Tough shooting plagues Newton boys in narrow loss to Panthers

DES MOINES — Knoxville’s 23-point win over Pella the night before got Newton’s attention. The Cardinals knew they were in for a tough game at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday.

Unfortunately, the Newton boys basketball team didn’t make enough shots and missed too many free throws during a 48-43 non-conference loss.

“We were solid defensively overall and competed on the glass,” Newton head boys basketball coach Jason Carter said. “The difference was a few 50-50 balls they got and scored on, and we needed to make a few more shots.”

The Panthers led by three after one quarter and went into halftime with a six-point advantage. They completed the victory with a 16-11 surplus in the fourth.

The victory snapped Knoxville’s six-game skid in the series, but Newton is 21-7 against the Panthers since 2006.

Knoxville (6-0) scored the first five points of the game, but Newton countered with a Landon Bozarth 3-pointer and a Creighton Andrew bucket inside the lane.

The Panthers then scored the next seven to go up 12-5 and led 12-9 after one.

Tyler Thompson finished the first with a bucket inside and then started the second with another hoop in the painted area. He tied the game at 13-all when he converted a nifty shot with his back to the basket.

Thompson scored seven of his nine points in the first half.

“He knows there will be games where he plays more than others. It’s kind of a matchup thing with him,” Carter said. “I knew he would play a lot today because Knoxville has size and the bigs don’t play fast. They want to play more of a true post game, which is where Tyler thrives. He’s a piece we’ll utilize going forward. He gives us a lot on both ends of the floor.”

A 6-0 run pushed the Panthers back in front. Landen Norris scored four of those six and then added two more late in the half to give Knoxville a 23-17 advantage at the half.

Norris scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half. Lincoln Norris had 11 of his 15 in the second two quarters.

Landen Norris opened the third with a fadeway jumper, but Newton outscored the Panthers 15-9 in the frame to tie the game at 32-all after three.

“We have to play really hard. That’s how we are going to make our bread,” Carter said. “We are never going to be the biggest team, but we have to be then tougher and scrappier team. We did that today, but we just couldn’t get enough shots to fall in the fourth quarter.”

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Cade Bauer got Newton within 27-25. Isaiah Slaughter tied the game with a fadeaway jumper and Caden Klein’s triple put the Cardinals in front.

Lincoln Norris made a layup and then canned a trey to draw Knoxville even at the end of the third.

The Cardinals (4-3) went back in front briefly in the fourth on buckets inside by Bauer and Thompson, but the Norris brothers scored on back-to-back possessions to push the Panthers back in front.

Bauer’s baseline jumper at the end of the shot clock followed by Klein’s layup shifted the lead back to Newton, but another 3 from Lincoln Norris and back-to-back layups from Drake Larson gave the Panthers a lead they wouldn’t give up.

Landen Norris made two free throws with 15.2 seconds left to go to seal the win.

“We were falling for all of his little jabs and pumps on the perimeter in the first half,” Carter said about Landen Norris. “He’s a good shooter, but we had some poor close out angles. We opened up our hips to force a direction, and you can’t do that against someone who can put it on the floor in both directions. Once we shored that up, played him physical and stayed in front, that helped a lot. His brother made a couple of big ones late though.”

Bauer led the Cardinals with 12 points, while Thompson finished with nine, Bozarth added eight and Klein scored six. Dawson Maki added four points, but no other statistics were available at press time.

Landen Norris led all scorers with 19 points, while Lincoln Norris added 15. The Panthers came into the game with a 29.6-point average margin of victory.

Knoxville was 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, while Newton was 3-of-6.

The Cardinals are shooting 48 percent as a team from the foul line and are 2-2 in games decided by 10 points or less.

“When you’re a perimeter team, you have to step up and make them, and we missed too many free throws early,” Carter said. “It’s a head game at the free-throw line right now. We have to get that figured out because all of those points are critical in close games, and we’ve already had a bunch of close games.

“We shoot a ton of free throws in practice and make them at a high clip. Part of it is just the mental aspect of stepping up and knowing the ball is going through the hoop. We need to see a few more go in and get that percentage up.”

Newton 45, Des Moines Hoover 43

A big second quarter rallied the Cardinals past Des Moines Hoover on Friday night.

Newton trailed by five after one, but a 19-10 second pushed the Cardinals in front and they held on to down the Huskies 45-43 during a non-conference home game.

“It was one of those out-of-break games. It was sloppy, and it felt like we haven’t played in forever, which we hadn’t,” Carter said. “Hoover hasn’t won a game yet, but they are playing close games with almost everyone.”

Bauer made four 3s and led the Cardinals with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Klein added nine points, seven boards and three assists, Christian Ergenbright added seven points, six rebounds and two assists and Bozarth tallied seven points, four boards and two assists.

Andrew grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists, Maki had three points and two rebounds and Thompson grabbed two boards. Slaughter also had two rebounds in his varsity debut.

Newton shot 32.7 percent from the floor, made 7-of-24 from 3 and hit 6-of-10 from the foul line. The Cardinals turned the ball over 11 times.

It was the first varsity matchup between Newton and Hoover (0-5), according to Bound.

“They made a lot of individual plays, but the difference was we had 15 assists and they had six,” Carter said. “Cade played really well, but we shot the ball poorly overall again.”