April 19, 2024

Newton boys net LHC win over Eagles making history

1,000 Victories and Counting

By Jocelyn Sheets
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Drawing a lot of attention is Newton High senior point guard Garrett Sturtz as he handles the basketball with three Pella Christian players converging on him during the first half of Thursday’s home game for Newton. Sturtz led the Cardinals to a 56-44 win in sweeping the Little Hawkeye Conference series with the Eagles. It was also the Newton High boys’ basketball program’s 1,000th victory. (Jocelyn Sheets)

Mark it down in the history book — victory No. 1,000 for the Newton High boys’ basketball program was a 56-44 win against Pella Christian in Little Hawkeye Conference play on Feb. 8, 2018.

Newton High’s Cardinals shook off a tough triple overtime loss at home Tuesday in which they scored 104 points — a program record — and had a solid win at home Thursday. The Cardinals concluded the 2017-18 Little Hawkeye Conference season with a series sweep of the Pella Christian Eagles.

“It’s a milestone for Newton basketball. It was a bounce-back game for us. We’re hoping to win out the regular season to get momentum going into the playoffs,” senior point guard Garrett Sturtz said following the game.

Sturtz finished the game with a game-high 23 points. He had a double-double with 10 rebounds and led the team with six assists. He had two steals and blocked two shots.

It was junior Aaron Bartels who ignited the Cardinal offense early for the second game in a row. He buried three consecutive 3-pointers to lift Newton to a 10-3 lead over the Eagles.

“It means a lot because this program has been good over the years, and it was good to be part of the 1,000th win,” Bartels said after hitting six 3-pointers for 18 points.

Bartels, who had six treys on Tuesday, said his teammates are setting him up really well, setting great screens for him so he can get open. He said he was just doing his job to contribute to the success of the team.

Senior Grant Garvis netted a trey just before the buzzer after the Eagles had gone a 7-2 run. Newton led 15-10 at the end of one quarter of play.

Bartels buried another 3-pointer to counteract baskets by the Eagles’ Jake Pringle and Dan Jungling to begin the second quarter. Sturtz went on a 7-0 run for the Cardinals pushing their lead to 25-14 by the 3:45 mark.

Back came the Eagles as Jayden Huisman scored twice and Jungling finished a fast break with a layup. Jack Vermeer sank two free throws to cut Newton’s lead to one point, 25-24.

In the final minute of the first half, Newton responded with six unanswered points. Sophomore Kyle Long drained a 3-pointer and Sturtz had a three-point play to put the Cardinals up 31-24 at halftime.

Pella Christian outscored Newton 6-2 to begin the third quarter, slicing the gap to 33-30. Sophomore Quintrail Coley, who was hampered with foul trouble in the first half, scored and Bartels hit a 3-pointer.

The Cardinals were up 40-32 when Sturtz and Bartels fired in back-to-back treys. They held a 48-34 advantage going in the fourth quarter.

Sturtz had two baskets coupled with buckets from Coley and senior Grayson Graham to extend the Cardinal lead to 20 points, 56-36, with 3:40 left in the game. The Eagles scored the final eight points.

Newton shot 47 percent, 22-of-47, from the field to Pella Christian’s 48 percent, 20-of-42. The Cardinals produced nine 3-pointers and the Eagles only had two treys on the night. Newton went 3-of-4 at the free-throw line and Pella Christian was 2-of-2.

Coley collected five of the team’s 22 rebounds and Garvis had four rebounds and dished out six assists. Graham had six assists.

Pella Christian (7-14) got 10 points from Jayden Huisman and 10 from Alex Huisman. The Eagles finished 5-9 in LHC play.

“I’m extremely grateful that I had the chance to be the head coach of the Cardinals on this special night,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said of the 1,000th-win milestone. “Our team played really eel in the third and beginning of the fourth quarters. We got the win with good ball movement, timely shooting and tough defense.”

Newton ended the LHC season all even, 7-7. The Cardinals (12-7) have two more regular season games at home next week. Winterset comes in for a 7:30 p.m. game on Monday then Adel-DeSoto-Minburn is at Newton on Thursday.

“It’s a weird point in the season for every team in the state as they are trying to raise their level of play so they are at the peak going into the playoffs,” Sturtz said. “We’re doing the same as everyone else. We’re coming in here every day with a mindset and a sense of urgency that this maybe our last practice and we’re out the first round. We’re just getting ready to play.”

Newton found out Thursday which team will be its first-round opponent in Class 4A Substate 6 action. The Cardinals take on Little Hawkeye Conference foe Indianola on Feb. 19 at Indianola.

Newton’s junior varsity beat Pella Christian Thursday, 65-64, on a last-second shot by McKenna Davis.

Pella Christian 10-14-10-10—44

Newton 15-16-17-8—56

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 9/1-2-1-23, Long 0/1-0-0-3, Graham 2-1-0-5, Garvis 0/1-0-1-3, Bartels 0/6-0-3-18, Coley 2-0-3-4. TOTALS: 13/9-3-8-56.

Pella Christian (FG/3-pt): Turner 0-0-1-0, Jungling 4-0-0-8, J. Huisman 5-0-1-10, Amelse 0-0-2-0, Pringle 1/2-0-5-8, Vermeer 0-2-2-2, Cadwell 0-0-1-0, Roose 1-0-0-2, Van Gorp 2-0-0-4, A. Huisman 5-0-0-10. TOTALS: 18.2-2-12-44.

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