Cards hang tough, but fall to Eagles 68-53
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| Newton senior Shamus Baltisberger weaves through Pella Christian defenders in the first quarter of the Cardinals’ 68-53 loss to the Eagles Tuesday night. Baltisberger led the Cards with 17 points. (Shane Lucas/Daily News) |
On the heels of a 19-point defeat in the first meeting with Pella Christian, the Newton boys basketball team had revenge on the mind in the second half Tuesday night.
However, that’s when Eagle senior Dan Hessing managed his team’s first and only back-breaking run, which propelled Pella Christian to a 68-53 win and a season sweep of the Cardinals.
“I’m very pleased with the way we played,” Newton coach Nick Wilkins said. “We played hard all night long, we were aggressive attacking the basket and we hung right in there until the end. I just want to give credit to the kids, because that’s all them.”
The first quarter was a good indicator of how the Cardinals (7-7, 3-7 Little Hawkeye Conference) would play for the rest of the night, as Pella Christian jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but Newton fired back to take a short 9-8 lead. After the Eagles responded with another run of their own, Newton freshman Tyler Wood hit a late 3-pointer to put the Cards down 19-13.
Newton had its most productive defensive quarter in the second, holding Pella Christian to just 10 points and narrowing the deficit to just four. This was done with a run by seniors Brian Rose and Shamus Baltisberger and junior Collins Reynolds to keep the Eagle lead at six before sophomore Michael Miller hit two late free throws to make it 29-25 at halftime.
“The big difference was we went on four-point runs and they went on six- to eight-point runs,” Wilkins said. “Basketball is a game of runs these days and no lead is ever safe, so that was big. It was just one of those things where our runs weren’t long enough and we couldn’t sustain them.”
That trend continued into the third, but the Cards were able to pull within one point after a free throw by junior Andrew Clements pegged the score at 35-34. But that’s when Hessing made his strike. It started with a three and ended with five quick points near the buzzer, but when all was said and done, Newton now trailed by nine going into the fourth.
“He just hit tough shots,” Wilkins said of Hessing. “Some of them were more open than we’d like, but we came into tonight with a goal to help down hard and force shots from the outside. They did that, but we knew it was going to be a dogfight.”
The fourth quarter was packed with offense, but unfortunately for the Cards, it was fairly even for both teams. Pella Christian began to cash in on offensive rebounds after failing to exploit its height advantage throughout the night, and Newton couldn’t get much closer than 12 points before the final buzzer sounded.
“It definitely wore us down, even though we were blocking out tough,” Wilkins said. “Sometimes, even when you block out, you have that height disadvantage and it’s just tough to get a rebound. Sometimes the ball, for whatever reason, doesn’t bounce your way.”
As part of Coaches vs. Cancer night, the boys sported blue warm-up shirts in support of assistant coaches Tom Weeks and Tim Trier, who have both had bouts with colorectal cancer. Weeks has been diagnosed with cancer four times, while Trier just recently completed chemotherapy. With two survivors on its coaching staff, the night hit especially close to home for the Cards.
“I think it’s a great cause. Everyone’s been touched by cancer in one way or another, and we have two guys that have battled and survived it,” Wilkins said. “It’s great to see everyone come together like this, it’s a great thing that they’re doing and hopefully some day we won’t have to deal with cancer anymore.”
Newton will be back in action on the road on Friday when it travels to Knoxville. The Cards edged out the Panthers in the first meeting on Jan. 10 by a final score of 33-32.
Pella Christian 68, Newton 53
Score by quarter
P — 19 10 14 25 — 68
N — 13 12 9 19 — 53
Individual scorers
P — Hessing 22, Riggen 12, Ver Meer 10, Morgan 8, Van Weelden 6, Veenstra 5, Van Maanen 4
N — Baltisberger 17, Rose 10, Clements 8, Wood 7, Reynolds 4, Bates 3, Miller 2, Nilles 2
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