April 19, 2024

Newton boys deck DCG

By Jocelyn Sheets

Standing his ground is Newton’s Jake Bennett as Dallas Center-Grimes’ Steve Borneman (44) crashes into him in an earlier meeting in Newton. Bennett got the charging foul on Borneman, which is part of the Cardina’s game. Newton took three charges in Friday’s 74-62 win at DCG. (Jocelyn Sheets)

GRIMES — Winning on the road in close basketball games has been a bit of a focus point for Newton High’s Cardinal boys of late. They let a couple of leads slip away and lost two Little Hawkeye Conference games on the road earlier in January.

The Cardinals netted their 10th win of the season Friday at Dallas Center-Grimes. Newton grabbed the lead in the second quarter during a nip-and-tuck game with the Mustangs. The Cardinals never gave it up, winning 74-62.

Two weeks ago Norwalk shut down Newton’s leading scorer, Connor Gholson, with a box-and-one, Newton lost in overtime. The Cardinals were ready for the special defenses — box-and-one and triangle-and-two — thrown at them Friday night by DCG.

“When teams use those defenses, they forget we’re a basketball team. We have players who can step up and hit shots, play defense and rebound up and down the lineup,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said after the Cardinals notched the win.

The special defenses didn’t shut down Newton’s top scorers — Gholson and Garrett Sturtz. When Gholson was being guarded tough in the first quarter and had to sit out the second quarter with two fouls, Jwan Roush was there to pick up the slack. Roush scored seven of Newton’s 12 first-quarter points.

Sturtz had four points in the second quarter to help the Cardinals tie the game up at 18-18 after trailing 16-12 after one quarter of play. Joseph Banfield started the run for Newton in the period and Drew Stout came off the bench to drain a 3-pointer, which put the Cardinals in front for good.

“I’m proud of our guys, and they worked together to win this one,” Liley said.

The Cardinals had an answer for each challenge put up by the Mustangs. A trey by Roush, who finished with 17 points, handed the Cardinals a 28-24 halftime lead.

Newton’s Morgan Maher got in on the scoring to begin the third quarter then Gholson pushed Newton’s lead to 10 points. Gholson had back-to-back three-point plays to give the Cardinals a 36-26 lead with 6:16 left.

The Mustangs battled back to within four, 44-40, with two minutes left in the third quarter. Stout’s basket made it 49-42 heading into the fourth quarter.

It was 57-51 with just less than six minutes to play. Newton’s Sturtz went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, Gholson and Banfield also hit free throws down the stretch to keep the Mustangs from getting any closer.

“Garrett played a great game. Jwan got us started off well,” Liley said. “All of our guys who played contributed to this win — rebounding, playing sound defense and getting a basket at the right time. We’re playing as a team.”

Sturtz finished with 23 points, 13-of-13 at the line, 13 rebounds and three assists. Gholson added 18 points, going 6-of-6 at the line.

Gholson moved to ninth on the NHS career scoring list with 699 points, passing Tom Altemeier, who had 695 points from 1962 to 1963. Josh Evans stands at No. 8 with 703 points and Sean Bunger is No. 7 at 718 points.

Newton was 24-of-28 at the foul line for the game. The Cardinals shot 45 percent, 22-of-49, from the field.

Roush had two steals. Banfield claimed seven rebounds and dished out four assists. Newton had a 31-22 edge in rebounding. Newton players took three charging fouls in the game.

“That’s Newton basketball. We want our guys to stand their ground defensively and take the charges,” Liley said.

Dallas Center-Grimes (8-7, 3-6 LHC) got 20 points from Doug Heritage and 15 points from Steve Borneman. The Mustangs cashed in on 15-of-18 free throw attempts. They shot 51 percent, 22 of 43, from the field.

Newton’s junior varsity won 38-36 led by Greyson Graham with 15 points and Trey Vanderlaan with 13. De’Andre Roush had eight rebounds and Josh Gulling had two steals.

The Newton freshmen lost 64-40 at Dallas Center-Grimes. Cole Webster scored 19 points for the Cardinals.

With the win, the Cardinal varsity improved to 10-4 overall and 5-3 in LHC play. They are in a battle for second place in the Little Hawkeye Conference with Norwalk and Grinnell.

“Friday night’s win was big for us as a team in the conference and for seedings for our district,” Liley said. Seedings and pairings for Class 3A district play may be released Monday. Newton, Grinnell, Oskaloosa and South Tama are in District 12 with Centerville, Chariton, Clarke and Knoxville are in District 11.

Newton has a non-conference game at home Monday against Class 3A 10th-ranked Chariton. The Cardinals host Grinnell (10-5, 5-4 LHC) in a Little Hawkeye Conference showdown Tuesday. Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m. at NHS gym.

Newton  12-16-21-25—74

DCG  16-8-18-20—62

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 5-13-1-23, Stout 0/1-0-2-3, Roush 3/3-2-4-17, Bennett 0-0-1-0, Banfield 3-3-3-9, Gholson 3/2-6-3-18, Ventling 1-0-2-2, Maher 1-0-3-2. TOTALS: 16/6-24-19-74.

Dallas Center-Grimes (FG/3-pt): Bertrand 3-1-5-7, Washington 4-0-4-8, Kleen 0-0-1-0, Shivvers 1-0-4-2, Hertiage 4/3-3-3-20, Rude 1-2-1-4, Jacobsen 1-4-2-6, Borneman 5-5-2-15. TOTALS: 19/3-15-22-62.

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