Sturtz’s 44 points lift NHS boys to victory

INDIANOLA — Garrett Sturtz is recognized as one of the best basketball players in the state of Iowa. Newton High’s senior point guard showed why on Friday night in the Cardinals’ Little Hawkeye Conference opener at Indianola.

Sturtz scored 44 points in lifting the Cardinals to a 71-67 win on the road against the Indianola Indians Sturtz set a new single-game scoring record for Newton — a mark that was set in 1966 by Steve Dimon with 42 points against Boone.

“We’re excited to win our first conference game of the year,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said. “Garrett was special tonight. We are a very young team with a steep learning curve that was bailed out by its all-state leader.”

Sturtz not only led the Cardinals in scoring but pulled down double digits in rebounds, 10. He delivered five assists — tops in the game — and had one steal.

“My main goal for myself this season is to be a better leader, someone they can look up to and be there to help each one out,” Sturtz said in a preseason interview. “I’ll get them involved in the game. We’ll surprise some people. I know we’ll be competitive.”

Sturtz, who had 16 points at halftime, moved into the No. 3 spot on the Newton career scoring list. He was nine points behind Curt Greeley (1,020) going into the game. Sturtz has 1,055 career points and is 21 points behind No. 2 Tyler Wood (1,076).

It was a slow first quarter. Sturtz used a spin move in the lane for a basket to give the Cardinals a 9-7 lead. It was 9-9 at the buzzer. The second quarter was back-and-forth but Newton trailed 28-25 at halftime.

Indianola held its lead until senior Grant Garvis drained a 3-pointer with 4:13 left in the third quarter to forge a 37-37 tie. It set off a nine-point run with junior Aaron Bartels nailing a three followed by a three-point play by Sturtz.

The Cardinals led 43-37 and never trailed again. The Indians didn’t go away. Matt Deike had a three-point play to make it 43-42. Bartels answered with back-to-back treys. Newton was up 51-42 heading into the fourth quarter.

Newton led 56-46 near the midway mark of the final eight minutes. Indianola kept challenging. Sturtz, who was 20-of-25 at the free-throw line in the game, salted things away for the Cardinals at the line down the stretch.

Sturtz had a three-point play with 1:12 left on a rebound of his own shot. Jack Orwig responded with a three-point play for Indianola to make it 64-61 at the 1:05 mark. Junior Kyle Long and Sturtz sank three straight free throws to push Newton’s lead to 67-62.

Orwig had another three-point play with 13 seconds left to make it a two-point game, 67-65. Sturtz tossed in four consecutive free throws to give Newton the final margin.

Bartels had nine points. Garvis finished with eight points, six rebounds and one steal. Long had seven points and two steals.

Newton shot 45 percent, 21-of-47, from the field. The Cardinals were 7-of-22 from 3-point range. They went 22-of-29 at the free-throw line.

“We’re fortunate to get another road win over a good team while overcoming adversity,” Liley said.

Indianola (1-1, 0-1 LHC) was led by Evan Gauger, who hit three 3-pointers, with 19 points and Orwig with 18 points. Gavin Smith added 14 points. The Indians were 23-of-43, 57.5 percent, from the field and sank 14-of-21 free throw attempts.

Newton is 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in Little Hawkeye Conference action.

Newton has back-to-back home games on Thursday in non-conference against Marshalltown and on Friday Dallas Center-Grimes comes for a LHC contest. Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m.

“The people of Newton need to make sure they catch Garrett’s remaining games as they may not see another player like Garrett for awhile in a Cardinal uniform,” Liley said.

Newton’s junior varsity lost 57-44 to Indianola. Logan Schilling netted six 3-pointers as he scored 23 points for Newton and Antonio Usry added 13 points

Newton 9-16-26-20—71

Indianola 9-19-14-25—67

Newton (FG/3-pt): Sturtz 12-20-3-44, Satterfield 0-0-1-0, Davis 0-0-4-0, Long 0/2-1-0-7, Garvis 1/2-0-4-8, Bartels 0/3-0-5-9, Coley 1-1-3-3. TOTALS: 14/7-22-20-71.

Indianola (FG/3-pt); Gauger 4/3-2-5-19, Vesey 1-3-5-8, Held 0/1-0-3-3, Berkey 0-0-1-0, Scott 1-0-3-2, Orwig 5/1-5-4-18, Deike 1-1-3-3, Smith 4/1-3-1-14. TOTALS: 16/7-14-26-67.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
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or jsheets@newtondailynews.com