Newton boys hang on at home against Marshalltown

Newton sophomore Brody Bauer has been the Cardinals' spark plug off the bench in the first two games of the season.

On Thursday night, in the home opener, Bauer swiped the biggest steal of his young career with Newton's boys' basketball team leading by a single point and less than 20 seconds to play in the game.

After the steal, Bauer took it to the bucket and his layup with 12.1 seconds to play sealed the 53-48 victory.

"I wasn't on him enough to know his tendencies, but they handed the ball to him and he set the ball on his hip," Bauer said. "I don't know if he was surveying the floor or whatever, but I just poked it loose and was able to get away."

Bauer has been a big lift off the bench for Newton. Against the Bobcats, the sophomore went for nine points, seven rebounds and two steals.

The final steal helped the Cardinals clinch a narrow win the Class 4A Marshalltown, which edged Newton by a point last year.

"Last year, the varsity team lost two close games to the first two teams we played so it was nice to get those two back this year," Bauer said.

The game was physical from the opening tip. Newton turned a 7-5 deficit into a 17-10 lead after one quarter. The Cardinals used a 12-0 run to grab an advantage.

Junior Adam Mattes scored eight of those 12 points and finished with 11 points, two rebounds and four assists in the game.

It went back and forth in the second quarter as Newton led by six at halftime. Five of the 11 points in the second from Newton were scored by sophomore Jake Ingle.

"We knew it would be a physical game," Newton boys coach Jason Carter said. "They play in the CIML and that's how that league is. It's good for us to be able to play them. When you play good teams in the playoffs, it will be physical and we have to know how to handle it.

"I wasn't real happy with how we handled it, but I was happy we found a way to win. Last year we were in the same position, and we lost a close game."

Both teams scored 10 points in the third. Ingle hit a triple that put the Cardinals in front by eight before the Bobcats trimmed it to six after three. Ingle scored a team-high 12 points, dished out six assists and grabbed three boards.

Ingle and Marshalltown's Armonniey Thomas traded treys to begin the fourth and Bauer buried another 3 to put Newton up 44-37.

The Bobcats (0-1) closed the gap from there as three baskets inside the lane cut their margin to 47-46. A bucket by junior Kael Swarts put Newton in front by three with 1:02 to play. Swarts tallied 10 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals.

From there, the game was stopped and started a lot because of timeouts both ways. Marshalltown got within 49-48 with 46 seconds left.

Newton (3-0) then turned it over on Marshalltown's full-court press, but the Bobcats gave it right back when they were called for a travel just before scoring the potential go-ahead bucket.

"We've practiced for those situations," Carter said. "We scrimmaged Carlisle last Saturday. And we spent a good part of the scrimmage doing that kind of situation with back and forth stoppages. It's good to be in those kind of drag out games."

Marshalltown called timeout again with 22 seconds to play. Bauer then made the steal outside the 3-point line and took it to the other end for a layup.

The Bobcats missed the tying trey at the other end and senior Logan Schilling nailed two free throws with 1.1 seconds to go for the final difference. Schilling finished with seven points and four rebounds in the win.

"He understands the game and is usually in the right place at the right time. That's why he was on the floor at the end," Carter said of Bauer. "He's one of our better defenders and that was a big time play by a sophomore."

The Cardinals won the game despite turning the ball over 19 times. They did shoot 50 percent from the floor and were 5-of-15 from 3-point range.

Notes: Both teams' coaching staffs include an assistant coach who has been a head coach before. Newton assistant coach Tom Vanderlaan is a former Cardinal head coach, while Marshalltown assistant coach Brynjar Brynjarsson is the former head coach at Marshalltown Community College. ... Thomas led the Bobcats with 15 points. ... Senior Trent Hamand had four points and two rebounds off the bench for Newton. ... The Cardinals won their first two games by a margin of eight points.