Boys basketball: Ryan Tucker scores 30 as Byron tops Newman in Forreston Holiday Tournament championship

FORRESTON – Facing top-seeded Byron in the Forreston Holiday Tournament championship Thursday, Newman had a tough task in front of it.

Scoring 25 points in the opening quarter and never letting the Comets get into a groove, the undefeated Tigers won the title game 57-40.

“I feel like we boxed out a lot better and got more offensive rebounds and kept them off the boards [in the second quarter],” Newman senior Lucas Simpson said. “I feel like rebounds were a big factor in this game, but we didn’t outrebound them, so I think rebounds ultimately decided it.”

Simpson gave the Comets their only lead of the game at 6-5 with a left-corner 3 just under two minutes into the first quarter.

After Byron sophomore Cason Newton hit a left-wing 3-pointer 27 seconds later, the Tigers never trailed again.

Byron (8-0) answered a Simpson layup midway through the first quarter with a 12-0 run. Seniors Ryan Tucker and Carson Buser hit back-to-back 3s to start it off, then sophomore Caden Considine got a steal and assisted a Tucker fast-break layup, and Tucker and senior Braylon Kilduff dropped in back-to-back layups as the Tigers’ lead expanded to 22-8 and 25-13 after the first quarter.

“I think our defense really led to our transition points, and that was a big thing because our best offense is transition offense,” Tucker said. “When you’re able to get out and run and make those easy layups, it gets us on a good start.”

Newman junior Cody McBride made a layup to cut the deficit to 25-15 32 seconds into the second quarter, and Simpson grabbed an offensive rebound off his own blocked shot and put it back in to make it 25-17 with 6:56 remaining, but the Comets (7-6) would draw no closer.

With two pairs of free throws from Simpson and sophomore George Jungerman in the last 2:34, Newman pulled within 31-21 at halftime.

The Tigers grabbed at least 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and capitalized on a number of those second-chance opportunities.

“We didn’t get defensive rebounds, allowed them to get offensive rebounds to start. Their first two 3s came off offensive rebounds, kicked it back out for open 3s. That hurt us a little bit,” Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “Their physicality bothered us. We didn’t shoot very well. We missed a bunch of layups.

“They’re a really good team, so if you don’t play top-notch, at a high level of basketball, you’re not going to do very well against them.”

Newman won the second quarter 8-6, but Byron wouldn’t stay down for long.

In the third quarter, the Tigers pulled away with a 14-7 run.

Simpson made back-to-back layups with assists from sophomore Garret Matznick to draw Newman within 31-23, then 33-25 in the first 1:07 of the third quarter. But as hard as they tried, the Comets couldn’t break the eight-point barrier.

Byron answered Simpson’s second layup with a 10-0 run, seizing control of the game with a 43-25 lead. Seniors Jack Hiveley and Tucker drilled consecutive 3s to start it, and Tucker followed with back-to-back layups, the second off an inbounds pass from Buser.

A Newton layup widened the lead to 45-28 after three quarters.

“We really just want to bring it. We didn’t want to let up,” Tucker said about Byron’s mentality coming out of halftime. “We just wanted to hone it on it, do our thing how we do it, and that’s how we pulled away again.”

The Tigers matched the Comets point for point in the fourth quarter to preserve their 17-point margin of victory.

Simpson finished with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Senior Sam Francque added nine points on three 3-pointers, and Matznick chipped in six points, five rebounds and five assists for the Comets.

Tucker paced the Tigers with 30 points, while Hiveley contributed 12 points and Newton added eight points.

“We always want to play in the championship game, so we’re really happy about that. I’m really proud of the team to get through the games and get to the championship game,” Sharp said. “It’s a lot of fun for our team and for our coaches to play in a championship game with a high-level team, and it’s a great test for us. That’s what’s great about this week for us. We did a great job to get to the championship game, played a high-level team in a great atmosphere, and that’s just going to help us as we go through the year.”

Although it came up short in its championship quest, Newman improved on last year’s tournament finish.

“Coach said ever since we joined this tournament, since 2013, we’ve gotten a trophy, so it’s good to get a trophy, too,” Simpson said. “We got third last year, so it’s a better place than last year.”

Simpson and teammate Isaiah Williams were named to the all-tournament team.