02-17-04
NEWTON @ OLNEY EAST RICHLAND
BY JACK BULLOCK
OLNEY - Although the Olney seemed to be in complete control of this Apollo Conference game at home Tuesday night, Newton never gave up hope.

But eventually the size and outside shooting of Coach Rob Flanagan's Tigers wore down the Eagles in the second half.

Olney's 6-7 senior Thomas Campbell scored a game high 22-points, including a pair of first quarter 3-pointers, and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 64-50 league win.

Olney (12-12 overall, 6-7 in the Apollo) reached the .500 mark with the triumph while Coach Jeff Thompson's scrappy team fell to 5-19, 1-11.

"Our kids don't quit and they have a lot of pride in the way they play," said Thompson, whose club trailed for most of the game but hung in against the Tigers. "I tell the kids that good things will eventually happen if you give 110 percent each night. Tonight we came up short but it was a great effort."

The Eagles gave at least that much on this night and they answered every Olney run in the first half. After Newton's Tyler Weber gave his club a 4-3 lead on a baseline drive to the basket, Olney made its first move of the night.

Campbell stepped out and canned his first 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give his team back the lead.

Weber answered with another basket to even things at 6-6, but the Tigers scored the games next eight points.

Campbell converted a conventional 3-point play while being fouled by Weber.

Olney's Blake Hilliard hit a 3-pointer from the right corner on an out of bounds play which was followed by a lay in by Alex Berry to push the Tiger advantage to 14-6 with 4:36 to go.

Newton responded with Lucas Bolander canning a 3-point shot and senior guard Jordan Bierman making a steal and going coast-to-coast for a score.

Bierman's bucket cut the Olney lead to 14-11.

However Olney regrouped with a pair of 3-point shots by Campbell and Hilliard to end the period leading 20-11.

But just like a bad penny, the Eagles kept showing up with scoring runs each time Olney tried to get some breathing room.

After Hilliard gave Olney a 25-13 lead with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:12 left before intermission, Newton scored 14 of the games next 20 points to cut the lead to four at the break.

Levi Richards and Bierman opened the run with a pair of baskets. Bierman's 15-footer from the right side cut the lead to 25-17.

Austin Bussard briefly quieted the Newton run with a 3-pointer.

However Newton responded with reserve freshman Clay Britton canning a couple of late baskets. His second shot on a drive to the basket with 1:36 to go cut the margin to 31-25.

After Olney's Campbell missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity, Richards caught the Tigers napping on defense and scored a quick fast break basket, which sent the two teams to the locker room's at 31-27.

Whatever Coach Flanagan told his Olney Tigers at halftime worked in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Taking off on a 13-2 run to start the second half, the Tigers regained the momentum.

Berry highlighted the run by scoring the last six points on the Tiger scoring spree.

His lay up with 4:21 to go pushed the lead to 44-29.

"They (Olney) came out and hit their first six shots in the third quarter and we turned it over on our first three possessions," added Coach Thompson.

The quarter ended with another Olney offensive spurt.

The Tigers Justin Ashworth converted a 3-point play while being fouled by Richards.

Hilliard connected on a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 49-33 lead.

Bierman made another steal and lay in to cut the Eagles deficit heading into the final quarter at 49-35.

The Eagles had one brief run left in them but they could never get the score under double-digits.

A Torrey Wolf 15-footer and a Weber lay up got the run started. Britton followed those two baskets with a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:57 to go to make it 57-46 Olney.

"We just don't seem to have the knockout punch when it comes to putting teams away and it showed tonight," said Coach Flanagan. "Last year we put teams away when we had them down but this year we have struggled in keeping big leads."

But that would be the final move of the night for Newton as Olney held them off with three free throws and a pair of baskets by Bussard and Campbell.

The Tigers used its size advantage to out rebound Newton 23-12 on the night.

Campbell's 22 lead three Olney double-figure scorers. Hilliard and Bussard scored 18 and 10 points respectively.

Newton got 13-points from Britton and 10-points from Richards in the loss.

"Newton plays hard and that is a tribute to what Coach Thompson is doing there with that program," added Flanagan.

Newton (50) - Wolf 1 0 2-3 4, Bierman 4 0 0-0 8, Weber 3 0 0-0 6, Bolander 2 1 2-3 9, Britton 5 1 0-0 13, Richards 4 0 2-2 10.
2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-6-8, PF-21.
Olney (64) - Bussard 2 1 3-7 10, Hilliard 4 2 4-5 18, Campbell 5 2 6-10 22, Berry 4 0 0-0 8, Mitchell 0 1 0-0 3, Ashworth 1 0 1-1 3.
2FG-16, 3FG-6, FT-14-23, PF-13.
Fouled Out - Britton, Newton.
Technical Fouls - None.