BY JACK BULLOCK
CASEY –

Unfortunately for the Newton Eagles, their beginning wasn't of championship caliber.

Casey-Westfield jumped out to a quick 8-1 lead and never allowed the Eagles to get back into contention.

Led by four players topping the scoring charts, Coach Steve Hawkins saw hit club heat up the nets before cutting them down in a 74-61 triumph in front of a large crowd at home on Friday night.

The Warriors hit 71.4 percent from the floor overall (25-of-35) which allowed them to survive 18-turnovers in the contest.

Trivette Scales led the way for the hot-shooting Warriors with 20-points while Brandon Wolfe added 18.

Senior post player Matt McCown muscled his way to 17-points while guard Zach Murphy tossed home 10.

Those four players combined to go 22-of-29 (75.8 percent) in the win.

“We knew that those Apollo schools coming into our league would be tough. We are happy that we were able to get this one (championship). It was a team effort. I don't know if everyone can tell how hard these boys work. I'm just really proud of them,” said a victorious Coach Hawkins. “Our plan tonight was if they scored six or eight points in a row we would call a timeout because they (Newton) are a streaky team. But we started hot early and its amazing that when your shots are going in how much better your defense looks. How much harder you play down there (defensive end) and we did that tonight.”

Newton and head coach Doug Mammoser weren't nearly as fortunate on Friday night.

Missing their first seven shots from the floor (23-of-57 overall, 40.3 percent) and committing six of their 18-turnovers in the opening quarter, the Eagles fell behind and never got the lead.

After playing well in beating Marshall and top-seed Robinson this week, the Eagles ran into an offensive buzz-saw on Friday night.

“We played the style that Casey wanted to play tonight. We talked about controlling tempo and we didn't do that,” said Coach Mammoser. “In the two games that we have played Casey we have done the exact same thing. We let them get up and down the floor and run free. Our guys got sucked into playing that way. And we took a lot of bad shots.”

The Warriors jumped out to an early lead, thanks in part to early mistakes by Newton that turned into easy scores for the hosts.

Wolfe, Scales and Murphy all converted fast break chances off of Newton mistakes and led 8-1 with 3:27 to go which forced an Eagles' timeout.

Newton was led in scoring by Lucas Stone with 19-points while Dylan Davidson and Keith Butler each scored 12-points.

Davidson, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, tried to keep his squad in the contest early as he scored twice in the first quarter.

When teammate Dylan Johnson converted two free throws at the 1:54 mark, the Eagles were down just 10-7.

However the hot-shooting Warriors closed the quarter with seven more points in succession to take their first double-digit lead.

Wolfe and Scales each hit shots in the run and reserve guard Sam Huisinga stepped off the bench and nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to give Casey-Westfield a 17-7 lead at the end of one.

“Everyone has a role and Sam's is to come in and knock down shots and that was a huge shot for us,” said Coach Hawkins. “The little plays that not everyone notices can be big.”

Newton's best run of the night occurred during the second quarter and it appeared that the Eagles had gotten their act together in a way that would make this title game close the remainder of the contest.

Forcing the Warriors into some mistakes, Newton capitalized with an 8-2 run to shrink the gap to just 26-20

Six of those points came from the 6-foot-3 junior guard Stone, who scored three straight baskets.

His third shot in succession, on a rebound of a Dylan Johnson miss, forced a Casey-Westfield timeout with 3:13 left.

As it turned out, that would be as close as the Eagles would get the remainder of the night.

Eight straight points by Scales, Wolfe and Murphy got the lead back over 10.

Scales hit a pair of outside shots, including a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:28 left.

Murphy hit 1-of-2 free throws to extend the lead to 34-20.

“We have been a heavy transition team. When we would get a turnover or a long rebound we have coached the guys to go, go, go,” explained Coach Hawkins. “As far as answering their runs, I think our strong schedule to this point prepared us for this type of game.”

Casey-Westfield didn't make many mental mistakes on the night, but one of them was fouling Davidson with :01.4 left in the half while the Newton guard was launching a 3-pointer.

His three made free throws cut the Warriors' lead to 34-23 at intermission.

However it only got worse for the Eagles from that point on.

Coach Hawkins' club held the Eagles at bey as Newton would get no closer than nine the remainder of the championship game.

Wolfe, a 6-foot-3 junior, scored 10 of his 18-points in the final quarter.

A conventional three-point play on a drive in the lane while being fouled by senior Derek Schackmann with 6:31 left made it 57-42.

His 3-point bomb from the left corner for C-W, extended the advantage to 71-57 with 1:44 remaining.

Newton was forced to foul at the end and the Warriors secured the title game triumph by hitting 3-of-4 tosses in the final :35.3.

McCown also came up big in the second half for Casey-Westfield. His play around the basket in hitting 8-of-10 shots helped open up things on the outside for the Warriors.

Newton held a slight 28-27 rebounding edge but couldn't muster up enough offense and defensive stops to beat the Warriors, a team that handed the Eagles their first defeat of the season back on January 4, 74-67.

“In two games (Marshall and Robinson) we were very focused on what we were doing but we didn't play well tonight,” added Coach Mammoser. “The kids kept working and it wasn't an effort issue. It was about being focused. We have seniors on the floor that shouldn't be making these mistakes that we did tonight.”

The Warriors are now 14-5 while Newton fell to 20-3.

“Those guys are just hard workers and we have developed what our roles are and what we need to do to win,” added Coach Hawkins. “Tonight everyone showcased their roles and it produced our first conference tournament title in nine years.”

Newton (61) – Johnson 1 1 2-2 7, D. Davidson 3 1 3-3 12, Stone 8 0 3-8 19, C. Davison 1 2 1-1 9, Eberling 0 0 0-0 0, Butler 5 0 2-2 12, Travis 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-19, 3FG-4, FT-11-16, PF-13.
Casey-Westfield (74) – Huisinga 0 1 0-0 3, Seales 5 2 4-6 20, Murphy 2 1 3-4 10, Wolfe 7 1 1-2 18, McNeil 3 0 0-0 6, McCown 8 0 1-2 17, Branderburg 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-25, 3FG-5, FT-9-14, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.