Cardinals dunk DCG

Cole Plowman has taken a lot of smack talk from his coaches and teammates about dunking in a game.

But after his thundering one-handed jam early in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, the joke’s over.

Leading by only three points early in the fourth, Plowman’s dunk highlighted a 9-0 run that helped the Cardinals grab an advantage and the home team buried 10 free throws in the final 3 minutes to down the Mustangs 58-52.

“It got our kids into it. It got the guys excited to bring things to the next level and that’s what a dunk can do,” Newton head boys basketball coach Jason Carter said.

The victory gave Newton a huge Little Hawkeye Conference victory and also helped the Cardinals sweep DCG for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

The Mustangs came into the winter with five straight wins against Newton. And they had won 10 of the past 11 meetings.

“8-4 looks a lot better than 7-5,” Plowman said. “Getting the win is all that matters. We didn’t play our best, but I think we can get some good momentum from this one.”

DCG led by two after one quarter, but Newton went into halftime with a two-point advantage. The Mustangs took a two-point lead into fourth, but the Cardinals outscored DCG 21-13 in the final frame.

In the fourth, Tade Vanderlaan put the Cardinals back in front with his third trey of the night. Brody Bauer then sank two free throws with 7:01 to play.

Newton got a stop at the other end of the floor. Caleb Mattes grabbed the rebound and led a fast break that ended with the Plowman dunk.

Mattes hit Plowman in stride with a bounce pass that got through two defenders and Plowman threw it down with his left hand.

“They have teased me for a long time about it,” Plowman said. “Caleb gave a great pass to set me up for it. Normally, I just want to put it in the hole, but I got a good step when I got the ball so I went for it.”

Plowman’s night included 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and five blocks.

Bauer had a tough shooting night but finished with 13 points after sinking 8-of-9 from the free-throw line in the fourth. His second set of free throws came after the dunk and immediately following a technical foul on DCG head coach Joel Rankin.

“We were coasting for a while. We were going back and forth with them,” Bauer said. “We kept saying we need to pull away. That dunk was definitely an energy boost.”

Bauer’s free throws put Newton in front 46-39, but DCG scored five straight to close the gap to two. A putback by Bauer extended the margin to 48-44, but a 3-pointer by DCG’s Jonathan Howard trimmed the Mustangs’ deficit to one.

After the technical foul, DCG ramped up the pressure on defense. The Mustangs forced Newton into several turnovers, which allowed them to rally.

Plowman and Ingle combined to make 3-of-4 from the foul line to push the margin back to four. Three straight turnovers by the Cardinals kept DCG close, but two more free throws by Plowman made it 53-47.

“All of our guys are pretty good free throw shooters,” Carter said. “If we get in a situation where teams have to foul us, I feel good about our chances.

“There were times we should have used a timeout but didn’t. That’s why we save those things until the end in a close game. If they get into trouble, they have to use them. It worked out and we were able to get enough stops at the end. We didn’t let the turnovers affect our intensity on defense. That was important.”

Two more free throws by Bauer with 1:02 left extended the advantage to eight. DCG eventually got its deficit to four, but Howard missed a 3 in the final 20 seconds.

Bauer hit two more freebies with 9.8 seconds to play for the final margin.

“We are anticipating being in situations where we are going to need to make free throws to win games,” Bauer said. “You never know when we are going to be there and we were in that situation tonight.

“I have been off shooting lately. But it’s nice to know my teammates still trust me to step up and hit those shots. I trust any of the guys to make those, too. We all have belief in each other.”

Newton trailed 15-13 after one. Jake Ingle, Drew Thompson and Vanderlaan all buried 3s in the frame and Plowman scored twice inside.

However, Plowman and Ingle were forced to the bench after each picked up two fouls.

Neither team got much separation in the first half. A 3 by Bauer did put Newton (8-4 overall, 6-3 in the conference) in front by five late in the half, but the Cardinals needed a bucket by Carson Satterfield to stay on top at halftime.

“Jake and Cole got into foul trouble and we run a lot of offense through both of them,” Carter said. “A lot of our offense was created on effort plays. The guys who came in did a good job at both ends of the floor. They maintained the game and didn’t let DCG go on a big run.

“You have to weather those times when you have guys in foul trouble, and I thought we did a nice job with that.”

DCG outscored Newton 16-12 in the third. Plowman scored half of those 12 points and back-to-back 3s by Ingle and Vanderlaan put the Cardinals into the lead with 2:37 left in the frame.

DCG’s Calix Cahill had his best quarter in the third. He scored six of his 10 points in the period, and the Mustangs led by two after three.

“We got impatient in the third. We had three or four possessions where we chucked up a 3 after one pass,” Carter said. “That’s not when we are at our best. We needed to just settle down, get a post touch and then if we get a 3 on an inside-out, we’ll take those.”

All four of Newton’s losses this year have come against Class 4A programs. But the two wins over 4A DCG will be important later this season.

“To be able to get them twice will be good going into substate seeding and it’s good for our confidence, too,” Bauer said.

Bauer finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ten of those points came in the fourth.

Ingle added 11 points and two assists, Vanderlaan scored nine points and Thompson chipped in three points, seven boards and four assists.

Nate Lampe grabbed two boards and Mattes added four points and three rebounds off the bench.

The biggest highlight and best play for Mattes though was the impressive bounce pass he made to Plowman that set up what seemed like a game-shifting dunk. It was the first in-game dunk of Plowman’s career.

“I’m happy for him, but that play was completely set up by Caleb,” Carter said. “He got a nice rebound, had the opportunity to push it and then made a great bounce pass between two guys. Credit to Cole for running the floor and credit to Caleb for hitting him in stride.”

Bauer enjoyed the entire sequence and knows Plowman could have been thinking about all the jokes his teammates made toward him while he was throwing it down over Cahill.

“We make fun of him all the time and I’m sure he had that in his head when he was going up,” Bauer said. “He punched it hard. He’s not a guy who shows a lot of emotion so when he shows that energy it fires everyone else up, too.”

The Cardinals shot 44 percent from the floor, made 8-of-20 from 3-point range and hit 14-of-18 from the foul line. They committed 17 turnovers.

Howard led DCG (8-6, 5-4) with a game-high 18 points. He made four treys. The Mustangs were 10-of-14 from the foul line, but they missed the front end of a one-and-one twice in the final 2:25.