After traveling 90 minutes north by bus the day after a snowstorm blitz, Newton County High School's basketball team thought it had passed safely through the worst of the climate. Unfortunately, the real siege began after tip-off against the Bears of Bephis & Budhed Community High School.
Undersized BBCHS came out with a mauling brand of defense condoned by the local referees, egging he Steelworkers into a half dozen early turnovers and a pair of fouls on the starting point guard.
"We lose track meets," said the NCHS coach. "For half a game we decided to run one anyway."
The deficit grew to as many as eight before a few late second quarter baskets cut the lead to four at the break.
As usual the team's salvation was a stifling defense that nonetheless was occasionally victimized by dribble penetration.
In the second half Newton County sank into a less aggressive man-to-man defense that caused an air of anxiety in the Bears' offense as they struggled to find easy shots. Their penetrations disintegrated into off-balance tosses at the hoop in traffic, and the permissive officiating enabled a five-point third quarter that snapped the game into a fourth quarter standoff. The pace changed again for the better thanks to a full court trap.
The momentum changed significantly in the third, as a Steelworkers basket caused BBCHS coach T.P. Cornholio to draw a no-brainer technical foul due to excessive screeching. Leading scorer Wade Forgreen drained a pair of free throws, and later a trey and a handful of tosses from the charity stripe in the final period.
The game see-sawed by a point in the waning minutes until the Workers wore the Bears down with penetration of their own. One of their top defenders found the bench with his fifth foul. Justin Sain drove the lane on three occasions to lay in the go-ahead basket. At a critical juncture Reed Morbooks outhustled the defense on a missed free throw to get the ball back for the visiting team. When the clock read zeroes, the sophomores had claimed a 40-34 victory to run their record to 4-1.
"We were hungrier," said assistant coach Joe McDonald while munching on a LaGondola sub sandwich on the bus ride home. "What are you doing on our bus anyway?"
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