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Some games are just too good to end after four quarters. Friday night at East Newton High School was one such case.
East Newton cranked up its defense in the second half and Tucker Anderson scored a game-high 16 points as the Patriots dropped Marionville, 47-42 to cap off homecoming.
“I think this group is progressing,” East Newton coach Barry Yocom said. “I don’t think we are where we need to be at the end of the season yet and this group has a high ceiling. The big thing for us is consistency. We’ve played well at times and not so well at times.”
In the first quarter, East Newton forwards John Hansen and Clayton Harrell had their way on the inside against a smaller Comets lineup. Hansen scored the first six points of the game for East Newton and Harrell also had six points in the first as the Patriots jumped out to a 16-12 lead in the first quarter.
“Those two guys (Hansen and Harrell) did an outstanding job early,” Yocom said. “John had our first six points inside. We’ve been working with our posts and telling them they’ve got to have that killer instinct.”
In the second quarter, Marionville started the frame on a 5-2 run and pulled ahead at 24-21 at the 2:19 mark. Hansen and Harrell were subdued on the offensive end and only accounted for three points in the second. In fact, Marionville put the clamps down all around on defense as East Newton scored just nine points and trailed, 28-25 at the half.
In the third, neither team found a rhythm on offense. East Newton was plagued by turnovers and Marionville struggled from the field.
In the fourth quarter, things got very interesting. The two teams’ defenses continued to hold strong for the first half of the quarter, with neither team surrendering a single point. Then, with about six minutes to play, East Newton rattled off a quick, 4-0 run to take a 35-34 lead at the 4:40 mark.
With the score tied at 37-37 with just 12 seconds left, Marionville called timeout to draw up a play for the last shot.
However, East Newton smothered the shooters on the ensuing possession and a 3-point attempt by Marionville’s Ryan White rimmed out sending the game to overtime.
Anderson, East Newton’s leading scorer, didn’t score a single point in the third or fourth quarter.
“It was a team win for sure,” Yocom said. “It’s impressive not to have a guy like that score in the third and fourth quarter and still be there. We had a couple of younger kids in Sam Swartz and Colby Thomas who came in and gave us great minutes off the bench. Jaron McCully and Andrew Hightower did a great job tonight. Then obviously Tucker came through for us in overtime.”
Some games are just too good to end after four quarters. Friday night at East Newton High School was one such case.
East Newton cranked up its defense in the second half and Tucker Anderson scored a game-high 16 points as the Patriots dropped Marionville, 47-42 to cap off homecoming.
“I think this group is progressing,” East Newton coach Barry Yocom said. “I don’t think we are where we need to be at the end of the season yet and this group has a high ceiling. The big thing for us is consistency. We’ve played well at times and not so well at times.”
In the first quarter, East Newton forwards John Hansen and Clayton Harrell had their way on the inside against a smaller Comets lineup. Hansen scored the first six points of the game for East Newton and Harrell also had six points in the first as the Patriots jumped out to a 16-12 lead in the first quarter.
“Those two guys (Hansen and Harrell) did an outstanding job early,” Yocom said. “John had our first six points inside. We’ve been working with our posts and telling them they’ve got to have that killer instinct.”
In the second quarter, Marionville started the frame on a 5-2 run and pulled ahead at 24-21 at the 2:19 mark. Hansen and Harrell were subdued on the offensive end and only accounted for three points in the second. In fact, Marionville put the clamps down all around on defense as East Newton scored just nine points and trailed, 28-25 at the half.
In the third, neither team found a rhythm on offense. East Newton was plagued by turnovers and Marionville struggled from the field.
In the fourth quarter, things got very interesting. The two teams’ defenses continued to hold strong for the first half of the quarter, with neither team surrendering a single point. Then, with about six minutes to play, East Newton rattled off a quick, 4-0 run to take a 35-34 lead at the 4:40 mark.
With the score tied at 37-37 with just 12 seconds left, Marionville called timeout to draw up a play for the last shot.
However, East Newton smothered the shooters on the ensuing possession and a 3-point attempt by Marionville’s Ryan White rimmed out sending the game to overtime.
Anderson, East Newton’s leading scorer, didn’t score a single point in the third or fourth quarter.
“It was a team win for sure,” Yocom said. “It’s impressive not to have a guy like that score in the third and fourth quarter and still be there. We had a couple of younger kids in Sam Swartz and Colby Thomas who came in and gave us great minutes off the bench. Jaron McCully and Andrew Hightower did a great job tonight. Then obviously Tucker came through for us in overtime.”
The senior made up for it in the overtime period. Anderson capped of a 14-for-14 day at the free throw line with eight makes in overtime to hoist East Newton to victory. His two free throws with 10 seconds to go in overtime pushed the game out of reach and sealed the win for the Patriots (8-7).
“It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a win,” Yocom said. “That’s what we like.”
In addition to his 16 points, Anderson finished with five rebounds. Other scorers for East Newton were: Harrell 11, Hansen 10, Sam Swartz 6, Andrew Hightower 2 and Jaron McCully 2. Hightower had a team-high six rebounds and three assists.
East Newton will take on Diamond on the road Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a tough test for us,” Yocom said of the upcoming game in Diamond. “They are really rolling right now so we’re going to have to play well going into their place. But these kids fight hard and we are going to show up Tuesday and see what happens.”
Marionville (8-6) scorers were: Eddie Villar 13, Matt Jones 10, Derek Malcom 9, Jon Zanaboni 4, Marty Minnis 3, Nate Hill 2 and Landen Metcalf 1.
