By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After Springfield Catholic’s Zach Howell hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 remaining to tie the game for the first time at 66 Thursday night, Connor Killion answered with a 3 of his own as the East Newton Patriots pulled away for a 75-71 victory.
The win was the 15th straight for the Patriots, whose last loss came to Mount Vernon (61-57) on Dec. 19. East Newton, ranked fourth in Class 4, improved to 21-1 overall.
“We’ve had some close ones this year and we find ways to get it done,” East Newton head coach Kyle Fields said. “We just kind of gut it out, whatever the situation is. Tonight, we’re in foul trouble and we found ways. I’m proud of our kids. They’ve done a heck of a job this year.”
The Patriots jumped on top of the Fightin’ Irish early, taking a 23-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. And, as it turned out, they would need every bit of that lead to leave Springfield with a victory.
“That’s huge to start off a game,” East Newton senior Lucas Kimbrough said. “That sets the intensity for the whole game, and you’ve just got to play off that. I felt like we did that and we came up with the win.”
Howell, who was coming off games of 55 and 41 points, heated up in the second quarter with three 3-pointers. But, Kimbrough poured in 10 points to help the Patriots keep the Irish at bay and take a 39-32 lead into the locker room.
The Patriots extended their lead to 11 again in the third quarter before Catholic used a 7-0 run to pull within four (43-39) with 3:20 to go in the quarter. The two teams traded baskets to close out the third with East Newton up five (50-45).
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Another quick start to open the fourth had the Patriots up 54-45 before Kimbrough picked up his fourth foul with 7:20 remaining. Liam O’Reilly hit both free throws (54-47) for Catholic, but Kyson Lahman came back with a bucket from the baseline (56-47).
Howell hit a 3-pointer from the wing (56-50) and Killion answered with a 3 from deep for East Newton (59-50).
That’s when the Irish turned up the defensive pressure. With 5:24 left to play, Catholic got a 10-second count on East Newton, which seemed to spark the Irish offense. They chipped away to pull the game within four (62-58).
After the Patriots scored on a putback and a pair of free throws (66-58), Howell went on an 8-0 run of his own within about a minute’s time to pull the Irish even (66-66) with 1:38 remaining. But a Killion 3-pointer about 20 seconds later, and an Irish turnover under their basket with 54.6 seconds to go, all but sealed the game for East Newton.
“We kind of change some defensive schemes, which I think helped us to a degree,” Catholic coach Denny Hunt said of the Irish rally. “When you climb up a mountain like that, you get on top of it, then you need something to happen good for you. We failed to guard their best shooter down the floor the next possession, and that got us in trouble.
“But, all in all, we haven’t been in the gym – so, not too bad. We played a very good team and they’re well-coached. They’ve got four or five guys who can all shoot, and they’re hard to play against. So, you can’t cheat on them. You just have to hook it up and guard them, and that’s what we tried to do.”
Howell led all scorers with 36 points, including six 3-pointers for Catholic, which fell to 14-7 overall. Coming into Thursday night’s game, Howell had 74 3s on the season and ended the night with a total of 80. O’Reilly and Will Squibb added 20 and 10 points for the Irish, respectively.
Kimbrough paced the Patriots with 21 points, followed by Lahman (20), Killion (16) and Tanner Youngblood (11).
Thursday night’s game was the first of three straight for East Newton, which plays Lamar on Friday and Seneca in a makeup game on Saturday.
“We’re going to have to find our legs again, kind of get up and down the floor,” Fields said. “We haven’t been in the gym a whole lot in the last two weeks, so hopefully, we can find them again and get ready for districts.”
EAST NEWTON 75, CATHOLIC 71
EAST NEWTON 23-16-11-25—75
CATHOLIC 12-20-13-26—71
EAST NEWTON (21-1) – Kyson Lahman 20, Connor Killon 16, Lucas Kimbrough 21, Tanner Youngblood 11, Kelton Sorrell 3, Gabe Bergen 2, Robert McFarland 2.
CATHOLIC (14-7) – Zach Howell 36, Liam O’Reilly 20, Will Squibb 10, Tom Headley 3, Trenton Webster 2.
