Newman Goes Off, Cager Set Season High as WPU Beats Park
Oskaloosa — The semifinal matchup in the men’s Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament was a tale of two halves. The Park Pirates took a lead multiple times over the William Penn Statesmen in the first period, carrying a five-point advantage into the intermission. WPU fortunately bounced back, outscoring the visitors 63-35 in the second half, as Karmari Newman (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Digital Communication) caught fire, leading all players with 35 points, 32 of which came in the second act of the contest. William Penn walked off with a 102-79 victory, improving to 23-1 overall and advancing to next Tuesday’s championship game against the Ravens of Benedictine College.
Newman and the Statesmen were not strong from three-point range in the first half, as the team was a combined 1-for-15 from downtown, with Newman going 0-for-7. That included Newman missing the opening shot of the game, leading to Park going up 2-0 at the other end.
Despite the heroics that would come from Newman later on, Q Cager (Sr., Hopkinsville, Ky., Wellness & Recreation) deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Statesmen in the ball game over the course of the first half. He drove and tied the game at 2-2, laying it in backhanded as he flew to the rim on the next possession for WPU.
Park then marched away from the Statesmen to the tune of a 9-3 run. Trailing by eight, Kevion Blaylock (Sr., Houston, Texas, Information Technology) made a jumper to make it 13-7 in favor of the visitors. Eddie Daley (Sr., DeWitt, Mich., Business Management) then dropped a nice little shot in off a pass from Cager to bring WPU within four. Cager made a steal-and-score to make it 13-11, with Newman capping the 7-0 run with a free throw to bring the navy and gold to within one.
Both teams played tight on the defensive end from there, and with 11 minutes to go, Park led 22-17. Chanze Cruesoe (So., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) scored four points in quick succession to make it 24-23, with the Pirates clinging to the slim lead at the media timeout.
William Penn took its first lead on a free throw from Nathan Gehring (Sr., Waukee, Iowa) with 9:03 remaining, but Park showed its mettle by forbidding the Statesmen from running away. Clawing back out a five-point hole, the Pirates took a five-point lead with 2:09 to go in the half. Cruesoe cut the advantage to three points not once but twice over the final 90 seconds, but each time the Pirates found an answer.
With the home crowd a little nervous, the teams walked off the court at halftime with Park leading 44-39. The Pirates shot 50% in the half, while keeping WPU to 42%. The Statesmen did win the rebound category 21-16 and were 10-for-18 from the free-throw line. Cager led the team with nine points and two assists, while Daley and Ahmad Pender (Sr., Chicago, Ill, Wellness & Recreation) each tallied four rebounds.
Park went up by seven on a short field goal to start the second half, but that would be the largest lead the visiting crew would have, and it would not last for long.
Cager started the run with a second-chance layup. Newman sunk a baseline jumper and Cager made another wonderful drive to close the gap to 48-45. With 16:33 remaining, Newman finally landed his first three of the night and that sparked something as he would be insanely accurate the rest of the game. Sinking another deep shot 40 seconds later, Newman put WPU ahead, but the Pirates took a 52-51 lead on their next possession.
Newman was then fouled well beyond the arc, sinking all three free throws to give the Statesmen a 54-52 edge. Cager tip-toed his way to the hoop to make it a four-point lead soon thereafter.
Park was not ready to throw in the towel and responded with an 8-4 streak to tie the game for the fifth time at 60-60. But with 11:13 to go, Pender battled for a rebound and scored to give the lead back to the navy and gold, a lead WPU would not relinquish again. Pender had been fouled on the play, but missed the and-one shot. Daley, however, snagged the rebound and kicked it to Pender who moved the ball to Newman again and the senior drained another three that put the navy and gold up 65-60.
Cager converted a three-point play to move the Statesmen up 68-61, while the Pirates were shut down by a zeroed-in effort by WPU on the defensive side. The lead soon grew to 10 and then 15, with William Penn pouring it on over a 21-8 run.
Newman splashed down four more times from downtown in the half, with one coming from almost 25 feet out. His last triple sent Penn Gymnasium into pandemonium with 1:41 remaining on the board as he put the Statesmen up 97-75. Josh Watkins (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Sports Management) put in a three to put the team over the century mark and Jordan Golden (Fr., Land O’Lakes, Fla) added a second-chance layup to conclude the scoring for the Statesmen.
The team shot 52.9% from the floor in the game, increasing its three-point percentage from just under 7% after the first 20 minutes to 33% at full-time. The navy and gold also made 19 of their 32 free throws and won the rebound battle 53-26, collecting 21 offensive boards and 32 defensive rebounds.
Newman made nine of his 11 three-pointers in the second half to finish with 35 points, going 11-for-20 from the field and 9-for-18 from downtown. Cager set a new season high with 18 points to go along with four assists and two rebounds.
While no one else scored 10 or more points, the commitment to defense and team-based play was evident throughout. The squad limited Park to 41% from the field, dropping down its 50% field goal percentage in the first half to 33% in the second. The hosts also kept the Pirates from making their long balls as they went 3-for-10 from beyond the arc in the game. In the losing effort, the Pirates did get 31 points from Quez Williamson, who was 10-for-17 on the night and 10-for-11 from the charity stripe.
Daley came up just short of a double-double with 13 rebounds and nine points. The senior also blocked five shots. Blaylock had six points and seven boards, while Pender managed seven points and eight rebounds. Cruesoe picked up four assists and finished with nine points. Gehring contributed eight points on the night as well.
“Karmari Newman put on a show for the ages in the second half,” said Head Coach John Henry. “Eddie Daley was a beast all night. This was a great team effort and a great win. I love this basketball team.”
“This group does it the right way,” Henry added. “They share the ball and they have a good time while working hard.”
Newman is believed to have set a record for points in a half with his 32 in the second frame. He also puts his name in the history book, tying Dondre Alexander for sixth all-time with 18 three-point shots attempted. He also ties Alexander, Taylor Stoutner, and Alec Schwab (twice) for fourth with nine three-pointers made in a game.
A pair of lopsided statistical events occurred Saturday. WPU outscored PU 29-6 in second-chance points, but the Statesmen, who committed 18 turnovers (just nine for the Pirates), were outscored 25-5 in points off mistakes.
Next Up: The Heart Tournament Final will tipoff Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Penn Gymnasium. Benedictine won the southern half of the Heart in the regular season with a conference record of 15-4, finishing with an overall record of 18-5. The Ravens then beat Grand View (99-75) and Mount Mercy (96-82) to punch their ticket to Tuesday’s contest.
