By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Only Lamar stood between the East Newton boys basketball team and an unbeaten run through the Big 8 West.
Turns out the Tigers were a pretty big obstacle.
Lamar, 14-10 and 4-2 in the West, led for most of the last three quarters on Friday night and held on for a 53-51 victory in front of a packed house, handing the Patriots their first conference loss in the process.
“Huge win,” Lamar coach Matt Powell said. “East Newton’s a great team, well coached. We got beat Tuesday night and we’ve been playing well so responding from Tuesday to now against a team like East Newton, I’m really proud of our kids.”
East Newton, 15-7 and 5-1 in the West, led for most of the first quarter but then trailed the rest of the game until a three-point play by junior Connor Killion gave the Patriots a 44-43 lead with 5:44 left in the fourth quarter.
A minute later Lamar senior JD Bishop scored to put the Tigers back on top, but Killion scored again at the 1:50 mark and East Newton led 48-47.
Sixteen seconds later, Lamar sophomore Conner Shoff scored and the Patriots turned it over on their ensuing possession.
Lamar sophomore Mason Gastel made two free throws with 49 seconds remaining to make it a three-point game, but East Newton junior Kyson Lahman nailed a three pointer with 31 seconds to play to tie the game at 51.
Bishop scored the game winner with eight seconds remaining and the Patriots turned it over on a pass down the court with seven-tenths of a second on the clock. That elicited a “start the bus” chant from the Lamar student section, but the game wasn’t over yet.
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Lamar missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity and the ball was knocked out of bounds as time expired, but the officials huddled and put four-tenths of a second back on the clock. The Patriots heaved the ball downcourt and Killion caught it and got a good look at a three pointer but missed at the buzzer.
“We had some silly turnovers, had some turnovers in transition and that’s not like us but maybe we were pressing a little bit,” East Newton coach Kyle Fields said. “I think that could be some of it but we didn’t execute well enough down the stretch to win and especially this time of year you’ve got to be really good execution-wise. We just didn’t make enough plays to secure a victory.”
The Patriots got off to a quick start and led 9-4 before Lamar mounted an 18-4 run to go up 22-13 with 5:25 left in the first half. East Newton answered with a 9-2 run and the game was later tied at 29 before Bishop scored in the final seconds of the half.
Lamar led by double digits in the third quarter, 42-31, after an 11-2 run, but East Newton cut it to six by the end of the quarter.
“We talked about the first four minutes of each half,” Powell said. “First four minutes of the first half was a little shaky but we responded with an 18-4 run. I’m proud of the way we started each half and everything in the middle was pretty good, too.”
“Our execution defensively faltered and that’s what we lean on night in and night out,” Fields said. “They shot the ball really well and that was part them, they’re good shooters and they hit big shots. They play well here and so I think it was a little bit of both. Our execution defensively wasn’t great. Winning’s not easy and winning championships is not easy and we’re starting to figure that out.”
Lamar’s Bishop led the team with 22 points and Shoff added 15.
“JD Bishop was really good,” Powell said. “Conner Shoff made a bunch of shots early from the outside, got that defense out a little bit more and away from the basket.”
Lahman scored 30 points for the Patriots and Lucas Kimbrough added 11.
“We really wanted this tonight,” Fields said. “It’s a loss we can use to fuel us for sure.”
It’s still been a remarkable turnaround for the Patriots this year. East Newton hadn’t won more than 11 games in three straight seasons and was 10-16 a year ago.
“It’s a great group of kids,” Fields said. “We had a great summer, a great fall. People call it chemistry or jelling together, whatever you want to call it but we’ve really come together. We care about each other and I think that’s a lot of our success.”
The Patriots will play next week in a Big 8 crossover game against Big 8 East champion Mt. Vernon for the Big 8 Championship.
