Indians Edge Past The Cardinals
The Oskaloosa Indians celebrate their victory over the Newton Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Newton Cardinals came to town on Tuesday evening, looking to topple the number one team in Class 3A. By the time the dust settled, they had nearly accomplished their goal.
The Indians held on for the win, 57-56 over the Cardinals.
Oskaloosa Head Coach Ryan Parker said that the victory was good for his team, helping them learn to face adversity, “down the stretch when every possession matters.”
“It’s a good learning experience. We haven’t had a whole lot of games like this,” said Parker.
The Indian’s Xavier Foster got into early foul trouble. Parker attributes those early calls to a different refereeing crew. “It was ticky-tack. I told them early in the game, you can’t give Garrett Sturt the ‘Lebron James treatment’, that everytime somebody touches him it’s a foul.”
Figuring out how to stop Sturtz isn’t on Parker’s radar anymore. The Cardinals senior standout racked up 42 points against the Indians.
Parker said that Sturtz is a “high volume shooter” and that many of the teams the Indians face are a “team game.” “That’s just the way they [Cardinals] have to play. To their credit, their players stick with it. They don’t complain about somebody taking 35 shots a game.”
“At the end of the game, I’ve never seen a coach stand on a chair and get ‘tee-d up’, and at the end of the game, it cost them,” said Parker.
Newton Head Coach Bill Liley was called for a technical foul in the match-up against Oskaloosa when referees disagreed with him standing on a chair during the contest.
That technical foul cost the Cardinals two points and could have made the difference for a Newton victory.
The Indians continue to battle illness. Rian Yates was out on Monday, and several of the players continue to suffer the side effects of being ill. “We’ll continue to push fluids and rest up a little bit,” said Parker.
The Oskaloosa Indians were down to the Cardinals after the first quarter of play, 12-10, but worked their way on top at the half, 30-27.
Junior Cole Henry and senior Jared Kruse lead the Indians scoring effort with 18 points each. Senior Spencer Tucker rained in 10 additional points.
Sophomore Xavier Foster lead the Indians off the glass, pulling in 7 rebounds, while both Henry and Cruse had 6.
Tucker also had eight assists, while Foster had three blocked shots.
For Newton, Senior Garrett Sturtz had 42 points in the effort against the Indians. The senior also pulled down nine rebounds.
One of those persons that don’t show up in many stats for the Indians is Tanner DeKock.
DeKock easily has the school record for taking the most charges. His defensive efforts helping to change the tide of the game on many nights.
DeKock has his role of guarding their opponents best players, working to get the important stops on defense. “I’ll get the ball and let those guys score any day. I’m fine with that,” says DeKock.
DeKock hopes to put himself into the right place at the right time a few more times this year and put himself permanently into the record book.
“Some people call it acting, or flopping, or whatever. A turnover is a turnover,” said DeKock. “I’ll take it.”
“I just wish it [taking a charge] went onto Quick Stats,” added DeKock.
DeKock was tasked with guarding Newton’s Sturtz on Tuesday night, collecting at least a couple of charges from their standout. “I’m not going to lie, I thought a couple of those might have been acting jobs, but a couple of them, I was able to get in front of him and take the charge.
“That kid’s unbelievable,’ said DeKock of his opponent Sturtz. “Probably the best kid I’ve played against in my high school career. I wish him the best of luck.”
The Indians travel to Norwalk on Friday night, where the now 5th ranked Warriors will be looking for a little revenge against the Indians.
