Boys basketball: Newman tops South Beloit to win Oregon tournament title

OREGON – Only four games into the new season, Newman is finding different ways to win games.

Just a few hours after winning a run-and-gun semifinal game at the Oregon Thanksgiving Tournament, the Comets withstood a hot start by South Beloit and ended up pulling away to win a defensive slugfest 53-46 at the Blackhawk Center.

Newman (4-0) took on four tough teams in the season-opening tournament, and with all-tournament pick Lucas Simpson leading a gutty performance by the whole team, the Comets adjusted to a slightly different style of play each time to get the job done.

“It’s so huge for us to win this tournament,” said Simpson, who scored 125 points in the four games. “We played some really good teams, and it was a good start to the season. And we finally broke the streak and won a championship in our gray jerseys after losing in them every tournament title game last year.”

Newman trailed 13-6 after the opening quarter with SoBos standout Ross Robertson scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds in the period.

But Newman pitched a shutout in the second quarter, forcing 10 turnovers – the SoBos committed 27 in the game – and holding them to 0-for-4 shooting from the field and 0-for-2 from the free throw line to tie the score 13-13 going into halftime.

“That’s how you beat Newman is you get the ball in the middle and then you play the numbers game on the low side. It leads to easy buckets, easy layups, and we did that in the first quarter,” Robertson said. “Then we started to settle a little bit in the second quarter, we didn’t get the ball inside as much as we probably should have. We were settling for 3s, and they just weren’t falling tonight.”

Robertson only touched the ball a couple of times in the period, and didn’t attempt a shot.

“The second quarter, we didn’t do a good job of getting Ross the ball inside. We didn’t score the whole quarter – and it’s hard to beat any team, let alone a team like Newman, without scoring for an entire quarter,” South Beloit coach Matt Stucky said. “We did a better job the second half of getting him the ball and putting him in some spots where he could be a playmaker.”

That built some confidence in the Comets heading into the locker room.

“We started off really slow, then the second quarter we held them to zero points and we tied it. After that, we knew we could keep up with them,” Simpson said. “They’re a very good team, but once we got our 1-3-1 going, they couldn’t get it past us very easily.”

Sophomore Garret Matznick keyed a third-quarter surge, nailing 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions before Sam Francque hit his second 3 of the game to put Newman up 26-22 with 2:16 left in the third.

All three 3s were assisted by Cody McBride,with Simpson providing the hockey assists with kick-out passes to McBride from the high post.

“In the first half, we really struggled from 3 – I think I missed three – but then I was able to come back with two big 3s in a row there in the third, and that helped a lot,” Matznick said. “Then Sam and Evan [Bushman] hit big 3s too, and that helped us get going.”

Bushman’s was key, and it came after Robertson’s three-point play with 52.6 seconds left in the third tied the game 26-26. Newman held for the final shot of the period, and this time Matznick dribbled into the lane and kicked it out to Bushman, who drained the 3 for a 29-26 lead.

Simpson then pushed the lead to seven with back-to-back steals at midcourt that he turned into a layup and two free throws for a 33-26 edge just 18 seconds into the fourth.

“We ran a play at the end of the quarter and we get an open 3 and we knock it down. So then our momentum’s up, our energy’s up, and then Lucas gets a couple steals and our energy’s really up,” Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “We separated enough that then we could kind of dictate what they could do defensively.”

“We got that momentum there to start the fourth quarter, and that rhythm carried all the way through to the end of the game,” Simpson said. “I felt that once we got the lead, once we got our rhythm going, they started rushing their offense, and we kept on scoring and never looked back.”

Simpson picked up a loose ball and found an open Isaiah Williams for a three-point play, then Simpson scored a three-point play on a drive to the basket a minute later and Newman led 39-32 with 6:07 to go.

Robertson – also an all-tournament selection – and Simpson then traded baskets over the next four-plus minutes, then Simpson connected with McBride for a runout layup, beating the SoBos press for a 48-40 lead with 1:05 remaining.

“It’s huge knowing that we can rely on Lucas. If we get the ball to him anywhere on the court, pretty much, he’ll go and get a shot for us,” Matznick said. “Once we were up seven, we could kind of hold the ball and run the clock. We were just trying to get it in the middle to Lucas, and once we got it there, the shots opened up and guys hit them.”

Trudane Peterson and Syncere Fane hit 3s on consecutive possessions for South Beloit (3-1) to cut the deficit to 49-46 with 22 seconds to play, but Matznick and Bushman each hit a pair of free throws in the final 13 second to seal the victory.

“When you play a team like that, you know it’s going to be a game of runs,” Stucky said. “They’re a good team, they’ll make some shots and make their run, and then we’ll answer and kind of go back and forth. We’ve just got to be better about being able to stop runs early and not putting our heads down and letting one mistake turn into two or three.”

Simpson scored 13 in the final quarter and finished with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds to go with four steals and three assists, and Matznick had 11 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists for Newman. Francque scored six points, and Williams and Bushman both chipped in five, with Williams grabbing three rebounds. McBride finished with three points, three rebounds and four assists.

Robertson dominated the lane with 27 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks for South Beloit. TreyMon Payton-Ruff had six points, two assists and two steals, Peterson added five points and four steals, Arron Likins scored four points, and Fane finished with three points, three rebounds and two steals.

“It’s really fun to play Newman, and it’s always competitive between us two. They’re always tough, and that 1-3-1 is a killer,” Robertson said. “And we’re a really solid defensive team, and we’ve always been that way. It’s fun when we match up.”