March 19, 2024

Cardinals oust No. 10 Dowling from 4A playoffs

Two down, one to go

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WEST DES MOINES — Newton High’s Cardinals are one win away from qualifying for the Iowa Class 4A state basketball tournament, a place the boys’ team hasn’t been since 1992.

The Cardinals used a 29-19 scoring surge in the fourth quarter of Friday’s Class 4A Substate 7 semifinal to knock 10th-ranked Dowling Catholic out of the playoffs. Newton’s boys won 58-54 over the substate top-seeded Maroons on Dowling’s court.

Newton has beaten two CIML teams to reach the Substate 7 championship game. Another CIML team — Johnston — stands between the Cardinals and a berth in the 4A state basketball tournament.

Newton (18-5) plays Johnston, which shocked Ames 45-43 Friday. The Substate 7 title game is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Des Moines Roosevelt High School.

“Johnston is a very good basketball team and a tough match-up for us,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said. “We’re ready for the challenge. We know how big tonight’s win is for our program, but we have managed expectations, and we have tempered excitement with a dose of reality. We have to play our best basketball every time we step on the floor or we’ll lose to anybody.

“Because we know that, we can’t allow the highs be too high and the lows be too low. We have to go right out and play. Our kids are doing all they can to get Cardinal basketball back to the state tournament.:

Junior Grayson Graham came off the Newton bench to hit a 3-pointer with 6:45 left in Friday night’s Class 4A Substate 7 semifinal. The shot pulled the Cardinals to within one point of Dowling, 35-34.

“Grayson is a tough-minded player. He sat on the bench that whole time then went in, found himself wide open and knew he had to shoot that shot,” Liley said. “We’re grateful he had the confidence to knock that shot down.”

Garrett Sturtz, another junior, had back-to-back baskets to put the Cardinals in front for good. Senior Connor Gholson delivered two 3-pointers to push Newton’s lead to 44-37. Newton sealed one of the biggest wins in NHS history from the free-throw line.

Sturtz recorded a double-double in leading the Cardinals to victory. He fired in 30 points, which included going 14-of-17 at the free-throw line. He had 10 rebounds along with three steals, two assists and blocking five shots. Sturtz also took three charging fouls by Maroon players.

Gholson hit for 17 points. The Cardinals cashed in on 21-of-27 free throw attempts against Dowling, going 14-of-18 in the fourth quarter.

Newton trailed 12-8 at the end of the first quarter. Gholson scored the first five points for Newton and senior Trey Vanderlaan hit a 3-pointer to make it 9-8. Joey Kern connected for a trey to give the Maroons their four-point lead.

Dowling outscored Newton 10-6 in the second period. Newton was down 22-14 at halftime.

“Dowling is a really good team with amazing athletes. The Ingoli kid is unbelievable in his ability to defend and did an amazing job on Connor in shutting him down,” Liley said. “Their defense was great in the first half. We had to be creative to find other ways to score the ball. It took us a half to figure it out.”

The Cardinals shifted gears coming out of the break. Senior Morgan Maher opened up with a basket then Sturtz converted a steal into a bucket. Sam Ingoli answered with five straight points for Dowling.

Sturtz hit 3-of-4 free throws and Gholson had a basket followed by a putback by Sturtz to pull newton to within two points, 29-27, at the 2-minute mark. Despite holding a 15-13 scoring edge in the third quarter, Newton was behind 35-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

Liley said the Cardinals used the third quarter to warm things up then the fourth quarter went the Cardinals’ way. He said Newton got as many buckets as it needed to win the game.

“We never felt we were going to lose the ballgame. We just had to figure out how we wanted to attack them. Once we got Garrett and Connor going in the second half, it was tough for Dowling to stop us,” Liley said.

Sturtz, Graham and Gholson powered the Cardinals on a 17-2 run to gain the lead. Dowling did not score a field goal in the fourth quarter until Ingoli got to the basket with less than three minutes remaining.

Newton used its delay game on offense and Dowling had to foul the Cardinals to extend the game. Dowling’s Kern hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to make it 54-51, but Sturtz downed two free throws.

A trey by Luke Yacinich came with five seconds on the clock to get the Maroons to within two points, 56-54. Sturtz delivered the final blow, sinking both foul shots for the winning margin.

Newton shot 40 percent, 16-of-40, from the field of the game after going 5-of-15 in the first half. The Cardinals had a 21-18 rebounding edge, giving up just two offensive rebounds to the Maroons. Ventling dished out three assists for the Cardinals.

Ingoli finished with 19 points for Dowling. Kern had 16 points. The Maroons (16-6) shot 48 percent, 20-of-41, from the field, but only went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Newton 8-6-15-29—58

Dowling 12-10-13-19—54

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 8-14-1-30, Graham 0/1-0-0-3, Gholson 2/3-4-1-17, Vanderlaan 0/1-3-1-6, Ventling 0-0-5-0, Maher 1-0-5-2. TOTALS: 11/5-21-13-58.

Dowling (FG/3-pt): Coffin 1-0-4-2, Ingoli 7/1-2-5-19, Olson 1/2-2-5-10, Kern 2/3-3-0-16, Clark 0-0-1-0, Bell 1-0-0-2, Yacinich 0/1-0-2-3, Waggoner 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 13/7-7-18-54.

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