By Jack Hooker
The Newton South boys’ basketball team defeated West Roxbury 56-54 in the preliminary round of the state tournament Tuesday night.
South struggled early on, turning the ball over on eight of its first nine possessions as they fell behind 10-2. Much-need scoring by seniors Deion Arneaud and Jason Karys jump-started the Lions’ offense, though, and they finished the first quarter only down 19-14.
“We started off extremely unorganized and we panicked every pass,” senior captain Barak Swarttz said. “We had numerous back-to-back turnovers.”
Turnovers continued to plague the Lions for the rest of the game, but they battled back in the second quarter. Down 29-21, Arneaud poured in seven consecutive points, highlighted by Karys coming up with a steal and passing to Arneaud for a lay-up and a foul. The score was tied 30-30 at halftime.
Swarttz said that preparing for their opponent helped them right the ship.
“Coach called timeout and got us regrouped,” Swarttz said. “We had worked against the defense they played the day before in practice, but we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do in the game.”
The Lions stayed close in the third quarter but went cold from the field again as West Roxbury held a 48-43 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Both teams clamped down on defense in the final frame, but South had just enough offense left to pull ahead of West Roxbury. With the game tied 54-54 and 17 seconds remaining, junior Phil Levine-Caleb drove hard to the basket, finishing a lay-up and taking a foul.
Levine-Caleb missed the free throw, but tough defense in the final seconds allowed the Lions to escape with a win.
Sophomore Geoffrey Gray was proud of the Lion’s accomplishment, though he knows that the team still has several areas of improvement to focus on before their next game.
“We could’ve improved on the turnovers and free throws, those were killers,” Gray said.
Levine-Caleb finished with 14 points, six of which came in the fourth quarter. Arneaud had 18 first-half points and was the team’s leading scorer with 22 points, four rebounds and four blocks.
“We started snapping our passes and looking 45 degrees because that’s where the open man is on their trap,” Swarttz said. “We started passing the ball around and looked for the open man and we got them.”
South advances to play top-ranked Mansfield on Thursday night, with a team bus available for students who would like to attend the game.
“We need to play our game and don’t let the other team set the tone,” Gray said.
“Tomorrow, we need to put more pressure on defense and get more stops so their momentum can slow down,” Swarttz agreed. “Our shooters have been a little cold lately, but tomorrow we are anticipating a good shooting game and we need to all hit our shots.”
