Web posted
Monday, March 3, 2008
Colony-Crest too much for South Haven boys
By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net
EL DORADO -- Coming into Saturday afternoon's Class 1A sub-state championship game, South Haven coach Darren McDorman was "very concerned" about Crest-Colony's athleticism.
He had every reason to be, especially when it came to six-foot-three junior Brandon Newton.
Even when Newton had to change jerseys at halftime because of a blood stain, in which he switched from jersey number 21 to 42, he was still the same dominating force on the court.
Newton left South Haven frustrated at both ends of the floor, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in leading Colony-Crest to an easy 52-28 win at Butler County Community College.
"I haven't seen a player that good in a while in Class 1A," McDorman said of Newton.
Colony-Crest (24-1) advanced to this week's Class 1A state tournament in Hays. South Haven finished the season 18-7.
Colony-Crest set the pace from the onset, using an up-tempo style to jump out to an early 9-0 lead.
South Haven was held off the scoreboard for the first 5:29. Derrick Spencer finally broke the drought, hitting a straight-away three-pointer to get the Cardinals on the board.
Even with all that went wrong for the Cardinals early on, including six first-quarter turnovers, they found themselves trailing only 12-8 after one.
Nathen Yunker, who left the game in the second quarter with a head injury before coming back in the second half, sandwiched a layup and three-pointer around a Bryan Newton three-pointer to close out the first quarter.
"Even at halftime, I still felt pretty good," said McDorman, whose team trailed 26-13 at halftime.
Yunker led South Haven with nine points.
But like the start of the first quarter, South Haven had trouble getting its offense going. Colony-Crest opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to take control of the game. Brandon Newton recorded a transition layup during that spurt, while being on the receiving end of a hard foul by Jake Davidson. Newton converted the free throw to finish off the three-point play for a 17-8 Colony-Crest lead.
Just over two minutes later, Davidson recorded a steal and converted a layup to get South Haven into double digits with 2:21 remaining before halftime. But by that time, Colony-Crest had already built a 21-11 lead.
South Haven's offense struggled all afternoon, in part due to Newton's presence. The Cardinals were limited to only eight field goals, many times settling for perimeter shots.
"When the ball went inside, we were concerned about getting our shots blocked," McDorman said.
Colony-Crest's Todd Johnston heated up in the second half, scoring nine of his 15 points, in addition to collecting six rebounds. He hit a pair of free throws 2 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter to give Colony-Crest its biggest lead, 47-20.
South Haven let its frustrations seep out in the second half, slamming the ball to the court and heaving it in the air after the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.
Losing by 24 points on Saturday was not the way South Haven envisioned its season coming to an end.
"Everything had to go our way, all of our shots had to fall (in order to win)," McDorman said. "We were frustrated that we couldn't make any shots. It was frustrating."
South Haven 8 5 5 10 -- 28
Colony-Crest 12 14 17 9 -- 52
South Haven -- Yunker 9, Parcher 5, Spencer 5, Blaylock 5, Davidson 3, Fitch 1, Creed 1. Totals 6 (2) 8-11 28.
Colony-Crest -- Brandon Newton 17, Johnston 15, Stinnett 8, Bryan Newton 7, Weldin 2, Buck 2, Tinsley 1. Totals 15 (3) 13-18 52.
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