The North Butler girls and boys basketball teams were both plagued by cold shooting second halves as Newman Catholic swept the Top of Iowa Conference East doubleheader on Friday. The Newman girls won 65-26 and the Newman boys won 50-35 over the Bearcats, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ.
In the girls game, the Bearcats stayed within striking distance in early navigating the Knights full court press. It was a five point game at the end of the first quarter as the Knights led 15-10. In the second quarter, Newman relied more on driving to the rim and transition scoring opportunities to extend the lead to 11 at the half at 31-20. The Knights pulled away in the second half behind a 24-4 scoring run in the third quarter to put the continuous clock rule into effect and put the game away.
Head Coach Jordan Nolz on what helped the Bearcats stay close in the first half and what got them off track in the second half.
“We did a good job of breaking the press and containing in the first half. Newman does a great job in transition. When you can get them out of transition in the half court, we’re a pretty good half court defensive team, it’s just getting into that situation. We credit some of our role players that played some great off ball defense and on ball defense. Then limited them to one shot,” says Nolz. “In the second half they upped the pressure. Honestly the full court press wasn’t really a problem for us. It was after we broke the press we got a little bit out of control and then had some turnovers up in the back court. You can’t really play fast break defense when you turn it over up there.”
Zoey Thompson scored 10 points followed by Jady Thorne with two triples for six points to lead the Bearcats.
In the boys game, it was tightly contested through three quarters. Following a very low scoring first quarter the game was tied at 6-6. The Bearcats took a slim advantage into halftime 21-18 behind some good all around play in the second quarter. The Bearcats extended their lead to as many as eight in the third quarter, the Knights rallied to get within a 31-30 margin and took a one point lead at 32-31 inside the final minute of the third. The Knights flipped a switch in the fourth quarter picking up their intensity on defense and urgency on offense to go on an 18-4 scoring run to seal the win.
Head Coach Austin Guerrero’s takeaways from their first road game.
“The guys bought into the game plan, we played as hard as we could, there was no lack of effort on our part. It comes down to moving the ball a little better and getting that best look,” says Guerrero. “We talked to the guys about when a lead stretches out a little bit, you got to slow it down and get that best shot again, like you did in the first half. I thought in second half, we rushed things just a little bit too much and came away with one shot, one pass and that kind of turned the tide in the second half. It’s time now to start cleaning up those small details that turn those games from getting stretched out of hand to a close game and then a win.”
Ryan Austin led with 12 points followed by Jarrett Shear with five points.
The North Butler girls (1-1, 1-1 TIC-East) and the North Butler boys (0-2, 0-2 TIC-East) will both return to action on Tuesday, December 10th at Central Springs.
