Last season, Eastland eliminated Newman in the regional finals and went on to finish second in the state in Class 1A.

Tuesday night on their home court, the Comets got a big early-season win by beating the Cougars 57-50 in a battle of two undefeated teams.

“We knew Eastland was going to be a really, really tough game,” Newman’s John Rowzee said. “I think we struggled here and there and we definitely didn’t play our best, but we got it done.”

Newman (5-0) used a strong third quarter to take control after trailing 27-26 at halftime. The Comets outscored Eastland 16-6 in the frame, taking a 42-33 lead entering the fourth quarter as the Cougars (3-1) struggled to make shots.

Garret Matznick (six points) sunk a 3-pointer nearly from the logo to finish the third quarter.

George Jungerman led Newman with 20 points, taking advantage of open looks and drives to the basket.

Evan Bushman also made his season debut for the Comets after being injured. He made two 3-pointers in the first quarter.

“Now that Evan’s back, it kind of takes away a defender and people change how they play defense on us,” said Rowzee, who had nine points. “They have some really good bigs and we knew it was going to be hard to get our bigs open for layups. And we knew they played good defense.”

Parker Krogman led Eastland with 18 points and nine rebounds. Wyatt Carroll added 14 points and Braden Anderson scored nine.

Eastland also struggled with turnovers, as Newman helped force 15.

“Obviously they were ready to come after it tonight,” Krogman said. “We played very hard, but I think they just had a little bit more energy, a little bit more need to win that game. I think that’s kind of what separated us.

“Good first half, we played about as good as we could. Then we came out in the second, played about as bad as we could.”

“They played harder than us,” Eastland coach Tyler Zumdahl said. “They wanted it more and they executed better throughout four quarters.”

Newman built a 50-36 lead after an Ashton Miner triple and Rowzee bucket in transition.

The Cougars battled back late, but the deficit was just too much.

“We were fortunate to be in it in the end,” Zumdahl said. “Way too many turnovers. You’re going to get a lot of pressure and a lot of active hands against Sterling Newman, and we weren’t ready for that.

“We didn’t handle it well. Too many careless turnovers. They were the first ones to loose balls, just out-hustled us all night.”

Zumdahl said defensive breakdowns led to Newman’s constant open looks to the basket or shots outside.

“And they wore us down,” he said. “We weren’t able to go very deep in our bench tonight, so we were tired.”

Zumdahl sees Newman as the favorite in the sectional this season. Eastland lost some scoring from last year’s state runner-up, but the Cougars still have length, athleticism and Krogman leading the charge.

“They’re one of the best teams in the state,” Zumdahl said of Newman. “It just showed that we’re not at that level yet.”

The Cougars still clawed their way within a few possessions late.

“We’ve got a lot of heart on our team,” Krogman said. “We knew we were going to battle back, but unfortunately they were playing well and they came out on top.”