March 28, 2024

Wood’s shooting touch nets NHS scoring marks

Top Card Ace Duece Trey

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Points piled up by the ones, twos and threes. There were even occasional four-point plays.

When it all was said and done, Tyler Wood concluded a storied four-year basketball career for Newton High as the Cardinals’ all-time leading scorer with 1,076 points. Wood is Newton’s most prolific shooter from 3-point field goal range.

Newton High School’s boys have only two players in its history to score more than 1,000 points. Wood went into his senior season sitting sixth place on the career-scoring list with 739 points.

When the final buzzer sounded in the Class 4A substate game on Feb. 23 at Southeast Polk High School, Wood walked off the basketball court for the final time for Newton High. Thirteen days earlier, Wood had moved into the top spot on the NHS career scoring list.

“It’s a big honor to be the all-time leading scorer for Newton. It’s hard to believe that I — Tyler Wood — am the leading scorer. It’s kind a hard to get a grasp on that fact,” Wood said of his accomplishment.

“I’m very blessed to play this game and to have teammates, coaches, my family and friends who believed in me. I couldn’t have done this without my teammates and coaches. You don’t do something like this by yourself.”

Wood, a 6-foot guard, reached the 1,000-point plateau on Senior Night in front of a home crowd Feb. 6. He needed 20 points going into the game to get there and he scored 21 points. Wood had 18 points in the first half against Oskaloosa that night, which included a four-point play.

Wood was fouled on a 3-point field goal attempt at the 2:28 mark of the third quarter. He missed the first free throw, but was right on the next two.

“I missed that first free throw. I don’t miss many free throws,” Wood laughed. “I didn’t know how close I was to reaching 1,000 points until they announced at the end of the second quarter I just needed two points.”

Wood, who finishes at No. 2 on most free throws made in a career at NHS and No. 4 in career free-throw percentage (79.7), stepped up and knocked down the next two free throws to hit the mark. Four days later, the Cardinals were playing at Pella when Wood drained seven 3-pointers for the second time in his career.

He became Newton High’s all-time leading scorer on a four-point play — a 3-pointer and a free throw — with 42 seconds left in the third quarter that night.

With his 24 points against Pella, he moved past Curt Greeley’s 1,020 points, amassed from 2002 to 2006.

“Tyler was a freshman in my first season as head coach here,” said Nick Wilkins, Newton boys’ head coach. “Watching him for five minutes on the court, you knew he was a special player. He wanted to work and improve. His work ethic was evident to all of us coaches. It has been a great experience for me to have Tyler as a player in my first four years of coaching.”

It took work to get from playing B-team for Newton’s seventh-grade team to becoming a three-year starter and three-year All-Little Hawkeye Conference first team selection. Wood said he wasn’t a very good listener and didn’t know the game of basketball very well in middle school.

“I wasn’t picking it up very well,” he said. “I got a better feel for the game in the eighth grade and played on the A-team. I bloomed as a player my freshman year. During one of our open gym sessions, I was playing a game with other freshmen and hit a game-winning shot. The coaches saw it and Coach (Wilkins) gave me an opportunity to play varsity. That changed my basketball career.”

Wood got no starts as a freshman, but he came off the bench.

“We all had roles. My role was to shoot threes when I was in there,” Wood said. “My first shot in a varsity game, I banked in a 3-pointer against Boone. I remember not really believing it when Coach called my name to go in, then I said ‘let’s do this’ to myself.”

Wood pointed to Brian Rose, who was a senior guard for Newton when Wood was a freshman, as his role model. He said he remembered watching Rose play for NHS when he was in eighth grade.

“Then, I was playing on the court with Brian the next year. I was intimidated a little bit, because I didn’t want to screw up. Brian was really good. He helped me that year and made me a better player. He helped teach me the game of basketball.”

In his freshman season, Wood watched as Rose led the Cardinals in 3-point shooting, 36-of-93. Wood followed suit finishing second on the team, hitting 18-of-71 3-pointers.

Three-point shooting became Wood’s forte on the basketball court. He wasn’t bad from the free-throw line either, going 20-of-24 as a freshman.

“I remember when I was a little kid playing basketball at the Y, they rolled out the little hoops for us to use. I didn’t think I was very good. I’d stand out there and they wouldn’t pass me the ball,” Wood said.

“When they finally passed it to me, I took a deep shot. I just threw it up there and I saw it go in. I thought I like this. I want to shoot threes.”

Wood finished as Newton’s top 3-point field goal shooter, draining a career-high 232 shots from beyond the 3-point 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.

Wood was an unanimous selection to the 2015 All-LHC first team. He led the Cardinals and the LHC in 3-point field goals made in the 2014-15 season.

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.

“Sometimes, I relied too much on the 3-pointer,” Wood said. “Between my freshman and sophomore seasons, I worked not only on shooting threes, but I worked on driving to the hoop, on my footwork and movement with the ball and without the ball.”

In his first game as a starter his sophomore season, Wood said he made a game-winning layup against Boone.

“This year, I started the season with a 30-point game against Boone,” he said. That was a career-high point total for a game for Wood.

Wood, who set NHS records as a three-year starting quarterback, said being a multi-sport athlete helped him in basketball, football and baseball. Wood signed recently to play football at William Penn University in Oskaloosa.

“It wasn’t until my junior year that I really started elevating on my jump shot,” Wood said. “I’ve never been the biggest guy on the court and being able to elevate when I shoot the ball has helped me get the ball over defenders and see the basket better.”

Wood attributes a lot of his success to getting in the weight room and becoming stronger. He said he was a puny kid who couldn’t jump as a freshman.

Wood also began driving to the basket more. He said it is a great feeling when you drive to the basket, hit the shot and get fouled.

“Making the shot and having the and-one is fun. Your teammates are happy for you. It’s the ability to work through the contact, then step up and hit the free throw,” Wood said.

What made him a good 3-point shooter?

“Practice — a lot of practice. Nights at my house I shoot and shoot. I love it,” he said. “I love basketball. I love sports. They are my passion and I don’t know where I’d be without sports.”

Wood said he never left the gym until he swished a 3-poitner or the shot looked and felt good.

“The problem with that is when it looked really good I wanted to do it again,” he said. “Shooting is a lot of muscle memory. You remember how you shot that perfect shot.”

Coach Wilkins pointed out another strong suit for Wood on the basketball court — his defense.

“Tyler is a tremendous offensive player, but his defensive abilities are just as stellar,” Wilkins said. “He wasn’t on the other team’s best player. We’d put him on someone else because Tyler was great with help defense. He was our best player in coming over and helping teammates defensively.”

Wood said playing strong defense helped him get into the rhythm of the game. He said he was proud of creating a couple of five-second calls against opponents this season.

“Being a defensive stopper can motivate your team to do better. I worked hard to make the offensive player to pick up his dribble and have to pass the ball,” Wood said.

Wood was the leading scorer this season for the Cardinals with 337 points. He was the team leader for the season in assists with 62 and in steals with 19. He also had 88 rebounds.

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.

Newton compiled a 39-49 record during the four years Wood played.

Losing the substate game against Ankeny was tough on Wood.

“I wanted to win that game. I wasn’t ready to not play basketball with my teammates,” Wood said.

“I hate to lose. I’m very competitive. I don’t know of anyone else who is more competitive than I am.”

Wood said his final season in which Newton went 9-13 was a bit disappointing. He said his teammates and coaches believed they were a better team than that.

“In a lot of games this season, we played really well and the other team would shoot lights out. Their coaches would say it was the best they shot all season,” Wood said. “There are a lot of little things in basketball if you don’t do right, it will cost you the game.”

Though he will be playing football in college, Wood said he will never be done with basketball.

“Basketball is very special. It is a sport you really don’t need a partner to do. You shoot and get your own rebound. If I want to clear my head, I put my headphones on and go shoot,” he said.

“I didn’t accomplish all of this on my own. I had family and friends encouraging me, pushing me and believing in me. I had tremendous teammates and coaches who pushed me to be better.

“Sports teach you how to battle through adversity. Working together not just when things are going well, but more importantly when things are not going well is important in sports and in life.”

Wood said he would tell young players to go to all the open gyms available to become better players. He said to have a strong mental game.

“Work hard and be very dedicated to your sport. Just love the game you play. Take every opportunity to work on your craft,” Wood said.

“Have the mindset that nobody’s going to beat me, nobody’s going to take the ball from me and nobody’s going to stop me.”

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