Boys basketball: Defense helps Newman rally past Kewanee

STERLING – Over the final minute of Tuesday’s Three Rivers matchup against Kewanee, the Newman defense came up with stop after stop after stop.

Those stops turned into points at the other end, as the Comets were able to come away with a 42-37 win to erase what had been a late three-point deficit.

“We talked about it in the huddle right before the timeout they took,” Newman guard Marcus Williams said. “We said, ‘We have to play solid defense, because we can’t be giving up open 3s.’ We gave up the open 3 in the corner to one of their best players and another at the top of the key, so we decided we needed to clamp down on defense.”

The defense really took things up a notch over the final 22 seconds. With Newman leading 38-37, the Boilermakers had the ball with a chance to reclaim the lead. Newman’s Nolan Britt stepped in front of the inbounds pass, tipping it back to Nate Neubauer who sent it ahead to Williams, all by himself at the other end of the court for an easy layup.

Kewanee still had a chance down three, but Williams came up with a steal and raced ahead for another layup. To continue the trend, Britt stole the ensuing inbounds pass and held onto the ball to run out the final few seconds.

Newman’s defense had stood tall even before the final 22 seconds. With just under a minute left in a 38-37 game, Kewanee’s Niko Powe took a pass beyond the arc, pump faked, then drove, appearing to sink a layup to put the Boilers back in front, but he also ran headlong into a firmly planted Neubauer and was called for a charge.

“Nate a lot of times, he’s kind of the unsung hero,” Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “He does a lot of the dirty work, rebounding, making passes. He struggled with passing a little bit, but when we got the ball to him down low, he scored. Then on defense he had chances to take a charge a couple times and he kind of would back up instead of stepping up and taking it, and then at the end of the game, he corrected that and got the charge right down the middle.”

Powe finished with 12 points, eight of those in the fourth quarter as the Boilers rallied back after trailing 30-23 after three. He started the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer off an assist by Melcon DeJesus, then added a layup to tie the score at 32-32 with 3:09 left in the game and a 3-pointer on Kewanee’s next trip down the floor to make it 35-32.

Powe’s personal offensive surge coincided with better shooting from Kewanee, who knocked down 6 of 21 shots in the first half before shooting 9-for-20 in the second half.

“That was our talk at halftime was just shoot the ball with confidence,” Kewanee coach Matt Clark said. “We haven’t shot the ball real well all year, that’s one of our weaknesses. You’ve got to wipe away the last miss and take the next one. All the kids are that way.”

Neubauer hit a basket at the other end and DeJesus hit a pair of free throws before Brett Newman responded with a layup to get the Comets within one and Williams put Newman in front with a layup.

Newman (3-3) did nearly all of its scoring in the lane in the second half. The Comets shot 2-for-21 from 3-point range in the game, both of the made 3s coming in the first half, and turned to drives, putbacks and post-up moves in the final two quarters.

“We just needed to take better shots,” Williams said. “I took a couple contested shots that we didn’t need. Just better shot selection as a team, 2-for-21 isn’t good as a team, but we made up for it on the defensive end late in the game.”

The Boilers (6-3) led by as many as six early in the second quarter. Powe opened the second with a layup and Brady Clark followed with a 3-pointer to make it 15-9.

But the Comets responded with a 12-0 run to close the half. After a Williams layup, Luke Jungerman hit a 3-pointer, cutting the deficit to 15-14 with 5:41 left in the half. Baskets in the paint by Velasquez and Newman then put the Comets in front, and Jungerman extended the lead when he was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and knocked down all three free throws.

“When we finally settled down a little and didn’t try to score in one or two passes but to move the ball a little more and see more sides of the offense, we were getting better shots,” Sharp said.

The Comets led by as many as nine in the third quarter after Williams hit a basket cutting to the rim off a feed from Ethan VanLanduit, but Powe and Brady Clark answered on the other end, getting the Boilers within five.

Brady Clark had 11 points for Kewanee, and Tayvian Taylor grabbed nine rebounds.

Williams scored 21 points, including all nine Comets points in the third quarter and 15 of the 21 Newman scored in the second half. He also had eight rebounds.

Jungerman scored nine. Neubauer grabbed six rebounds, with Brett Newman pulling in five.

Boys basketball

Newman 42, Kewanee 37

Star of the game: Marcus Williams, Newman, 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals

Key performers: Niko Powe, Kewanee, 12 points; Brady Clark, Kewanee, 11 points; Luke Jungerman, Newman, 9 points

Up next: Newman at Kewanee, 7 p.m. Friday