Cardinal boys net victory on Senior Night

Newton High’s Cardinal boys sent their four seniors off right Monday night. In the final regular-season home contest, the Cardinals routed visiting Winterset, 70-50.

The four seniors — Drew Stout, Jwan Roush, Jake Bennett and Joseph Banfield — started the game along with junior Connor Gholson. Gholson delivered early for the Cardinals draining two 3-pointers and a field goal to put the Cardinals in front 8-3.

Bennett upped the Newton lead with a bucket which was followed by back-to-back treys from Gholson and Stout. Sophomore Garrett Sturtz came in to connect for two and Gholson made it 20-3. On a buzzer-beating follow shot, Sturtz handed Newton a 22-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Huskies never mounted a serious comeback against the Cardinals. Newton held Winterset scoreless for seven minutes. The Huskies’ Jaxon Nordstrom broke the drought with a basket with 7:28 left in the second quarter as Winterset found itself down, 24-5.

“The kids shot the ball well tonight. I’m happy for our seniors to get a win in their last regular-season home game,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said. “It was a big deal for us to help send these guys off the right way.”

Newton had a poor shooting night Friday at home. The Cardinals found their shooting touch in the first half Monday to build a 19-point halftime lead, 39-20, against the Huskies.

The quick start put Newton in front to stay. A 3-pointer by Sturtz followed by a basket by Roush had Newton up 33-14 halfway through the second quarter. Each team dropped in 17 points in the second quarter.

“It feels great to win tonight as a senior,” Roush said. “It was a fun night, playing with everyone as a team. We knew this is our last year and our last game at home in the regular season, so we needed to put it all out there. Coach Liley emphasizes for us to give it our all.”

The Cardinal lead reached 22 points on back-to-back baskets from Gholson and junior Morgan Maher midway through the third quarter, 49-27. Junior Josh Ventling’s shot settled into the net at the end of the third quarter to send the Cardinals into the fourth period with a 54-34 lead.

A Sturtz basket at the 1:21 mark had the Cardinals up 70-48. Sturtz “turned the ball over” to Winterset’s Ryan Hinsch at the end. Hinsch, a special needs player, scored the final basket of the game to one of the loudest cheers of the night from both sides.

Gholson had a game-high 21 points followed by Sturtz with 20 points. Newton held a 36-26 rebounding edge on Winterset. Sturtz cleared nine rebounds while Banfield and Gholson each pulled down eight rebounds, and Roush had five boards.

Roush and Maher each made three steals for the Cardinals. Banfield, Roush and Maher had three assists apiece.

“This win helps us get a better jump-start for the playoffs,” Roush said. “We want to go into the playoffs playing well.”

Winterset was led by Justin Henry with 14 points and Daniel Brookhart with 11 points. Henry went 8-of-12 from the free-throw line. The Huskies cashed in on 17-of-28 foul shots while the Cardinals went 11-of-14 at the line.

Newton (12-8) hits the road Thursday for its final game of the regular season. The Cardinals play at Carlisle.

Monday’s game was not the final time Newton plays at home. The Cardinals host the first round of Class 3A District 12 action Feb. 22. Newton plays South Tama in the second game of a district doubleheader, which starts at 6:30 p.m. with Grinnell taking on Oskaloosa.

“We hope tonight’s win helps us begin building the right momentum to give us a chance to make a run in the playoffs,” Liley said. “It is important to our kids to be the first team in a while to make it to state.

“We feel we have a road we can handle. We know we have to be playing well to do it because the teams along that road are pretty good. We’re excited to get back to work Tuesday in practice and plan to play better on Thursday.”

It was a three-game sweep Monday night for Newton’s boys.

The Cardinal freshmen opened the night with a 60-38 victory over Winterset. They held a 37-14 halftime lead. Aaron Bartels led the way with 16 points followed by Cole Webster with 15 and Ryan Barr with eight points. Taylor Greiner and Collin Hemann each scored six points and Thomas Cox added four. Ben Leal and Luke Maharry scored two points apiece and Peyton Henderson had one point.

Newton’s junior varsity pulled out a 53-46 win. The Cardinals were up 28-26 at halftime and got some breathing room on an 18-8 run in the third period.

Josh Gulling hit four of the team’s 12 3-pointers in the game on his way to 16 points. Trey Vanderlaan knocked down five threes for 15 points. Justin Fischer scored nine points followed by Grayson Graham with eight, Keith Steinbach with three and Grant Garvis with two points.

Garvis pulled down 12 rebounds and had three steals. Vanderlaan had nine rebounds and eight assists. Graham, who hit five straight free throws in the final 45 seconds, had three steals and four assists. Nate Van Zee made five blocked shots.

Winterset  3-17-14-16—50

Newton  22-17-15-16—70

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 7/-3-2-20, Stout 2/1-0-3-7, Roush 4-0-2-8, Bennett 1-0-4-2, Banfield 1-1-3-3, Gholson 4/2-4-4-21, Vanderlaan 0-2-0-2, Ventling 1-1-2-3, Maher 2-0-2-4. TOTALS: 22/5-11-22-70.

Winterset (FG/3-pt): Nordstrom 2-0-1-4, Montross 0-0-1-0, Nelson 2-0-2-4, Hinsch 1-0-0-2, M. Baur 2-4-2-8, Kleemeier 0-4-1-4, Henry 3-8-1-14, WIlliams 0-1-3-1, N. Baur 1-0-1-2, Brookhart 4/1-0-3-11. TOTALS: 15/1-17-15-50.

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