Cardinals pull out Senior Night win against Tigers

Junior guard McKenna Davis only had three rebounds and one basket in his short time on the basketball court Thursday night. They were big for Newton High’s Cardinals on Senior Night, helping Newton net a 59-57 victory.

Davis came into the game when senior point guard Garrett Sturtz fouled out with 2:13 remaining in the contest against the visiting Adel-DeSoto-Minburn Tigers. Newton led 56-53.

The Tigers’ Koby Hardcastle made it a one-point game, 56-55. The Cardinals missed on two shots on the next possession, but Davis cleared the offensive rebound.

“I just knew I had to get the rebound and hit a shot,” Davis said of his follow shot at the 1:22 mark. “We wanted to win this one for our seniors. I went out there determined to do whatever I needed to do for the team.”

It was still 58-55 with 41 seconds left on the clock. The Tigers, who came in as spoilers, had the basketball. Hardcastle’s 3-point field goal attempt was off and Davis controlled the defensive rebound.

Following a timeout, the Tigers fouled senior Grayson Graham, who hit the front end of a one-and-one. ADM scored with 15 seconds left and quickly fouled sophomore Quintrail Coley. Coley missed on the one-and-one, the Tigers rebounded and had a shot to win the game at the end.

Micah Moyer’s 3-pointer was short as the buzzer sounded.

Newton finished the regular season at 14-7 to record its third straight season with 14 wins or more. The last time it happened for the Cardinals was in 1962, 1963 and 1964.

“This gives us some momentum going into the playoffs,” Davis said. Newton won its final three regular-season games.

The Cardinals open Class 4A Substate 6 play on Monday. They face a familiar opponent in fellow Little Hawkeye Conference team Indianola at 7 p.m. at Indianola. The Indians (14-7) are coming off was over Class 3A No. 3 Oskaloosa and Southeast Polk, which is also in the substate.

Newton and Indianola split their conference games this season. The Cardinals won 71-61 at Indianola and the Indians claimed a 60-46 win at Newton.

Before Thursday’s varsity game, Newton honored its four seniors — Sturtz, Graham, Garvis and Dalton Pauley — and their parents. The foursome started the game along with junior Aaron Bartels.

Sturtz and Bartels combined for three 3-pointers for the Cardinals in the opening two minutes. The first four baskets of the game were treys, but Newton had a 9-3 lead.

The Cardinals were up 17-11 at the end of the first quarter. ADM (3-18) rattled off six straight points to catch the Cardinals, 17-17.

Sophomore Kyle Long drained a 3-pointer and Sturtz scored to put Newton back out front. Back came the Tigers led by Hardcastle with a trey and two free throws for a 25-24 ADM lead with 2:26 left.

A basket by Dalton Hews put the Tigers up 27-26 with 44 seconds left in the first half. Sturtz was whistled for his second personal foul on a charging call with 32 seconds left. ADM held its one-point lead going into the break.

Sturtz, who had 12 points in the first half, took the reins for the Cardinal offense as it battled a Tiger team bent on recording a fourth win of its season. Sturtz and the Cardinals could not shake the Tigers.

When Coley scored on the inside for a 36-33 lead, Rylan Heffernan tied the game on a three-point play. It was a back-and-forth contest. Hardcastle put the Tigers back on top with a 3-pointer and a basket in the final minute of the third quarter.

With Newton trailing 45-43, Sturtz picked up a third foul with six seconds remaining in the third period. He was back on the floor to start the fourth period, scoring Newton’s 10 points to make it 53-53 with 3:30 to play.

A three-point play by Sturtz put the Cardinals in front 56-53 at 2:40 left. A 3-pointer by the Tigers was wiped out when Gustavas Klavis was called for his fifth foul. Sturtz followed 11 seconds later with a basket disallowed and him fouling out of the game.

Newton shot 47 percent, 24-of-51, for the game. The Cardinals went 6-of-15 from 3-point range and sank 5-of-10 free throw attempts.

Bartels ended up with nine points and three assists. Garvis and Sturtz each cleared six rebounds and Coley had four rebounds. Garvis dished out five assist and blocked four shots.

ADM had three players score in double figures led by Hardcastle’s 19. Heffernan added 15 points and Caleb Herrick had 12. The Tigers went 21-of-57 for 37 percent from the floor, but hit only 11-of-18 foul shots.

Newton won the junior varsity game, 52-51. ADM took the freshman contest, 65-18.

ADM 11-16-18-12—57

Newton 17-9-17-16—59

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 15/1-4-5-37, Davis 1-0-0-2, Long 0/2-0-0-6, Graham 0-1-3-1, Garvis 0-0-3-0, Bartels 0/3-0-1-9, Coley 2-0-3-4. TOTALS: 18/6-5-15-59.

ADM (FG/3-pt): Moyer 3/1-0-1-9, Volz 0-0-1-0, Hardcastle 2/3-6-1-19, Heffernan 5-5-3-15, Stine-Smith 0-0-1-0, Hews 1-0-2-2, Klavis 0-0-5-0, Herrick 6-0-0-12. TOTALS: 17/4-11-14-57.

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