Newark revels in first sectional championship

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SOMONAUK -- The tradition of cutting down nets after winning a basketball championship continued Friday night in Somonauk, the site of a Class 1A sectional final. Newark was facing defending state champion St. Anne. The Norsemen used ice-in-the-veins poise to secure a 53-46 victory and the first sectional championship in program history.

"It's one of the happiest days of my life," Newark senior Kurt Anderson said. "I don't even know how to describe it."

Anderson had a game-high 20 points and put together a second half full of highlights.

Cutting down the nets after the game was probably made easier by all the free throws the Norsemen made in the fourth quarter. Anderson led the way, making all seven of his charity shots and Drew Tollefson going 2-for-2. For a while it was looking as if it would be Newark that would have to start fouling to keep up, but that was not the case as St. Anne had a miserable final period, scoring just six points.

After being outscored 18-12 in the third quarter, the Norsemen started the last period trailing by two.

"We play that way and we are not going anywhere," Newark coach Rick Tollefson said of his team's third quarter. "The thing that really burned me is that we had opportunities to take charges."

The fourth started with the Norsemen missing two open 3s, and they could not make a shot for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. The defense did step up, keeping the Cardinals scoreless for over three minutes.

"We had to play lock-down," Coach Tollefson said. "We weren't particularly shooting well and when you do that, you have to play lock-down and get possessions to stay in the game."

St. Anne's Javonte Davis (team-high 16 points) scored back-to-back layups to create a four-point lead with under three minutes to play. After missing another 3 it was the Cardinals' possession with the minutes dwindling away. A great steal by Anderson prevented any further damage and the ensuing possession ended with a Drew Tollefson layup closing the gap to two. Anderson eventually tied it with two free throws.

With 1:37 remaining the Cardinals took the lead back, but again Anderson had an answer.

"He closed it out and forced me baseline so I took that and somehow the ball went in," Anderson said. He also was fouled, and the three-point play gave Newark the lead. It proved to be the winning basket with 1:05 left.

Newark had the lead for most of the first half, thanks in part to Anderson's younger brother, sophomore Kyle Anderson. Kyle Anderson scored nine of his 13 in the opening quarter. With no other player for Newark in double digits, Kurt Anderson was still confident about who really deserved the credit.

"Nick (Slack) and Drew may not score a lot of points, but they're the team. They've really played well on the boards and defense."

The Norsemen will play Annawan in the NIU Super-Sectional on Tuesday.

"I've never played in that big of a gym before and it's going to be a good experience, kind of like 'Hoosiers,'" Kurt Anderson said. Class 1A Somonauk Sectional