Cardinals fall in Class 3A substate play to Bluejays

OSKALOOSA — Going stone cold from the field in the second and third quarters, Newton High’s Cardinals saw their season come to end on Monday night at Oskaloosa.

“It’s the story of our last couple of weeks. We’ve gone cold at times and couldn’t get stops when we needed to,” Newton head coach Jason Carter said following a 67-53 loss to Bondurant-Farrar in Class 3A Substate 6 quarterfinal action.

The Cardinals got back-to-back baskets from seniors Quintrail Coley and Kyle Long to take a 16-14 lead. Neither team scored in the final minute of the first quarter.

Newton’s final lead of the night was 18-16. Sophomore Noah Allen drove to the basket to score at the 6:40 mark of the second period.

The Bluejays went on a 10-0 run with eight points scored by Cade Eichmeyer.

Eichmeyer came off the Bondurant-Farrar bench to lift the Jays. He had consecutive three-point plays to push his team to a 26-18 lead.

Newton senior Kaleb Dydell dialed up a 3-pointer with 3:22 left in the first half. Freshman Jake Ingle scored with 1:29 to keep the Cardinals close, 28-23. That’s where it stood at halftime.

Newton had scored just sevenpoints in the second period. It would do the same in the third quarter.

The Cardinals went inside to Coley, who is 6-foot-6 inches, and he scored to make it 31-25. But the Jays had runs of 5-0 and 8-0 giving up just five more points in the period.

Newton trailed 44-30 heading into the fourth quarter. Bondurant-Farrar scored the first four points in the final frame.

The Cardinals could not get shots to fall from the outside or inside. The Bluejays began to run clock with the ball and forcing Newton to foul them.

Ingle drilled a 3-pointer and sophomore Adam Mattes connected from close range for Newton. It was 48-35 with 4:45 remaining in the game.

Newton and Bondurant-Farrar scored 23 points each in the final eight minutes of play Monday. The Bluejays sealed the game at the free-throw line as they scored 11 of their final 19 points at the line.

Bondurant-Farrar was 19-of-26 at the free-throw line for the game. Newton was 3-of-6.

Long hit a 3-pointer with 2:49 left to make a 59-42. The Jays held an 11-8 scoring edge the rest of the way.

The final points of the night came on a Long trey with 28 seconds on the clock.

Allen paced the Cardinals with 11 points, hitting one 3-pointer. Mattes and Ingle each had nine points.

Long ended up with eight points and Dydell had six points. Sophomore Zay Arguello scored three points.

“I’m really thankful for our seniors and the work they’ve put into this season and in our program overall. The five of them have given us so much whether they are playing a lot or not. They’ve come to work without complaining every single day. I really appreciate those guys and we’ll miss them.”

It was the final game for Long, Dydell and Coley, who are all starters. And also for seniors Logan Failor and Constance Grigsby, who were on the court when the game ended.

The Bluejays had four players score in double figures. Colby Collison tossed in 20 points. Eichmeyer finished with 13 points.

Braden Miller added 12 points. Nate Anderson came off the bench to score 10 points.

In the second game of the substate doubleheader on Monday, host Oskaloosa defeated Carlise 53-40. Oskaloosa hosts Bondurant-Farrar at 7 p.m. Thursday in Substate 6 semifinal play.

At Pella on Monday, Grinnell beat Knoxville 77-54 and Pella rolled over Centerville 95-53. Pella hosts Grinnell at 7 p.m. Thursday in the other Substate 6 semifinal.

The Class 3A Substate 6 championship game is at 7 p.m. on March 2 at Knoxville.

For Newton, the Cardinals end up with a 7-15 mark in Carter’s first season as head coach. The Cardinals lost eight of their last nine games, including their final five games.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids who got a lot of experience this year. But that doesn’t mean anything unless we get better and that’s going to take dedication and work by the players and coaches,” Carter said.

“We need to get stronger, faster and quicker. Right now other teams are just stronger, faster and quicker than we are so we’ve got to work at that part of it as well as the basketball part of our game.”

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