Four Cardinals garner LHC basketball honors

Tyler Wood not only put his imprint on Newton High School basketball, he put his imprint on Little Hawkeye Conference basketball the past four years.

Wood, a 6-foot senior guard, became a three-time first-team All-Little Hawkeye Conference selection. Wood led the Cardinals and the LHC in 3-point field goals made in the 2014-15 season. Wood became Newton High’s all-time leading scorer by the end of his senior season.

Wood is one of six unanimous selections by the LHC coaches for the 2014-15 All-Little Hawkeye Conference Teams. The first team had eight members on it.

Newton sophomore Connor Gholson received second-team honors. Seniors Jordan Travis and Nick Easley received honorable mention honors from the coaches.

Three teams from the seven-team Little Hawkeye Conference played in last week’s Iowa High School State Basketball Tournaments in Des Moines. Pella Christian finished third in the Class 2A tournament while conference champion Pella and Dallas Center-Grimes lost in the opening round of the Class 3A tournament.

Newton finished sixth in the Little Hawkeye Conference with a 2-10 record. The Cardinals were 9-13 overall. Pella was 10-2 in conference action while DCG and Norwalk tied for second at 9-3.

“I think everyone in our conference believed we were a better team than our record, just talking to the coaches,” said Nick Wilkins, Newton head coach, following the Cardinals’ season-ending loss against Ankeny in Class 4A substate play. “Our kids know it too. It was just a strange season, and we didn’t get a few wins when we had it in front of us.”

Wood was the leading scorer for the Cardinals with 337 points, which push him to a career total of 1,076 points. That is Newton’s top career-scoring total surpassing Curt Greeley’s 1,020 points. Wood and Greeley (2003-06) are the only two players to score more than 1,000 points in their career for Newton.

Wood connected on 71-of-163 3-point field goal attempts, which was tops for Newton, the LHC and No. 2 in Class 4A. He was 13th in 3-point makes for the state of Iowa overall.

Wood finished sixth in scoring among conference players this season. He shot 41 percent, 97-of-239 from the field overall. He led the Cardinals in free throw shooting at 83 percent, sinking 72-of-87 attempts. Wood moved to fourth on the NHS free throw makes in a season and third in season free-throw percentage. He is second in career free throws made — 185-of-232.

Wood led the Cardinals in assists with season with 62 and in steals with 19. He also had 88 rebounds.

Wood finished as Newton’s top 3-point field goal shooter, draining a career-high 232 shots from beyond the arc. His 71 3-pointers this season was the second-best season total. Wood has the top three season’s best in 3-point field goals made for Newton High.

Gholson was the Cardinals’ second-leading scorer for the season with 244 points. He netted 42-of-124 3-point field goal attempts for 34 percent. He shot 43 percent, 79-of-185, from the field overall.

Gholson and Wood had multiple games with six 3-point field goals made this season.

Gholson shot 81.5 percent, 44-of-54, from the free-throw line. He had 90 rebounds, 35 assists and nine steals as a 6-foot guard.

Travis was Newton’s big man at 6-foot-5 inches. The senior forward led the team with 114 rebounds, and 82 of those came off the defensive glass. He also led the team with 12 blocked shots. Travis was the team’s fifth-leading scorer with 136 points.

Travis shot 54 percent, 64-of-118, from the field. He finished his two-years of varsity play for the Cardinals with 172 rebounds, 171 points and 17 blocked shots.

Easley, Newton’s 5-foot-10 inch point guard, garnered Little Hawkeye Conference honorable mention honors for the second year in a row. Easley had a tough senior season, missing five straight games in the second semester of play with a foot injury.

Easley was Newton’s third-leading scorer with 157 points and third in assists with 44. Easley finished second on the NHS career assist list with 185. He is atop the season assist list with 89 from 2014. He finished his varsity career with 436 points.

Easley shot 50 percent, 59-of-117, from the field. He netted 10-of-23 3-point field goals for 43.5 percent. He was 29-of-49, 59 percent, from the free-throw line. He had 31 rebounds and 13 steals.

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