Boys basketball: Newman edges Morrison in nail-biting regular-season finale

STERLING – The Newman boys basketball team fell behind by nine points at halftime Monday night, but picked up its play – and sense of urgency – in the third quarter to prevail 60-59 over Morrison at home in its regular-season finale.

The last few minutes of the Three Rivers Conference crossover matchup were intense, as the two teams battled for the lead. Ultimately, a 6-0 run in the final four minutes and a pair of Nolan Britt free throws in the last 17 seconds sealed the win for the Comets.

[ Photos from Monday night's game between Newman and Morrison in Sterling ]

“We had a couple turnovers that I thought were key. I thought we could’ve been a little more patient,” Morrison coach Jason Banks said.

“There was a couple times I thought we may have had a potential runout that we tried to make one extra pass instead of just attacking the basket that led to maybe not a turnover, but led to a ball out of bounds instead of a bucket or a foul. Any time you lose by one, you can go back and run a number of scenarios in your head, but I felt like we were about one timely bucket away from really putting a lot of pressure on them, and we just didn’t quite get it.”

Early in the first quarter, Newman was rolling, establishing a 12-4 lead in the first four minutes after back-to-back fast-break layups by Britt and Lucas Simpson.

Alex Anderson and Danny Mouw hit 3s at the 3:01 and 38.4-second marks, respectively, to cut the Morrison deficit to 14-12, but about eight seconds later, Jacob Donald answered with a 3 to put Newman ahead 17-12 at the end of the period.

“I thought that that stretch of the game, especially in the first quarter, I thought we were turning the ball over too much,” Banks said.

The Comets grabbed a 21-13 lead at around the 6:30 mark after a Marcus Williams spin into the lane and off-the-glass finish.

Over the remainder of the first half, Morrison heated up, using an 11-0 run to take control of the game.

“We made good passes, we started not turning the ball over and making some shots,” Banks said. “I thought we hit a couple 3s there toward the latter half of the quarter that kind of propelled us forward a little bit and got us a little bit of momentum, and I feel like that might’ve been the best play of the game we had, or the moment we were playing the best.”

After a steal, Anderson euro-stepped past a defender on the fast break and dropped in a layup to make it a 23-21 game. With 3:02 to go, Beau Brackemeyer bounced a pass around a defender to Isaac Melton, who laid the ball in on the opposite side of the lane, tying the game at 23-23. From there, Morrison scored nine straight points to close out the first half.

“We just weren’t really playing hard in the first half. Kind of noticed it after we started off pretty hot, we all just kind of got complacent,” Williams said. “We thought we could just kind of coast, but Morrison’s a tough team. They stuck it to us, and we just didn’t really play too hard. We weren’t getting back on defense, weren’t executing on offense, just weren’t really playing our game. We kind of were just almost playing their game.”

The Mustangs led 32-23 at the break.

“We had that fast start, and then I think we relaxed and let up. So the starters were still in, gave up the next five, made it 12-9,” Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “And I just thought they weren’t playing hard, so I subbed five for five. I thought the second five came in, did a nice job at the end of the quarter. But in the second quarter, we came out, took a little bit more of a lead again, and then when I subbed the second five in, that time they didn’t get it done. And Morrison went on a big run there late in the half.”

In the third quarter, Newman bounced back with a 23-12 run, led by 11 points from Williams.

From about the 3:30 to 33-second mark, Williams created an eight-point swing. His first basket of the run, a 3-pointer from the right-wing, regained the lead for Newman at 39-37. His next bucket, another 3, retook the lead at 44-42. His third bucket, a layup through contact, extended the lead to 46-42.

“Just make the right plays, whether it was me scoring or dishing to the open guy, just making the right play,” Williams said of his mentality in the second half. “Had a few poor decisions there at the end with those two turnovers in the last 30 seconds, but you live and you learn. I gotta be stronger with the ball, but really just executing the offense, playing our game is what gave me those opens shots and what opened up shots for my team.”

“Obviously, he’s been a great player here for four years. He definitely put us on his back a little bit there in the second half, and I think didn’t try to do too much,” Sharp said. “Sometimes, he gets in trouble when he tries to do too much or do it all himself. He trusted his teammates I thought, but yet, when he had the opportunity, he scored.”

With a few seconds left in the third, Anderson drilled a deep right-wing 3 to pull the Mustangs within 46-45.

In the fourth quarter, his red-hot shooting from deep almost single-handedly kept Morrison in the game.

The first of three Anderson 3-pointers in the fourth quarter came at about the 4:35 mark and brought the game within one point at 52-51.

After that, the two teams continued to exchange body blows until a 6-0 Newman run from about the four-minute mark to the 1:45 mark shifted the momentum.

Ethan Van Landuit sparked the run with a steal in the backcourt and a fast-break pass to Williams, who assisted Simpson on a layup for a 54-51 lead. With 2:05 to go, Williams weaved between two defenders and converted another layup, building the lead to 56-51. Then, with about 1:45 to play, Williams got out on the fast break again and dropped in a layup to put Newman up 58-51.

Over the next minute, the Comets coughed up a couple of turnovers and Anderson hit a second 3 that bounced off the rim twice before dropping in. Suddenly, Morrison was down just 58-54 with 46 seconds left.

“We know Nolan turned it over twice late, and Marcus tried to split a double team, and then didn’t see the guy open early and threw it late and got it picked off,” Sharp said. “So Marcus turned it over twice late, and yet we still had a big enough lead that we were able to hold on.”

With 37.8 seconds remaining, Mason Dykstra drew a foul and went 2-for-2 from the line to get the Mustangs within two points at 58-56.

Just when it appeared the lead might slip away, Britt pulled down a defensive rebound, drew an intentional foul, and nailed two free throws to put Newman ahead 60-56 with 16.7 seconds left.

“As a point guard, you gotta be able to shoot free throws late in a game, because we’re going to get the ball in your hands and they’re going to foul you,” Sharp said. “You gotta be able to come up and knock ‘em down, and he knocked down both of them. And took care of the ball.”

“He plays tough. He handles the ball well,” Williams said of Britt. “He struggled a little bit tonight from the free-throw line, but he made up for it on defense. He just plays super hard, and he was really good for us those last couple of seconds.”

Anderson hit his third 3 of the quarter just before the buzzer to draw within one point, but the Mustangs ran out of time to complete their comeback.

Williams finished the night with a game-high 23 points, with 19 of those coming in the second half.

“He’s a beast. He’s hard to stop,” Banks said. “When he’s hitting his 3-pointers, he is very, very, very hard to stop, because now you gotta get up on him. And then when you get up on him, he’s strong enough and quick enough to get by you anybody and finish at the rim. So when he’s hitting 3s, it’s a tough guard for any team and any person.

“He’s just a really good ballplayer.”

Simpson was Newman’s second-leading scorer with 16 points. Van Landuit and Britt added eight points each for the Comets.

For Morrison, Anderson poured in 19 points while hitting a game-high five 3-pointers, Mouw hit four 3s and pitched in 14 points, and Brackemeyer scored seven points.