Sturtz rewrites Cardinal basketball scoring history

Driving to the rim was made to look so easy and smooth by Garrett Sturtz as was free throw shooting. Don’t be fooled. There were a lot of hours of work behind it all.

Sturtz made a lot of things look easy on the basketball court throughout his four years in a Newton High School uniform. He walks away from a Cardinal basketball legacy of 10 individual school records after one of the finest basketball seasons in Newton history and in the state of Iowa in 2017-18.

“It all started in our driveway playing basketball with my brother Chandler. He’s four years older than I am. I started playing basketball in second grade and he was in sixth grade,” Sturtz said. “That’s where my competitive drive began — right there on the driveway with my brother.”

The two-time Class 4A all-state first-team Sturtz’s competitive drive allowed him to rewrite Cardinal boys’ basketball history. He became Newton’s all-time career scoring leader, finishing with 1,746 points.

Sturtz, who has committed to play NCAA Division I basketball for Drake University in Des Moines next year, had the best single-season scoring effort this year, pouring 764

points. He is Newton’s single-game scoring leader with 56 points against Winterset plus has 13 of the top 20 single-game scoring performances for the Cardinals — 12 came his senior season.

“I did not go into the season thinking, ‘oh, I need to break this record or that record,’” Sturtz said. “The way games and the season developed allowed me to do those things. I was fortunate to see two other players — T-Wood (Tyler Wood) and Connor (Gholson) — reach the career scoring record. I was a freshman when T-Wood did it and played along side Connor last year. It’s a pretty special accomplishment. I had great teammates this season to help me.”

He is one of four players in NHS history to score 1,000 points or more.

Sturtz and one of his best friends, Connor Gholson, who had the career scoring record of 1,395 points after his senior season last year, will be playing side-by-side again. Gholson was a walk-on at Drake this past season, but was red-shirted.

Sturtz is a 6-foot-4 inch point guard headed to Drake to play for Bulldog head coach Niko Medved. Sturtz led the state of Iowa this season with a 34.7-point per game average, which is a new school record.

“Even if Connor wasn’t there, Drake is definitely one of the schools I would have picked. Coach Medved has come in there with his coaching staff and turned the program around. Being able to play with Connor, who has been on the basketball court with me from the beginning, is going to be special,” said Sturtz.

“It’s the dream we’ve had together — play Division I basketball. Right now, it’s March Madness. That is what it is all about to be part of that.”

Sturtz said watching his brother, Chandler, play for Newton High, developed his love for the game. He said seeing Chandler and Wood play as freshman for the high school team made him want to achieve the same as he was growing up.

“I always loved how the crowd got into games. Basketball is a sport a scrawny little kid like me could do. I fit perfect into the shape and form of the sport,” Sturtz said. “Connor and I played a lot of AAU basketball over the years. We moved into playing in the Des Moines leagues then I got the opportunity to play for the Iowa Barnstormers last summer and play against competition in Las Vegas.”

Just as he believed he fit into basketball, Sturtz believed Drake was the right fit for him as a collegiate player. He said the coaching staff is amazing and told him they wanted him in the Drake basketball program.

Sturtz’s mother, Carma, works for Central College in Pella, which allows him to qualify for a tuition waiver. He explained the tuition exchange between Central and Drake allows him to be a preferred walk-on leaving Drake a scholarship for another player.

“I’m all about that — an opportunity for a player who can potentially help us,” Sturtz said. “I’m excited about playing for Drake. When we prepared for playoffs, we’d practice in the Knapp Center. Connor and I’d look at each other and say it would be a cool place to play games in.”

Drake went 17-17 in Medved’s first season as head coach. The Bulldogs played in the Collegeinside.com Postseason Tournament and lost in the second round.

Sturtz said he had been recruited by a lot of NCAA Division II teams including the No. 1 and No. 2 teams — Northwest Missouri State and Queens University in North Carolina — and Point Loma in San Diego, Calif.

“Those Division II schools play at a high level also. Those were option, but at the end of the day my dream was to play Division I ball. It is what I’ve work so hard and long to accomplish. Now, I can do that and play just 40 miles down the road from here,” Sturtz said.

Sturtz said Drake’s coaches like to play a lot of guards and the program loses five guards from its team. He said he couldn’t have a better opportunity to work and earn his spot on a team.

“Just as I knew I needed to work and develop my game after my freshman year in high school, I know I need to put more weight on me, develop a better jumper and work on my ball handling. You have to be strong with the ball. You have to be fundamentally sound at both ends of the court,” Sturtz said.

Sturtz is the son of Carma and Stan Sturtz of Newton. His father played on state-tournament qualifying basketball teams at Marshalltown High School and played tennis at Central College. Marshalltown was state runner-up when his father was a junior, he said. Sturtz’s mother was a high school athlete at Gladbrook and went to college at Central.

His brother Chandler and sister Mallory were standout athletes at Newton High School. Chandler is second to Garrett in career free throw percentage (82.5) and third to Garret in free throw percentage for a season (86.8).

Sturtz shot 87.6 percent from the free-throw line this season as he set a season record of made free throws, 227-of-259. His career free throw percentage is 96 percent and he has the NHS record for most free throws made in a career, 524-of-609.

The “easiest” shot on the basketball court is the free throw, right?

“I look at that and it amazes me, but when you drive to the basket as many times as I do, you should have be able to make free throws. People take free throws for granted — it’s easy because you don’t have anyone guarding you,” Sturtz said.

“A free throw is not like any other shot in the game. They stop the game for it and you don’t have two guys in your face when you shoot. It’s about being focused and developing a high level of concentration. I’m a big crowd guy so I have to block the crowd out. You develop the skill from all the time spent shooting free throws after running all the drills in practice and you’re tired. Missing a free throw will bother me more than anything else after a game.”

Just in case you think Sturtz is only about scoring, Sturtz led Newton this season in rebounding (191), assists (84), steals (47) and blocked shots (23). He helped the Cardinals chalk up Newton High’s 1,000th victory during the 2017-18 season.

Sturtz is Newton’s all-time career assist leader with 250 and all-time career leader in steals with 138. He is second in career blocked shots with 60.

Sturtz led the Little Hawkeye Conference in scoring as he became a two-time LHC first team unanimous selection. His 764 points was second in total points scored among Iowa high school players this season.

Sturtz took his leadership role seriously this season as he consider himself “the lone ranger” from the 2016-17 team which made it to the Class 4A state tournament. He knew it fell to him to lead a young and inexperienced Cardinal team.

“It was a learning curve for me. I knew it was up to me to show these guys like T-Wood and the seniors from last year showed me how things need to be done and the expectations needed to be successful in the game of basketball,” Sturtz said. “I believe I impacted these guys and I couldn’t be handing it off to a better group of guys,”

Sturtz pointed to junior Aaron Bartels and sophomores Kyle Long and Quintrail Coley, who were starters for Newton. He said the three will be good leaders.

Sturtz has the range to shoot 3-pointers. He has a good pull-up jumper, but what he does best is drive to the rim.

“In high school, getting to the rim is what I do so I always wanted to establish my inside game early in games. If I can do that it puts pressure on defenses then I could drive and pull defenders to me and dish the ball off,” Sturtz said. “I know in college, I’ll need to get my jumper going early then when defenders move up to take my space away I can drive on them to the rim. I’ll be switching things around for the college game. I’m up for the challenge.”

His driving skill was developed on the driveway with his brother, Sturtz said.

“Playing outside the wind is factor so you don’t shoot 3’s. It was about getting to the rim and Chandler wasn’t going to give me a wide-open layup. I developed those crazy shots — reaching the ball out and sliding my body through. You work on those crazy shots just like you work on free throws.”

Sturtz established the new career scoring record of 1,746 points. Gholson had 1,395 points from 2014-17 and Tyler Wood had 1,076 points 2012-15. Curt Greeley was the first Newton player to reach the 1,000-point mark finishing with 1,020 (2003-2006).

Eric Foote had the season point total of 536 in 1992 and he had the season scoring average mark of 22.3 the same season. Jeff Buckley (1995-98) had the top marks in career assists (210) and steals (112) until Sturtz finished this season.

Sturtz is among the Cardinal basketball players all the youngsters watched and possibly fell in love with the game. He has helped establish the standard for Newton boys’ basketball.

“Have a lot of patience,” Sturtz said as advice to young ball players. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It takes a lot of time, patience and hard work. Keep working to develop your game 1 percent better than the day before. Opportunities will come and you will be ready to seize those opportunities if you work every day.”

Sturtz was Newton’s starting quarterback for three seasons. He played soccer and baseball early in his high school career. He said being a multi-sport athlete in high school allows you to have more options to choose a sport for college if it is what you want to do.

“I like soccer and baseball, but to achieve my individual goals I had to go with my passion. Sacrifices have to be made for you to pursue what you love,” Sturtz said.

It started on the Sturtz family driveway progressed through Pee Wee basketball, AAU basketball and high school basketball. Now, Sturtz is ready to write another chapter to his story at Drake.

“I’m writing my own story. Also, Conner and I will be writing a story together — one we’ve dreamed about, talked about and worked for — at Drake. This season was amazing as it played out. We didn’t get where we wanted as a team, but we grew together and played as a team,” Sturtz said.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com