Day: March 10, 2021

AVA, Mo. — East Newton boys basketball is known for its ability to put up points in bunches on the offensive end. On Tuesday, however, it was the team’s defense that led the Patriots to a 36-34 win over Ava in the Class 4 sectionals.

“We score it well most nights,” East Newton coach Kyle Fields said to SoMo Sports. “We know that our defense has to be our constant, and it was definitely our constant tonight. There’s going to be nights when the ball is not going in the hoop and shots are tough to come by. Possessions get decreased. I thought our defense was really good tonight and I am really proud of our kids.”

The win for East Newton clinches the first berth to the quarterfinal round in school history.

“It means a lot to our kids, and they’ve worked so hard to get to this point,” Fields said. “They’ve played a lot of basketball in and before their high school career. It’s a tight-knit group that plays a lot together. They are very deserving.”

The Patriots have a school-record 26 wins to go along with two losses and will be hosting Blair Oaks for a trip to the semifinals with a 6 p.m. matchup on Friday. Blair Oaks defeated Buffalo 69-46.

“I feel its huge,” Fields said about hosting the quarterfinal round. “(The crowd) is kind of like our sixth man. We’ve played well (at home) all year. We’ve got a great community, great support and it will be a lot of fun. It will be a packed house, and hopefully it’s worth a few possessions.”

GAME ACTION

After two-plus scoreless minutes to start the contest, East Newton reached the scoreboard first on a bucket from Lucas Kimbrough, who finished with a team-high 12 points. The Bears (23-6) took the early momentum after Andrew Dalton scored the next seven points, including a 3-pointer, to give Ava a 7-2 advantage with 3:31 to play.

Following Dalton’s early success, particularly on the inside, the Patriots switched to a zone defense, which proved to pay off for the remainder of the game. Dalton had all nine of the Bears’ points in the first, but East Newton limited him to nine more points total in the final three quarters to finish with 18.

“We’ve worked on that (1-3-1 zone defense) sparingly throughout the year,” Fields said. “Going into the game, we thought we would try to play man and see how it went. (Dalton) is such a good player, though. He finds ways to getting to his spots — he is so good at going to his left — and getting to the foul line. We didn’t do a very good job in man early on him. So, we went to the zone and found success keeping the ball out of his hands and keeping him out of his sweet spots.”

East Newton scored the final two baskets of the opening period on hoops from Kimbrough and Tanner Youngblood, who totaled seven points in the win, to trim the deficit to 9-8. Kyson Lahman knocked down two free throws inside the first minute of the second period to give the Patriots their first lead since scoring the first basket of the game, 10-9.

Blayne Mendel converted from the perimeter and Ethan Donley added a score inside to regain the lead for Ava on the way to a 14-10 advantage.

East Newton battled back to regain the lead with less than a minute to play in the first half with an offensive rebound and putback score by Connor Killion and a 3-pointer from the corner by Youngblood gave the Patriots a 18-16 cushion. Mendel converted inside just before the horn to send the game into the half tied at 18s.

“We found some success with the 1-3-1 defensively,” Fields said. “They scored a bucket right before half to tie it up, but I thought we really struggled (in the first half). I think maybe we played a little tight early. I just said we needed to stay the course. Shots were going to start falling and we’re going to continue to get good shots. We just had to find ways to get to the foul line and continue to get stops.”

After both teams traded baskets to open the second half, Killion earned a block on the defensive end and splashed a catch-and-shoot 3-ball on the offensive end to give East Newton a 23-20 lead with 4:50 on the clock. Killion finished with seven points for East Newton.

The Patriots pushed the lead to five, 27-22, late in the third quarter on the back of another strong defensive play when Lahman knocked an entry pass loose for a steal before grabbing his own miss at the other end for a putback score.

“I thought we had some big defensive plays late,” Fields said. “We played really intelligent basketball defensively. … When you get up two possessions in a game like that, it almost feels like a double-digit lead.”

East Newton went into the fourth with a four-point lead and pushed it to a game-high six points, 29-23, to open the quarter on a mid-range jumper from Lahman. He finished with six points in the win.

Bryse Dodson answered back for Ava, scoring two straight baskets to cut the lead to 29-27 with 5:10 left.

Both teams equally traded buckets over the next five minutes of game action, with the Bears cutting the deficit to two before the Patriots pushed it back to four with each score. 

Ava broke the seesaw affair when Quinton Donley buried a 3-pointer from the wing with 41.2 seconds left in regulation to trim the lead to one, 35-34.

The Bears had a chance to take the lead but Mendel missed a long mid-range jumper off a ball screen, with Killion coming away with the defensive rebound, drawing a foul with 2.8 seconds.

Killion made the first and missed the second with the rebound going to Ava. The ensuing halfcourt heave from Dalton at the horn came up short to preserve the win for East Newton, which was also the first home loss of the season for the Bears.

“This year, we’ve had to win games in a lot of different ways,” Fields said. “It’s about just fighting and finding a way. Maybe it’s getting a loose ball here, a deflection there or a couple of free throws. Who knows? I thought we just found a way to win. I am really proud of our group and it is all about just being who we are.”