SPORTS

Newark dodges Warhawks, moves on to district semifinals

Dave Weidig
Reporter
  • Jordan Dartis scored 25 points and had seven rebounds in his final home game for Newark
  • Justin Carter came up big off the bench with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats


NEWARK – The Wildcats haven't exactly made mincemeat of two lower seeds to open the Division I district tournament, but they don't care.

"We're getting used to not playing pretty, and that's OK," Newark coach Jeff Quackenbush said after his fifth-seeded team finally shook 39th-seeded Westerville Central in the fourth quarter of a 64-49 win Wednesday. "We haven't blown out many teams. The idea is to win, move on and learn from your wins, and we'll learn a lot from this one."

Newark (19-5) advanced to next Wednesday's district semifinals against Thursday's Licking Heights-Zanesville winner, but first had to take care of the underrated Warhawks (4-19), who had the size and athleticism to give the Wildcats trouble. Central took sixth-seeded New Albany down to the wire in a recent regular-season game.

"They were better than a four-win team, and we respect everyone we play," said Jordan Dartis, who scored 25 in the final home game for himself and four senior classmates.

Senior Dustin Stoneburner, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half, said the Wildcats talked all week in practice how the Warhawks were a lot better than their record.

"It's the tournament, and you can't underestimate any team," he said. "No one's record matters."

Central had the fans squirming in their seats a bit at Jimmy Allen Gymnasium, chopping a 10-point halftime deficit to 41-36 after three quarters. But Kobe Long-Weber hit a big 3-pointer starting the fourth and Dartis took control by making 12-of-13 foul shots, including his first 11 in a row.

"I was just glad to win my last home game, for myself and the seniors," said Dartis, who also had seven rebounds. "It's a bittersweet feeling. I have so many memories in this place, practice times, fun times, bad times. We went through it all together."

The Warhawks got 16 points each from 6-foot-5 Will Maynus, who hit four 3s, and Anthony Arnold, a 6-4 inside bruiser. They rallied into a 19-19, second-quarter tie before Newark used a 10-0 run to forge a 31-21 halftime lead. Justin Carter came off of the bench for four points in the surge, while Dartis and Stoneburner hit 3s.

With Stoneburner and Darius Shackleford each fouling out, Carter came up big with 10 points and nine rebounds for Newark, which hit a stellar 24-of-29 from the foul line (82 percent) and held a commanding 33-18 margin on the backboards.

"We set some goals that we reached," Quackenbush said. "We wanted nine offensive rebounds, and we got nine. We wanted to get to the line 20 times, and we did. We ran pretty good offense and were patient. We didn't shoot that many 3s because we got the ball to the rim. And we held them to 36 percent shooting."

Stoneburner said the Wildcats stuck to their game plan.

"Penetrate the defense for open layups, or penetrate and kick it out to the shooters," he said.

A possible rematch with rival Zanesville, which Newark beat 54-44 during the regular season, was the furthest thing from the Wildcats' minds.

"Either way, there's a lot on the line," Quackenbush said. "It will be a district semifinal game, and whichever team we face will be from nearby."

"It doesn't matter who we play," Dartis said. "We'll be ready."

dweidig@newarkadvocate.com

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Twitter: @noz75

On The Web

For more photos by Sara C. Tobias and a video by Dave Weidig, go to NewarkAdvocate.com.