On the back of Newman’s warmup shirts, it says “We > Me.”

The Comets have an unselfish group of players that doesn’t care where the points are coming from. But they’ve been coming in bunches.

Newman scored over 40 points in the first half for the second straight game as the Comets beat Forreston 75-48 to win the Class 1A Alleman Regional title. It is the first regional title since 2022 for Newman, ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press 1A poll.

Newman will face third-seeded Pecatonica in Tuesday’s Orion Sectional semifinals at 7 p.m. Pecatonica beat Galena 48-44. In the opposite semifinal, Dakota will face Eastland. The Cougars escaped with a 46-45 win over Orion to advance.

All five starters were in double figures for the Comets on Friday night at Don Morris Gym as George Jungerman (19), John Rowzee (16), Asher Ernst (11), Garret Matznick (11) and Evan Bushman (11) led the latest offensive explosion for Newman.

“We always talk about, ‘it’s our shot, not your shot,’” Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “We’re looking for the team’s best shot. And we don’t want you hunting shots for yourself.

“Evan open [for] 3 is a pretty good shot for us. John running the break, pretty good shot for us. Asher getting to the rim, pretty good shot for us.”

Newman’s balance has led to big nights throughout the starting five.

The Cardinals briefly led 9-8 on Friday night before the Comets starting firing on all cylinders. Newman led 22-11 and 44-26 at halftime.

The Comets (33-1) had 68 points through three quarters as a running clock was enforced down the stretch and reserves came in during the last four minutes.

“I’d say our offense right now is on fire,” Bushman said. “It feels like everybody on the court is getting double digits every game. Everybody is doing their part.”

Jungerman had the hot hand early with 10 points and four rebounds in the first quarter. Rowzee got free multiple times for easy layups and finished the game 8 of 10 from the field. Bushman hit three triples in the third quarter.

“We’re doing really good right now,” Bushman said. “But we’ve got to keep it up next week.”

Newman continued to push the pace against Forreston (18-15), but the Cardinals just could not keep up offensively. Connor Politsch led Forreston with 20 points and Kendall Erdmann had 10.

“We’re just really good at keeping the game at our pace,” Bushman said. “We put in so much work this whole season and I’m so happy for our guys and for our team and coaches.”

Ernst said the team is peaking at the right time of the year. The Comets were coming off a season-high 85 points against Alleman.

“Everything is slowing down a lot,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to run our sets and everything that we need to run.”

Ernst said the Comets are “unbelievably” confident in each other right now.

“There are some times I feel like when Evan takes a shot, I don’t even need to go rebound,” he said. “It sounds lazy, but it’s true. We’re so confident we’re going to make shots.”

Forreston coach Robert DeVries said Newman is a “machine” on offense.

“They get the ball out really, really well,” he said. “We shot 4 for 20 from 3. Just not really what we wanted. Too many turnovers in the half court.”

DeVries said it will take discipline getting back to slow down Newman’s offense.

“I think the only way you slow them down is you have the athletes to keep up with them too,” he said. “They get it out quick, and they’re long and lengthy. That length affected us a lot tonight around the rim and turning the ball over.

“They’re the perfect storm, so I don’t know if anyone can slow them down. I think they’re the clear favorites being No. 1.”

DeVries said just to get to a regional final was great after having a “roller coaster” season.

“I really just thank the seniors,” he said. “They really got us back to the standard. ... We want to get back here and win one of these.”