Newton boys can’t overcome sluggish first half in loss to Norwalk

Newton head boys basketball coach Jason Carter had an extra bit of intensity on the bench during the Cardinals’ home game against Norwalk on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, his team did not bring that same fire and intensity for the entire four quarters.

And Norwalk took full advantage during a 58-54 victory in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

“We talk about the importance or rebounding and being physical,” Carter said. “It was No. 1 and 2 on our keys tonight and we didn’t do a good job with either one.

“The rebounding and lack of intensity early was something I was not happy with.”

The loss snapped a five-game win streak, and it was the second conference loss for Newton.

The two teams went back and forth in the first quarter. Cole Plowman and Drew Thompson traded 3-pointers with the Warriors and then Plowman and Redek Born exchanged buckets inside the lane.

Jake Ingle returned to action after missing two games with a leg injury. His 3 in the first answered a Born trey, but Norwalk led 14-11 after one.

The Warriors created more separation in the second. They started the frame on a 7-2 run, but Brody Bauer buried a triple and back-to-back buckets by Carson Satterfield and Caleb Mattes brought the home team to within 21-20.

But an 11-0 run by the Warriors pushed their advantage to 12 before Ingle closed the half with another trey.

Carter liked how his team responded to a deficit in the second half, but he was not happy with how his squad played in the first two quarters. And a lot of it revolved around not being able to secure defensive rebounds.

“It was huge. It was absolutely huge,” Carter said. “They were able to build a 6-10 point lead right out of the gate from I don’t know how many second-chance points. I would guess they had 10-plus of their 30 points in the first half just on second-chance points.”

Norwalk (7-3 overall, 2-3 in the conference) extended its lead in the third. Born scored nine of his game-high 24 points in the frame. His back-to-back layups extended the lead to 40-27.

Bauer and Plowman each scored four in the period and Ingle drained a 3 to get Newton within 11 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth, Tade Vanderlaan caught fire. Coming off the bench for the first time this season, the Cardinal senior scored all nine of his points in the period.

His second 3 of the game closed the deficit to 47-42 and then he kept the margin at five when he connected on three free throws with around 1:20 to play in the contest.

Unfortunately, Newton didn’t get much closer.

“We did a good job putting our nose down and fighting back, but at the same time, we never should have been in the hole we were in because I don’t feel like we played with the energy we needed to from the get-go,” Carter said. “We have to find a way to play 32 minutes of hard-nosed, tough basketball.”

The Norwalk defense double-teamed Plowman inside and pushed the offense outside the 3-point line for most of the night.

Carter went to a lineup in the fourth that did not include Plowman in hopes of creating a spark.

“Part of it was we wanted a faster lineup on the floor,” Carter said. “I felt like the guys were trying to force the ball into (Plowman) so I wanted to play a little bit differently. I also challenged him a little bit and told him if he was going to be on the floor he needs to do what he does. He needs to play like the guy we’ve seen the past three or four games.

“We have actions in place to counter that aggressive style of defense. We have to curl and back-cut more to keep them honest. We just kind of took it and allowed them to push us out three or four feet past the 3-point line. It’s hard to initiate offense out there.”

Ingle led the Cardinals with 11 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals and Bauer collected 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Plowman tallied 13 points, four boards and two assists, Vanderlaan added nine points and two rebounds and Thompson put in five points. Satterfield dished out four assists and Nate Lampe grabbed two rebounds.

The Cardinals (5-3, 3-2) shot 43 percent from the floor, made 9-of-24 from 3 and hit all seven of their free throws. Newton also had 17 assists on its 19 field goals.

Born led the Warriors with 24 points and he was 6-of-7 from the line. Braeden Carlson put in 12 points.

“I wasn’t happy with how we guarded him early,” Carter said about Born. “We allowed him to get easy touches. A kid like that who is very talented offensively, you have to make every touch difficult for him. Sometimes we did a good job on him but then he’d get two or three offensive rebounds and score anyway.”