Indians get over .500 mark with win over Cardinals

By JIM GRIES

NEWTON — It’s been a long time since Oskaloosa has been above the .500 mark during this basketball season.

Try following the first game of the season.

The Indians have been so close to seeing their record above the break-even point. But thanks to a four wins in their last five games, they have more wins than losses after beating Newton 55-45 Tuesday night in Little Hawkeye Conference action.

Oskaloosa is 8-7 on the year and 5-6 in the conference.

Oskaloosa coach Bryan White was all smiles following the game.

“It felt real good to get back on the winning side of things,” he said. “The boys really wanted to win tonight although it was a struggle all night. Every loose ball somehow wound up in the hands of a Newton player and we were fighting an uphill battle.

“We stuck together and had a couple of good spurts. One in the third quarter kind of stretched it out a little bit and another good spurt in the fourth quarter.”

White said a key to the win was the play of senior Jon Eveland, who tallied a career-high 19 points and added four steals.

Newton’s Devin Hugen connected on two free throws near the midway point of the fourth quarter when Eveland and his mates gained final control of the LHC contest.

Eveland converted an offensive rebound of a Malaki Wills miss and Eveland was fouled on the play. His missed the foul shot, but Erik McGee grabbed the rebound and put the ball in to complete the four-point play and a 47-40 lead with just more than 3 minutes left in the game.

After a miss by Newton, Eveland banked in a shot for a 49-40 lead and the Cardinals never seriously threatened again.

“We did some good things down the stretch that we needed to do,” White said. “I would have liked to make a few more free throws to make it a littler easier.

“This secured home-court advantage for the first round of the tournament. We’re excited about playing Urbandale at our place in the first round of substate.”

Mitch Tucker struggled with his shooting against Newton. He failed to make a basket and was held to a single free-throw — nearly nine points below his average. But the junior distributed eight assists and collected four steals to help the Oskaloosa cause.

“He did a nice job of making some nice passes in the second half and got guys the ball in good scoring position which is what he needed to do,” White said.

The Indians continue a busy week of action on the hardwood with a home game Thursday night against South Tama.



Oskaloosa 55, Newton 45

Osky 13 10 12 20 — 55

New 8 14 6 17 — 45

OSKALOOSA (55) — Jon Eveland 7 5-9 19, Erik McGee 5 5-9 15, Mitch Tucker 0 1-2 1, Alex Knoot 2 2-4 6, Malaki Wills 4 1-2 9, Alex Christenson 1 0-0 2, Jake McCrea 1 0-0 3, Jake Osborn 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 14-26 55.

3-point goal — 1 (McCrea). Rebounds — 27 (McGee 9, Wills 6, Knoot 4, Tucker 3, Eveland 2, McCrea 2, Christenson). Assists — 12 (Tucker 8, McGee, Wills, McCrea, Osborn). Steals — 13 (Eveland 4, Tucker 4, Wills 4, Knoot). Blocks — 5 (McGee 3, Wills 2). Total fouls — 15. Turnovers — 15.

NEWTON (45) — Colten McDermott 3 0-0 7, Michael Roush 0 0-0 0, Josh Bates 4 2-3 11, Grant McDermott 3 1-2 9, Ryan Van Manen 4 0-0 8, Devin Hugen 2 2-2 6, Spencer Osborn 2 0-0 4, Scott Nilles 0 0-1 0. Totals 18 5-8 45.

3-point goals — 4 (G. McDermott 2, C. McDermott, Bates). Fouled out — Van Manen. Total fouls — 21. Turnovers — 16.

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