Boys basketball: Somonauk tops Newark to finish undefeated Little Ten regular season

NEWARK – The Somonauk boys basketball team used a key stretch in the middle of the third quarter Tuesday to turn a seven-point deficit into a five-point lead against Newark in the final game for each club in the Little Ten Conference regular season.

The Bobcats and Norsemen each entered the game with 9-0 conference records, but the visitors’ spurt helped lead them to a 53-47 victory in a rematch of the league’s tournament championship game 11 days ago. That also went to Somonauk by six points.

Somonauk (25-5, 10-0) – now winners of 17 consecutive games – became the first team to finish 10-0 in LTC play since Waterman in 1954. It was also the Bobcats’ 14th championship and first time since 2008 it won both titles in the same season.

“That was a stretch where we were able to get into transition a number of times in a row, and that’s something we work on every day in practice,” Somonauk coach Curt Alsvig said. “We have a number of really athletic kids on this team, and that’s why we like the game to be up tempo. We didn’t get a ton of chances to push the ball and score other than that stretch, but we were also able to get some matchups we liked in the half court and took the ball to the hoop.

“I felt we had good energy the whole game, but getting those turnovers in the third and converting them into points really raised our energy and gave us the momentum we needed.”

Newark (16-15, 9-1) led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter, 27-22 at halftime and opened the second half with Mitchell Kruser driving for a layup 30 seconds in.

The Bobcats then used hoops from Payton Wyant and Brock Zimmerman – and after a layup by Newark’s Zach Carlson – a three-point play and drive by Brendan Roberts to tie the game at 31-all at the three-minute mark. With a minute to go, Somonauk’s Alex Krejci hit a tough 15-foot fadeaway jumper and seconds later a 3-pointer from the left wing as his club led, 38-33, heading to the fourth.

“That five-minute stretch in the third quarter really hurt us ... It wasn’t a lack of effort, things happen,” Newark coach Rick Tollefson said. “A couple bad passes, and all of a sudden Somonauk had the momentum, were up five and had wiped out our nine-point lead.

“We had four or five turnovers in a row in the third, and I think Somonauk converted on every one at their end. A kid like Krejci, you don’t want to let a kid like that hurt you, but he did with a couple tough shots to end the quarter.

“We executed better tonight on both ends of the floor, and the kids’ effort kept us in it in the fourth, but we just couldn’t overcome that bad stretch we had in the third.”

Newark trailed by eight early in the fourth after a Zimmerman 3, but it was able to slice the lead to 45-44 with a putback by Grandon Mitchell with 1:40 left. Somonauk countered with five straight points – including a tough drive by Parker Wasson – and made 3 of 4 from the line in the final 20 seconds to secure the victory.

Krejci posted 15 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists for Somonauk. Zimmerman had 14 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while Roberts added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Carlson paced all scorers with 16 points, to go along with eight rebounds and three steals for Newark. Mitchell Kruser had 13 points and four rebounds, Mitchell 10 points and four rebounds, and Austin Tollefson handed out five assists.

“I really thought we played well defensively and got after it, as well as went to the boards hard,” Coach Tollefson said. “I’m not sure we shot the ball too much better than we did against Somonauk in the [LTC] Tournament, maybe a little bit better but not much. I feel we had more open looks tonight, but we had a couple rim in and out and missed a couple right at the rim when we really needed one to go in.”

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At Newark

Somonauk 53, Newark 47

SOMONAUK (53) — Wasson 2-4 2-3 6, Roberts 4-8 3-5 11, Krejci 6-13 2-4 15, Zimmerman 6-8 1-4 14, Wyant 1-2 0-0 2, Eade 1-4 3-9 5, Bahrey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 11-23 53.

NEWARK (47) — T. Kruser 1-3 0-0 3, M. Kruser 4-10 5-6 13, Mitchell 3-9 2-2 10, Tollefson 0-8 3-4 3, Carlson 7-12 1-2 16, Martin 0-3 0-0 0, J. Kruser 1-4 0-0 2, Reibel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-49 11-14 47.

Somonauk (25-5, 10-0) 10 12 16 15 — 53

Newark (16-15, 9-1) 11 16 6 14 — 47

3-point goals — Somonauk 2-11 (Wasson 0-1, Roberts 0-2, Krejci 1-5, Zimmerman 1-2, Eade 0-1); Newark 4-21 (T. Kruser 1-3, M. Kruser 0-2, Mitchell 2-6, Tollefson 0-5, Carlson 1-3, Martin 0-1, J. Kruser 0-1). Rebounds — Somonauk 29 (Zimmerman 8, Krejci 6, Roberts 5, Eade 5); Newark 29 (Carlson 8, T. Kruser 4, M. Kruser 4, Mitchell 4). Assists — Somonauk 6 (Roberts 2, Krejci 2); Newark 9 (Tollefson 5). Steals — Somonauk 8 (Roberts 2, Eade 2); Newark 6 (Carlson 3). Blocks — Somonauk 2 (Zimmerman 2); Newark 1 (M. Kruser 1). Turnovers — Somonauk 14, Newark 12. Total fouls (fouled out) — Somonauk 15 (none); Newark 18 (M. Kruser).