Hearts Hold off Newton, 51-42

The Effingham Hearts defeated the Newton Eagles 51-42 in high school basketball Tuesday night.  The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.

The game got off to a strange start with numerous turnovers by both clubs hampering their ability to get going offensively.  Effingham led 9-0 after the first quarter, but Newton started handling the ball better and started scoring as a result.  Newton outscored the Hearts 13-8 in the period to pull within 17-13 at halftime.

The third quarter was a standoff with Effingham outscoring Newton 16-15 to lead 33-28 at the close of the period.

The tempo of the game ebbed and flowed through most of the middle two quarters.  The Hearts pushed the lead to 12 and the Eagles pulled back within three and then the Hearts got ahead by 11 and Newton climbed back to within two, but could never got the game tied.

The Hearts eventually widened the margin in the fourth quarter and made enough foul shots to claim the victory, outscoring Newton 18-14 in the final stanza to win by nine points.

Effingham shot the ball extremely well, but just didn't take many shots, going 15 of 27 from the field.  The Hearts were 19 of 34 from the line, committed 17 turnovers but only six in the second half and claimed 19 rebounds while making two of five three-point shots.

Newton made 14 of 38 shots for 37%, hit on eight of 12 foul shots, turned the ball over 18 times and grabbed 17 rebounds while making just two of 12 three-pointers.

Josh Stombaugh scored 14 points to lead Effingham in scoring, making five of eight shots and grabbing six rebounds.  Jake Stombaugh scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds, scoring all of his points in the second half.  Clark Williamson got the Hearts out of the gate in good shape, scoring the first six points of the game and finished with 11 points on five of nine shooting.  Hunter Keith and Leighton Lark each scored seven points, Alex Carie hit a key three-pointer and Trenton Frey made a fourth quarter foul shot and took a key charge.

Dylan Davidson scored 13 points to lead Newton's comeback, putting in 11 of his points in the second half.  Keith Butler and Lucas Stone each scored nine points, Corey Davidson scored eight points and Dylan Johnson scored three points.

Effingham improved to 14-5 on the season with the victory, while Newton is now 20-4 for all games. 

Effingham won the JV game 63-44.  Isaac Foreman scored 20 points and Matt Wohltman 11 points for the Hearts JV, while Caleb Chesnut scored 15 points and Lucas Huston 11 points for Newton.

Varsity Game

NEWTON (42)

Johnson 1-0 -- 3, D. Davidson 5-2 -- 13, Schackmann 0-0 -- 0, Pickens 0-0 -- 0, Stone 3-3 -- 9, C. Davidson 2-4 -- 8, Ebeling 0-0 -- 0, Huston 0-0 -- 0, Butler 4-1 -- 9, Lidy 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 15 FG, 10 FT.

EFFINGHAM (51)

Carie 1-0 -- 3, Mahaffey 0-0 -- 0, Knight 0-0 -- 0, Lark 0-7 -- 7, Frey 0-1 -- 1, Ja. Stombaugh 2-4 -- 8, Keith 2-3 -- 7, Jo. Stombaugh 5-3 -- 14, Williamson 5-1 -- 11, Gardewine 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 15 FG, 19 FT.

Newton              0    13    15    14    --    42

Effingham          9      8    16    18    --    51

3-point FG -- Newton 2 (Johnson 1, D. Davidson 1), Effingham 2 (Carie 1, Jo. Stombaugh 1).

Junior Varsity Game

Newton              16    11    12      5    --    44

Effingham          17    16    15    15    --    63

Newton -- Mammoser 3, Carr 0, Chesnut 15, Pickens 9, Volk 0, Woods 3, Workman 3, Vahling 0, Huston 11, Reis 0, Street 0

Effingham -- Carie 0, Bone 2, Robinson 8, Hayes 2, Wohltman 11, Mahaffey 5, A. Knight 3, P. Knight 6, Daugherty 2, Niebrugge 4, Arndt 0, Foreman 20