Newton boys use big second half to pull away from Eagles – Newton Daily News

An 11-0 run gave the Newton boys basketball team a bit of a lead between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter against Pella Christian on Tuesday.

But a 19-0 spurt from the end of the third to the beginning of the fourth quarter made the difference in the Cardinals’ 68-51 victory over the Eagles.

Newton led by six after one quarter and halftime but dominated the second half of Little Hawkeye Conference play.

“That was huge,” Newton junior Caden Klein said of the 19-0 run in the second half. “We had good defensive intensity, won 50-50 balls, rebounded well and put them under pressure like crazy.”

The Cardinals also made shots on the other end of the court. They shot 52.8 percent from the floor in the game and had a 10-1 advantage in 3-point shots made.

Newton also had 19 assists on his 28 field goals and was 10 of 25 from 3 in the game.

“We were able to get some stops and block some high-low passes from them, we protected their post players better and got them to make tough shots,” Newton boys basketball coach Jason Carter said. “They don’t like to shoot a ton of threes. We were able to get some long rebounds and some push outs on their missed 3s which led to easy balls. We took shots on the other end too and found a way to distribute them.”

Pella Christian’s height caused problems for Newton in the first half and early in the second half.

The Eagles led 5-2 and 8-4 in the first game. Cade Bauer’s 3 cut Pella’s Christian’s lead to 8-7 and Dawson Maki drilled a 3 and converted a layup after a steal to give the Cardinals a 12-10 lead.

Newton capped the first with a 6-0 run thanks to consecutive three-pointers from Isaiah Slaughter and Klein.

The final spurt ended 11-0, but Pella Christian scored nine of the next twelve goals to cut the deficit to 26-21. The Eagles eventually got within three points before Bauer cut the lead to six at halftime at the end of the quarter.

“It was a testimony to our children. They fought through it,” Carter said. “We knew shots would be fired at us. When they start to fall, things can pile up quickly.”

It was back and forth to start the third period as the Cardinals answered every Eagles basket.

Klein hit another three-pointer, Landon Bozarth hit a jump shot and Tyler Thompson scored consecutive Newton hoops to keep the home team’s lead at seven.

The 19-0 run began with a layup by Creighton Andrew and ended with a layup by Bozarth.

In between there were two three-pointers and a jumper from Slaughter, a Bozarth runner and another three-pointer from Klein.

It quickly went from 43-38 to 61-38, and the Eagles never got closer to 15 down the stretch.

“Every team in our conference is competitive, so it’s always nice to get a win,” Klein said. “I will always be happy to beat any team in this conference.”

Klein led the Cardinals (5-3, 2-2 in conference) with 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He was 5 of 6 from the floor and 4 of 4 from 3-point range.

Slaughter, a freshman, scored a career-best 12 points and added three rebounds off the bench. He was 2 of 4 from distance.

“He has absolutely no fear on the pitch and is confident in his ability to score,” Carter said. “He’s a great ball player and spends a lot of time on the field.”

Klein knew what Newton was getting when the coaching staff decided to bring Slaughter to the varsity level over winter break. He even advocated getting them to do it sooner.

“He was great,” Klein said. “I’ve been telling the coaches since the beginning of the year that we need to get him up there. He finally started training with us over the Christmas holidays and played well, so we knew we had to give him a chance.”

Bozarth finished the game with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, Bauer was 3 of 7 from 3 and scored nine points and Maki contributed seven points, two assists and two steals.

Thompson scored four points in his first career varsity start, while Andrew scored six points and three goals and Christian Ergenbright added four rebounds and five assists off the bench.

The Eagles (4-4, 1-2) had a significant advantage from the free throw line, making 14 of 23, but shot 37 percent from the floor and were just 1 of 15 from 3.

The Cardinals were just 2 of 4 from the foul line, but 10 players scored in the win.

“If we can score like that and have our guys shoot and score confidently, it will go a long way and we will be a really tough opponent,” Carter said.

Gilbert Flagel led Pella Christian with 16 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Landon Fransman added 12 points and four boards. Cooper Spronk scored nine points and 11 rebounds.

Flagel and Fransman are 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-6, respectively, but Newton had a 28-27 advantage in rebounding.

“It’s pretty difficult to compete against their size, but we had guys to help and we were able to play two guys at a time,” Klein said. “Our advantage is that we are quick enough to fall back on the shooters. It was just important for us to be intense and fast and play around defensively.”

Notes: Newton sophomore Grant Osby scored his first career varsity points and junior Micah Mattes scored his first varsity point in the fourth quarter. … Pella Christian is 27-9 against Newton since 2007. The last three seasons ended with wins against both teams. … Both teams entered the night having lost three of their last four games.