Newark forces first-place tie
NEWARK -- By the time Newark junior Kurt Anderson stepped to the free-throw line with five seconds left in his team's game against Somonauk Friday, the result was almost an afterthought to the bizarre final 1:30.
Five fans were ejected by the referees for their language towards the refs and their conduct, one resulted in a technical foul on the Bobcats. When the back-and-forth action resumed, Newark had appeared to wrap the game up before a rare four-point-play by Somonauk tied the game.
Photos by CRAIG WATSON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
With the distractions seemingly under control, Anderson calmly got the ball and drained two free throws to give Newark (12-8, 5-1) a 76-74 win and a first-place tie with Somonauk (17-3, 5-1) in the Little Ten Conference.
"I had missed my last four at the line or something like that," Anderson said. "But once I made the first, all the tension was off."
Anderson was 3-for-8 from the line in the fourth quarter up to that point, so his confidence was shaky at best. But Newark coach Rick Tollefson called a timeout before Anderson's free throws and Anderson collected his thoughts.
"I didn't say a word to him," Tollefson said. "I just wanted to tell our team we had fouls to give."
Anderson's clutch free throws capped a dramatic game full of runs and streaky shooting. Newark led the entire first three quarters, going ahead by as much as 10. But Somonauk crawled back, led by senior Mitch Bunkofske.
"We knew Somonauk would come back," Anderson said. "A 10 point lead against them is like a four point lead against anybody else."
Relatively quiet for the first three quarters, Bunkofske exploded at the start of the fourth with two quick 3-pointers and an inside bucket to match the Norsemen step for step. Bunkofske scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth, much to the dismay of Tollefson, who said he repeatedly told his team during timeouts to watch Bunkofske coming off screens.
"We set some nice screens for him," said Somonauk coach Ron Hunt. "Mitch does a good job of finding open shots."
But Newark was able to keep pace with Somonauk by getting to the free throw line. In the fourth quarter alone, Newark went 9-for-17 at the line.
"I think they called more fouls on our fans than they did on the Newark team in the second half," Hunt said jokingly.
And that seemed to be what the Somonauk fans took umbrage with throughout the second half, leading to a flurry of ejections in the last 1:30.
The players, to their credit, handled the situation without incident.
"I didn't notice anything going on between the players," Anderson said. "It was more the crowd than anything else. It was a packed house and Somonauk probably had as many fans there as we did."
Tollefson called the multiple ejections "crazy" and Hunt said his Bobcats team had to fight getting distracted by the official's decision.
If they were distracted, the Bobcats showed no outward signs of it. Down four points with 28 seconds remaining, Shayne Peterson pulled up and hit a deep 3-pointer and was fouled on the play by Newark's Ivo Gentchev.
"That was a huge shot for us," Hunt said.
That play only set up Anderson's dramatic free throws.
Somonauk doesn't have long to recover from just missing in its goal to run the table in conference. The Little Ten Tournament begins at Somonauk on Monday.
"I think (former Georgetown coach) John Thompson said 'I prefer the lessons we learn when we win,'" Hunt said. "The kids really wanted to run the table in conference and win the conference tournament. The only thing we can control, though, is our next game. How do we react?" Newark 76, Somonauk 74