Newton boys finish off rare sweep of rival Indianola

An 11-0 run early in the first quarter gave the Newton boys’ basketball team momentum and the Cardinals never lost it during a home win over Indianola on Friday.

Newton trailed 4-2 early in the game but played with the lead the rest of the way after a Christian Lawson 3-pointer gave the Cardinals a 7-4 advantage.

The home team’s 16-point halftime advantage held up in the second half during a 64-41 win in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

“We talked the last few days about staying focused and remember what it’s like to play a game,” Newton head boys’ basketball coach Jason Carter said. “We just wanted to do what we do, share the ball and take advantage of matchups we thought we had.”

Caleb Mattes took advantage of his matchup in the first quarter. His first bucket tied the game at 4-all and he added six more points in the frame and six more in the second to give the Cardinals a 36-20 lead at the break.

Christian Lawson, on his 18th birthday, added a double-double for the Cardinals. He finished with a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds and added two assists, two steals and two blocks.

“We did a good job of feeding Caleb the ball down low early,” Carter said. “He was able to execute and once that happened, they starting helping and then other guys got involved.

“I thought Christian with his energy was huge tonight. He was big on the glass, had a lot of tips and steals and that led to some easy buckets.”

Three Cardinals finished in double figures in the game. They nearly got there by halftime, too.

Nate Lampe’s 3-pointer pushed the Cardinals’ advantage to 16-7 and they led 18-9 after one.

Mattes, Lawson and Lampe scored 32 of the team’s 36 points in the first half. Lawson opened Newton’s scoring in the second with a 3 and then added a putback later to make it 30-15.

Lampe added a 3-point play and a layup in the second and Mattes finished the period with a 3, a free throw and a layup.

“It felt good to be out there playing a game for once. We’ve missed a bunch here lately,” Lawson said. “I think we did an amazing job on defense and had good offense. We were able to pass the ball and find the open guys all night.”

The lead fell to 12 early in the third, but an 11-3 run that included three free throw by Mattes, a layup by Lampe and a 3 by Caden Klein pushed the margin to 46-27 and Lawson’s layup at the end of the quarter made it 49-30 after three.

Lawson capped his career night with a nine-point fourth.

“I think that’s great, but the cool thing about that is none of those guys are our leading scorer,” Carter said about the team nearly having three players in double digits by halftime. “That’s what is awesome about this group. We play six guys right now and any one of them can score in double figures on any given night.”

Mattes finished with a career-best 16 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals, Lampe tallied 13 points, three boards and two steals and Klein chipped in five points, four rebounds and three assists.

Cade Bauer registered five points and two rebounds off the bench and Hunter Teague added two rebounds and two assists.

The Cardinals (4-4, 3-3 in the LHC) shot 51 percent from the floor, made 6-of-17 from the 3 and buried 10-of-19 from the foul line. They out-rebounded the Indians 29-23 and turned the ball over just six times.

“That’s how this team has to play,” Carter said. “We have speed and if we rebound and defend like that, I think we’re pretty tough.”

George Blake led the Indians with 14 points off the bench and Derek Willmott added six points and eight rebounds.

Indianola (0-11, 0-6) shot 40.5 percent from the floor, made 5-of-12 from 3 and connected on 6-of-16 from the foul line.

Notes: The Cardinals’ top four scorers (Klein 11.8, Mattes 11.6, Lawson 11.1 and Lampe 10.1) are separated by only 1.7 points per game. … The Indians are 15-5 against Newton since 2007, but the Cardinals recorded their first sweep in the series since the 2016-17 season.