Slow start plagues Newton boys in loss to No. 6 DCG

The first five baskets by Dallas Center-Grimes’ boys basketball team on Monday were layups. And the Mustangs converted eight baskets inside the lane in the first quarter.

That was not enough defensive resistance against the sixth-ranked team in Class 3A as Newton lost its Little Hawkeye Conference matchup 67-41.

“We told them before the game we had to keep people in front of us and you have to make them be shooters,” Newton boys basketball coach Jason Carter said. “We didn’t want to give uncontested layups. And unfortunately we did not do that to start.”

The Cardinals fell behind 21-10 after one and played catch up the rest of the way.

Newton got within 25-16 on a 3-pointer by Jake Ingle in the second quarter but the Mustangs’ lead ballooned back to 15 at the break.

The Cardinals played better in the third but were outscored 21-8 in the fourth.

“They are very quick and maybe we were just a little shell-shocked about how quick they were. We didn’t adjust very well,” Carter said. “That was frustrating. But what was more frustrating was that they had all of those uncontested layups and we had no fouls. There was no resistance at all. It’s something we addressed at our first timeout.”

Adam Mattes scored a team-high 12 points to lead Newton. Six of those came in the first eight minutes as he tried to keep the Cardinals in the game.

Kacey Sommars also scored four of his seven points in the first. All five of Ingle’s points were scored in the second. Mattes had the first five points for Newton in the third and four of Tade Vanderlaan’s six points came in the third.

The Cardinals’ scored eight points in the fourth, three of those coming from Sommars, who also grabbed a team-best five rebounds in the loss.

Mattes chipped in two rebounds and two steals, Ingle grabbed three boards and swiped two steals and Cole Plowman registered four points, three rebounds and two assists.

Off the bench, Vanderlaan added two rebounds and two assists to his six points, Caleb Mattes scored three points and Kael Swarts grabbed two boards.

It was a tough shooting night for Newton, which was just 1-of-16 from 3-point range. The Cardinals shot 32 percent overall and were 8-of-16 from the free-throw line. They only committed seven turnovers.

It was the eighth time this season Newton has not scored at least 60 points. The Cardinals have been held under 55 five times.

“We just weren’t hitting open shots and we took some bad shots at times,” Carter said. “When we got down early, we stopped doing what we do offensively. They defended well for a few long possessions, but there’s no shot clock yet. We don’t have to rush things.”

Defensively, Newton (6-5 overall, 3-4 in the conference) has surrendered fewer than 60 points seven times and held teams to less than 50 five times.

The Mustangs (8-2, 5-1) shot 60.5 percent from the floor on Monday. They were 5-of-13 from 3-point range and made 10-of-19 from the line.

DCG turned it over just four times and had 19 assists on its 26 made field goals.

“If we are going to lose, we at least have to make them make jump shots,” Carter said. “We never want to lose by giving up layups.

“We have been good defensively and good at contesting shots inside so we’ll take a look at things on film and make this an outlier.”

Cole Glasgow had 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists to lead DCG, while Jackson Jones scored a game-high 18 points off the bench.

This loss by Newton came after a quality 27-point win over Nevada last week.

“Consistency has been a thing for us all year,” Carter said. “You always wonder how your team will respond to losses but also after really good wins. We didn’t respond very well tonight, but we have a whole half of a season ahead of us still.

“We have kids who really want to win. I think they have plenty of confidence. We just have to put this one past us and move on.”

Notes: Adam Mattes will enter Friday night’s game against Grinnell with 985 career points. … This game was originally slated for last Friday but was moved to Monday because of the snowstorm. … DCG’s two losses this year came by two points against 4A No. 8 Johnston and by five points to 3A No. 5 Pella.