Fast start not enough for Newton boys in loss to DCG

Newton head boys basketball coach Jason Carter couldn’t have drawn up a better start for his Cardinals against Dallas Center-Grimes on Friday night.

Caden Klein’s hot start from outside helped the home team gain early momentum, but the Cardinals couldn’t hold a lead that got as large as 10 in the first quarter during an 80-61 loss in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

“The start was great. I thought we came out strong, took good shots and hit shots,” Carter said. “I thought we did a good job in the first quarter, but the second got away from us. They got a few easy ones and when a couple go down for your team, everyone starts to make them and that’s how they took back momentum.”

Klein made four 3-pointers in the opening frame. The first one made it 3-2 and another jumper pushed the margin to three.

Klein and Christian Lawson buried back-to-back treys later to extend the lead to 11-3 and two more triples by Klein pushed the advantage to 14-6 and 20-12.

However, a technical foul called on Nate Lampe after the senior guard drilled a 3 opened the door for the Mustangs and they walked right in.

Trailing by that 20-12 margin, DCG ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to grab a lead. The Mustangs outscored Newton 23-11 in the second and the run reached 32-11 by halftime.

“Caden came out and got hot early and some other guys stepped up, too,” Carter said. “I thought we moved the ball really well, we shared the ball really well and we made shots.

“After that technical foul, it turned the momentum of the game. We had all the momentum until that technical. I had to sit Nate, too, after that because that was his second foul.”

Following the 3 by Lampe that put Newton in front 17-7, the senior guard allegedly waived the popular “3″ hand gesture at the DCG bench.

“They said he directed it at their bench, but (Jackson Green) on their team did that hand gesture on every 3 he made, too,” Carter said. “I thought it was a tough call to make.

“If we’re not going to allow it in that situation, we shouldn’t allow it at all. (Green) also did it to our student section.”

A trey by Caleb Mattes brought Newton even at 23-all early in the second and then he added another bucket to move the Cardinals (2-2, 1-1 in the conference) back in front.

But DCG’s 21-6 run after that gave the visitors a 44-31 lead at halftime. Green buried a 3 to start the run, but most of those points by DCG (4-0, 1-0) came inside the lane and within a few feet from the rim.

“They got out in transition too many times,” Carter said. “That’s what DCG does. They practice the transition game a lot. They are very athletic and fast so why wouldn’t they?”

The third-quarter advantage for DCG was 24-11. Seven of those points came from Jonathan Howard, who finished with an unofficial game-high 23 points. Green buried a pair of triples late in the frame, too.

Newton outscored the Mustangs 19-12 in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.

Klein scored 12 of his career-high 18 points in the first. The rest came in the final frame. He added four rebounds and three assists.

Lampe chipped in 14 points, two rebounds and two assists, Mattes tallied 11 points, three rebounds and three assists and Lawson finished with five points, five rebounds and two steals.

Cade Bauer scored five points off the bench, including a 3 in the fourth, and Hunter Teague dished out three assists.

The Cardinals shot 48 percent from the floor, made 10-of-25 from 3 and connected on 3-of-8 from the free-throw line. Newton committed 16 turnovers.

“I felt like we were pretty competitive, but when we have to go two or three deep into our bench, it becomes harder,” Carter said. “Right now, there’s some drop off when we have to go deep in our bench. We have to keep challenging our bench guys to be solid in every part of the game, especially on the defensive end.

“And offensively we can’t turn the ball over. We had a lot of turnovers in the second half and second quarter.”

Notes: Creighton Andrew and Koltt Ahn both made their first varsity buckets in the fourth and Dawson Maki and Tyler Thompson also made a free throw for their first varsity points.