Crandal Porter inherited a young but talented group of players in his return to the sidelines at Newton.
And Porter stacked the early-season schedule with plenty of challenges for those untested Tigers.
The Tigers took a big step forward last week as they came from behind to beat Bay Springs 61-58 in the Leake County Shootout on Tuesday.
For Porter, who won multiple state championships in his first stint at Newton and at East Central, Tuesday’s win was a good one after the Tigers trailed for the majority of the game.
“I would like for us to do a better job in not falling behind early and play better in the first half,” Porter said. “That’s something that has hurt us the whole year. We have gotten off to slow starts. It’s like we are trying to feel our way around and I think that has a lot to do with our youth. I give Bay Springs a lot of credit. They are a good team and they played us really hard. I’m proud of how my guys kept on playing and never gave up.”
The game was tied 7-7 midway through the first period before Bay Springs scored the last seven points of the period and led 14-7 at the half.
Bay Springs was able to add to that lead throughout the second period as the took a 37-26 lead into the half.
Bay Springs led by as many as 13 points, leading 48-35 with 4:13 left in the third. But Newton outscored Bay Springs 8-2 to end the period and cut the lead to 50-43 going into the fourth.
“In the second half, we have been playing pretty well and that was the case tonight,” Porter said. “We looked better in the second half offensively. We get out of our man and went zone and that kind of threw them off and I think that had a lot to do with the second half.”
The Tigers scored the first five points of the fourth to pull pithing 50-48 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Rayvion Nettles with 5:56 left in the game. After two straight baskets by the Bulldogs to go up 54-48, Newton’s Justin Thompson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second with 3:07 left in the game to tie the game at 56-56.
Thompson hit four straight free throws, the last two with 50 seconds left in the game to give Newton a 60-58 lead as the Tigers held on to take the win.
Porter was impressed with Thompson, who scored a game-high 20 points for the Tigers.
“He’s a typical coach’s son, he’s always wanting the key to put in extra work,” Porter said. “He worries me to death about getting in the gym and shooting. That’s a lesson for our entire team. You can’t get what you need, if you are going to be a good player, you can’t get it during practice time. You are going to have to come in and put in extra work. He has been getting in extra shots all year long and it’s starting to pay off for him. As a coach, you are happy to see that. Extra work is going to pay off. He’s still young and not a lot of these guys have seen a lot of minutes.”
Nettles had 11 points for the Tigers while Kedrick Osby added 10 points. Jayden Parker added nine points for the Tigers.
“I thought Jayden Parker held us in the game when we were struggling in the first half.” Porter said. “We struggled early and he kind of kept us in the game. That’s what we have been asking him to do because he has the ability to do that. The other guys kind of rallied around him and started making shots in the second half. I’m proud of Jay. He’s our point guard and we put a lot on our point guard.”
Bay Springs girls 58, Newton 44
The Lady Bulldogs built a double-digit lead in the first half and was able to maintain that lead and pull away late to take a 14-point win.
Bay Springs led 16-9 at the end of the first and 30-19 at the half. Newton outscored Bay Springs 14-13 in the third but the Lady Bulldogs outscore the Lady Tigers 15-11 in the fourth to take the win.
Ja’Leah Hickmon led Newton with 21 points while Zia Shields added 12 points.
