Cardinals keep Bobcats winless

“Getting out and running was key tonight. It created some easy baskets for us,” said Nick Wilkins, Newton High boys’ head coach, of the Cardinals’ 65-51 win at home Thursday over visiting Marshalltown.

Drew Stout scored the opening basket of the game for Newton then Joseph Banfield came up with a steal. Banfield took the ball right to the basket for a layup. That set the tone for the game.

The Cardinals trailed only once, briefly. Marshalltown’s Jordan Smith hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bobcats a 12-11 lead. Within 20 seconds, Newton regained the lead when Connor Gholson drained one of his two treys on the night.

Newton led 14-12 at the end of one quarter. The Cardinals started the second period on a 7-0 run with baskets by Jordan Travis and a 3-pointer by Nick Easley.

The Cardinals finally achieved separation from the pesky Bobcats in the final two minutes of the first half. Tyler Wood and Gholson netted 3-pointers and Banfield scored to put Newton up 33-21 at the break.

“At halftime, we talked about keeping the pressure on them,” Banfield said. “We came out and played our hardest and it worked out for us. This was a good team effort. We still have stuff to improve on.”

The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair. Stout countered a basket by Marshalltown’s Michael Schremph early. Banfield had a big tip-in at the 4:30 mark to make it 38-27 followed by a three-point play by Garrett Sturtz.

Tony Smith scored four straight points for the Bobcats, who came into the game 0-3. After Gholson hit one of two free throws, Easley drove to the basket twice for scores to extend the Newton lead to 46-31 with 40 seconds on the third-quarter clock.

The Bobcats got the final three points of the period and a basket to begin the fourth to stay within 10 points, 46-36.

Newton pushed the ball up the court with Wood delivering a bounce pass to Banfield for an easy bucket in transition. Wood had a fastbreak basket and sank a 3-pointer to put the Cardinals up 53-38.

The Cardinals led 57-40 at the 4:57 mark. Marshalltown came at the Cardinals one last time, scoring eight unanswered to pull to within nine, 57-48. The final three minutes of the game belonged to Newton, which scored eight straight to bump the margin back up. The Bobcats hit a 3-pointer at the end for the last points of the game.

“We are getting closer and closer to playing a full game of team basketball. We have a lot of work to do at the defensive end,” Wilkins said. “We allowed too many drives to the basket tonight and we have to get that fixed.”

Gholson came off the bench to lead the balanced scoring for Newton with 15 points. Banfield finished with 12 and Easley had 11. The Cardinals were 12-of-18 from the free-throw line.

Tony Smith fired in 20 points for the Bobcats and Jordan Smith had 10 points. Marshalltown (0-4) hit 3-of-4 charity tosses.

“Drew Stout has stepped up big the past two games, guarding the other team’s best player. You’re not going to shut down a good player, but Drew has been able to control those players so they really didn’t hurt us,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins said the Cardinals were working on having more movement of the ball in the offense. He said the Cardinals tend to “stand and watch each other too much. We need to continue to move the ball. We have too many good shooters and good players not to utilize them.”

Newton (3-1) have a week to prepare for its second Little Hawkeye Conference game. The Cardinals, who are 0-1 in conference play, travel to Grimes next Friday to play Dallas Center-Grimes’ Mustangs.

Then on Dec. 20, the Cardinals are at Des Moines Christian in a non-conference game to wrap up action before Christmas.

Newton won the junior varsity game, beating Marshalltown 54-26. The Cardinals went on a 24-0 run n the third quarter to put the game away. Trey Vanderlaan paced the junior varsity with 15 points and Josh Ventling added 10.

In the freshman game, Marshalltown posted a 56-24 win over Newton. Grayson Graham led Newton with eight points followed by Dalton Pauly with five and Benny Cheng with four. Freshman coach Tim Trier said the freshman did the best they could in the game to go 2-3 on the season.

Marshalltown  12-9-13-17—51

Newton  14-19-13-21—65

Marshalltown (FG/3-pt): Hauser 2/1-1-3-8, Kluver 3-0-3-6, Thimesch 0-0-1-0, Reidl 1-0-2-2, J. Smith 2/2-0-0-10, Schremph 1-0-2-2, T. Smith 6/2-2-4-20, Espinesa 0/1-0-0-3, Dolezal 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 15/6-3-17-51.

Newton (FG/3-pt): Shores 2-1-1-5, Stout 3-0-1-6, Wood 1/2-0-1-8, Bennett 0-0-1-0, Banfield 5-2-2-12, Gholson 2/2-5-1-15, Easley 3/1-2-0-11, Travis 2-0-0-4, Dodd 0-0-1-0, Sturtz 1-1-0-3, Gulling 0-1-1-1. TOTALS: 19/5-12-10-65.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com