Newton boys rally to beat Pella Christian

PELLA — There were no 3-point field goals in the first half for Newton High’s Cardinals and they trailed host Pella Christian 38-23 at halftime on Friday night.

Sophomore Kyle Long and junior Aaron Bartels found their long-distance shooting touch to help the Cardinals stage a come-from-behind win, 66-61, over the Eagles in Little Hawkeye Conference play. Newton fell behind Pella Christian by 18 points in the third period.

Long hit two treys and Bartels downed one to get the Cardinals to within 15, 49-34 with less than four minutes left in the third quarter. Then senior point guard Garrett Sturtz took over, scoring eight straight to make it 51-42 late in the period.

Newton was down 53-42 heading into the final eight minutes. The Cardinals outscored the Eagles 24-8 with Sturtz firing in 21 of those points. Sturtz, who is second in scoring in the state, finished with 40 points.

“We picked up the tempo, hit shots and played defense in the fourth quarter. A big factor in the comeback was our ability to take charges on the defensive end. Grant Garvis took two or three charging fouls in the fourth quarter,” Sturtz said after the game.

“I give my teammates a lot of credit for playing with heart. Having Grayson Graham back is big for us. When I wasn’t hitting shots early, we had others step up. Q (Quintrail Coley) kept us in the game in the first quarter.”

Actually, senior Grant Garvis and Sturtz each took two charging fouls against the Eagles in the game. Sturtz finished with eight rebounds, six steals and four assists. Garvis had four assists and two steals.

Sophomore post player Quintrail Coley scored eight of his 10 points in the first quarter while Sturtz was held to two points by the Eagles. In his first game of the season, senior guard Grayson Graham connected on the first shot he took to make it 13-13.

Pella led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter and pushed out to a 26-14 lead in the second quarter. With Sturtz with 10 points in the first half, Newton trailed 38-23 going into the break.

The Eagles opened the second half on an 11-8 run to lead 49-31 with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter. Long and Bartels had 3-pointers and Sturtz and Coley each hit a free throw for Newton.

Long’s second trey of the third period made it 49-36. From there, Sturtz went to work taking the Cardinals with him. Newton was down by 11, 53-42, with eight minutes remaining in the game.

Sturtz got a couple of big rebounds early in the fourth quarter and tallied nine points to pull Newton to within two points, 53-51. Pella Christian’s Treven Cadwell fouled out of the game on an offensive charging foul.

Bartels drained a 3-pointer to give Newton its first lead of the game, 54-53. The Cardinals didn’t relinquish it as Sturtz tossed in the final 12 points, hitting 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.

“I draw a lot of attention when I get the ball. It helps when Kyle and Aaron spot up and knock down shots. When I get to the paint, I can find Q and Garvis down low for scores,” Sturtz said. “Early in the game, I found Q in the middle and he made some nice plays.”

Sturtz finished 18-of-22 at the line as the Cardinals were 22-of-29 on foul shots. Newton shot 36 percent, 20-of- 56, from the field. The Cardinals were 4-of-20 from 3-point range.

Pella Christian went 13-of-25, 52 percent, in the first half, it ended up 21-of-48 for the game, 47 percent. The Eagles hit four 3-pointers in the first half and when 0-of-7 from long range in the second half. They wee 15-of-20 at the free-throw line.

Jayden Huisman led Pella Christian with 14 points. Jack Vermeer and Alex Huisman each had 10 points for the Eagles. The Eagles (4-8) are 2-5 in LHC play.

Sturtz had a third game in which he scored 40 or more points this season. He has 363 points for the season and has pushed his career total to 1,345. Sturtz is 50 points behind Newton High career-scoring leader Connor Gholson, 1,395 points.

Newton ends the first round of LHC action at 4-3. The Cardinals (8-3) have a week off until Indianola comes to Newton to open the second half of conference action.

Newton 13-10-19-24—66

Pella Christian 15-23-15-8—61

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 11-18-3-40, Long 0/2-0-2-6, Graham 1-2-4-4, Garvis 0-0-3-0, Bartels 0/2-0-3-6, Coley 4-2-0-10. TOTALS: 16/4-22-15-66.

Pella Christian (FG/3-pt): Jungling 1/1-1-0-6, J. Huisman 6-2-3-14, Pringle 3-2-4-8, Vermeer 2/2-0-4-10, Cadwell 0-6-5-6, Roose 0/1-4-0-7, Van Gorp 0-0-2-0, A. Huisman 5-0-5-10. TOTALS: 17/4-15-23-61.

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