Cardinal boys net LHC win over Tigers

Trey Vanderlaan drained two 3-pointers in a 10-point opening flurry by Newton High’s Cardinals Tuesday against visiting Grinnell’s Tigers. Vanderlaan would hit four more treys in the Little Hawkeye Conference contest won by the Cardinals, 78-51.

Newton led 10-0 with 5:17 left in the first quarter as Garrett Sturtz and Connor Gholson each had a field goal. Grinnell called a timeout at that point. The Tigers went inside to their 6-foot-9 post player senior Cade McKnight for a basket.

Game on for the rest of the way between the two LHC rivals. Newton never trailed. Grinnell cut the margin to six points twice in the first quarter but never got any closer.

“We love playing here in our gym. We haven’t been home for awhile, and we have the greatest student section. Those kids have been there at our away games as well as home games,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said.

“We play well here and we shoot well here. Our kids came out with a lot of determination tonight. They executed our game plan.”

The Cardinals battled some foul trouble as Josh Ventling and Morgan Maher went to the Newton bench early in the game. Maher was trying to guard McKnight inside. Liley said with Newton leading, the foul trouble was timely.

“We wanted to get freshman Quintrail Coley and junior Grayson Graham an opportunity to play in the game. Tonight, the two had extended minutes and gave us great minutes of play.” Liley said.

It was 10-4 when Vanderlaan hit his third 3-pointer for Newton followed by a three by Grinnell’s Jake Hull. Gholson tipped an offensive rebound to himself and hit his first trey of the night. In the final minute of the first quarter, Gholson and Sturtz sank four free throws to put Newton up 22-7.

Newton cashed in on 18-of-20 foul shots in the game. Sturtz, who led all scorers with 27 points, was perfect at the line — 12-of-12 — and pulled down 11 rebounds.

In the second quarter, the Tigers switched to a zone defense and the Cardinals’ scoring slowed down. Newton did shoot 45 percent from the field in the first half to Grinnell’s 30 percent.

“They did switch defenses, but mainly we wanted to play a little slower pace and take care of the ball with the youngster in there. This was Quintrail’s first varsity game. We had the lead and could dictate the tempo we were comfortable with,” Liley said.

Midway through the second period, Newton was up 25-13. The Cardinals finished the first half on a 9-5 run for a 34-18 lead at the break.

The Cardinals set the tone quickly in the third quarter with a 3-pointer from Gholson and a trey from Vanderlaan for a 40-20 lead at the 6:14 mark. Newton had a 21-16 scoring edge in the third quarter.

“With Connor hitting from the left and Trey on the right, they had to chase us the rest of the way,” Liley said.

Graham’s baseline drive to the basket ended the third quarter to push Newton’s advantage to 55-34. The Cardinals continued to push their tempo and never allowed the Tigers a run in the final eight minutes.

Newton went 10-for-10 at the foul line in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals held a 32-20 rebounding edge over the Tigers in the game.

Vanderlaan finished with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Gholson added 20 points. Coley grabbed six rebounds. Ventling and Graham each had three assists.

Sam Allen paced the Tigers with 22 points, and McKnight had 14 points. The Tigers were 13-of-20 at the free-throw line.

The Little Hawkeye Conference has four ranked teams — three in Class 3A and one in Class 2A.

“I can’t imagine too many other conferences in the state stacked up like this one is,” Liley said. “There are no nights off as these teams are good and well coached. We have to be ready to play every night.”

Newton improved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Class 3A second-ranked Pella (6-1, 2-1) comes to the friendly confines of the NHS gym for a 7:30 p.m. LHC game on Friday. It is Pack the Gym night.

The Cardinals play at Knoxville Saturday in a non-conference game.

Newton’s junior varsity lost a 54-45 decision to Grinnell in overtime Tuesday. It was 43-all at the end of regulation. Kyle Long scored 17 points for Newton while Aaron Bartels and 10 points and seven rebounds. McKenna Davis had seven rebounds and Grant Garvis had six rebounds and two assists.

The Newton freshmen claimed a 57-34 win. Antonio Usry and Williams Cheng each tossed in 11 points for the Cardinals.

Grinnell 7-11-16-17—51

Newton 22-12-21-23—78

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 6/1-12-3-27, Graham 2-2-1-6, Gholson 3/4-2-1-20, Vanderlaan 1/6-2-122, Ventling 0-0-5-0, Maher 0/1-0-5-3, Coley 0-0-4-0. TOTALS: 12/12-18-20-78.

Grinnell (FG/3-pt): Roudabush 0/1-2-4-5, Scherf 0/1-0-1-3, Mitchell 0-0-3-0, Allen 8-6-0-22, Popp 0-0-1-0, Hull 0/2-1-2-7, McKnight 5-4-1-14. TOTALS: 13/4-13-12-51.

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