely had a little bit of Hilton Magic on our side tonight.”

Many of the players come to Hilton Coliseum to watch the Cyclones’ teams play.

“I go to all of my dads games here, and now, finally getting a chance to play here, it was just awesome,” McDermott said. “The fans were great. That place was loud. I can’t even imagine what it’s like when it’s sold out. I couldn’t hear my teammates when it was that full.”

Going into the game, all of the buzz was about the matchup of two of the top small forwards in the country, with Barnes, ranked number one in the 2010 recruiting class, and Waukegan’s Jereme Richmond, the 17th-best player in the class.

The two athletes have played together on the summer circuit and said they are pretty good friends.

“He is just a good guy,” Richmond said. “We can’t talk as much as we’d like to, because he lives so far away, but we take advantage of texting and checking up on each other from time to time.”

Tonight, however, they were only focused on stopping each other.

“Jereme is an extremely good player,” Barnes said. “A very, very high-level basketball player. It was great that we were able to play good defense on him and contain him.”

And with Richmond contained, Barnes was able to steal the show.

“He played great,” Richmond said of Barnes. “He is the number one player in the country. With a player like him, you are never going to shut him down completely; you just have to limit his shots and make his shots tougher. But, being the player he is, he created shots for himself and led his team to victory like all good players do.”