Cardinal boys cruise past Centerville

Cole Plowman was called up to the varsity level midway through his sophomore season last winter.

He scored six points in seven total games and made three starts.

Plowman has already eclipsed last year’s scoring total after one night on the court this season. The junior center scored a team-high 15 points off the bench to lead the Cardinals to an easy 65-20 home win over Centerville in the season opener on Tuesday night.

“Last year, playing a little bit helped him adjust to the speed of the game. That’s what most kids don’t realize is the difference when they get up to varsity,” Newton boys basketball coach Jason Carter said. “He played a ton of minutes for us over the summer. We got to four tournaments and he played a lot of minutes in all four of those. That was huge for him.”

Plowman scored 11 of his career-high 15 points in a first half in which Newton outscored the visiting Big Reds 46-6. The Cardinals led 21-3 after one quarter.

“It was really important to get off to a good start,” Carter said. “We had quite of few guys who have never played in a real varsity game who will probably play a lot of minutes this year. And a couple who played a little bit but not a ton.

“We executed a lot of things that we had been focusing on, especially on the defensive end. We really got out and ran in transition, too, which is what we thought we could do.”

Carter played 13 guys total and nine of them scored at least two points.

Plowman’s first bucket was an and-one that put the Cardinals in front 13-3. Then Brody Bauer scored eight straight points to push the lead to 21-3 after one.

Bauer’s individual 8-0 run included a 3-pointer, a layup and three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.

Adam Mattes scored four of his eight points in the second and Caleb Mattes put in four of his nine points in the frame.

But Plowman dominated the second period with six points inside the paint and two from the foul line.

“I really just tried to move around and get into the right spots on the floor,” Plowman said. “If I can get easy layups off drives to the hoop by my teammates, that’s great. We will take those all day.”

Bauer scored all 12 of his points in the first half and his final bucket made it 44-6. He added four rebounds and two assists in the win.

The mercy rule continuous clock kicked on early in the second half, which limited possessions and points in the final two quarters. Newton won the second half 19-14.

Carter was glad he got to dig deep into his bench. He’s still trying to figure out the back end of his rotation.

“I was really hoping I would get the chance to play quite a few guys early on because we are trying to figure out guys 7-11 and how that’s going to go,” Carter said. “If we can play 10, I would love to do it. Right now, I feel good about putting 10 or 11 guys on the floor if we have to, which hasn’t been the case in past years.

“I feel like we are a lot deeper than we have been in the past.”

The Cardinals (1-0) shot 53 percent from the floor despite making only 4-of-16 from 3-point range. They were 7-of-8 from the free throw line and committed just five turnovers.

“We are always trying to get paint touches. It makes the 3-point shot so much easier,” Carter said. “We got a lot of spacing with our shooters and that allows Cole and Kael (Swarts) to get some dump offs, too. When we can play inside-out, it makes us harder to guard.”

Adam Mattes blocked two shots, Plowman and Treycen Garton each grabbed four rebounds and Jake Ingle finished with eight points, two assists and two steals.

Caleb Mattes, Nate Lampe, Kacey Sommars, Brody Fuller, Drew Thompson and Ian Reynolds all made their varsity debuts.

Caleb Mattes added four rebounds, four assists and two steals to his nine points, Lampe finished with six points and three assists and Sommars grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists.

Brody Fuller made a 3-pointer and Reynolds pulled down a pair of boards.

“It was a fun game,” Plowman said. “The energy was there. The guys were into it. It was a great first game.”