Duling paces hot-shooting Newark past Tri-Valley
DRESDEN - When B.J. Duling is allowed to have his way inside, Newark becomes a highly difficult matchup.
Tri-Valley found out the hard way in a 72-56 nonleague loss on Saturday.
The 6-7 Duling scored a game-high 23 points, doing almost all of his damage from the block, and Newark hit 22 of its first 27 shots from the field in a convincing all-around effort.
The Wildcats (14-6) led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter in a game they hit nine of their first 11 3-pointers and shot 73 percent overall.
Newark never trailed after jumping ahead 11-0 to start the game, which included four straight points from Duling and five from Justin Carter.
Tri-Valley (16-3), which got 21 points from Marcus Dempsey, got within 24-19 midway through the second quarter. But a 13-0 Newark run fueled by six consecutive stops on defense and points from five different players all but put the game away before halftime at 38-19.
Newark was 15-of-21 from the field in the first half — 12-of-15 on shots inside the arc.
"I'm very happy," Newark coach Jeff Quackenbush said. "I think defensively, we know how good (Marcus) Dempsey is — he can do what he wants out there. He's so hard to guard, but I thought our kids stuck to the game plan. On offense I thought we shared the ball and took really good shots, and sometimes you're going to have nights when you shoot the ball well."
Much of the high shooting percentage was the result of high percentage shots. That was a result of Duling all but having his way in the paint, even when drawing multiple defenders, and when it was apparent the Scotties couldn't handle him, kick-out 3s were available.
J.T. Shumate, with plenty of his Dresden-area family in attendance, hit two 3s in the first four minutes of the third quarter to help keep the Scotties at arm's length. Kobe Long-Weber followed with two to start the fourth, which pushed the lead to 62-41, and Hunter Dennison added another a minute later.
At that time, Newark was 26-of-35 from the field and 8-of-12 on 3s.
"(The slow start) killed us," Tri-Valley coach Todd McLoughlin said. "If we don't shoot well against teams good Division I teams like Newark, we don't have a chance. And if you fail to get stops and rebound, you don't have a chance."
It all started with Duling, who not only hit 5 of 6 first-half shots but cleaned up the glass for nine first-half rebounds. Tri-Valley had just 12 rebounds for the game.
"He's a very difficult match-up for us," McLoughlin said. "When he is in that position he is able to post up and step out, and he's smart enough now to see where the double team is coming from, and they were able to hit open shots because of it."
Both teams enter today's Division I district tournament draw unsure of how the scenarios will unfold but are all but assured of top 15 seeds and first-round home games.
Newark has won five of six games entering the draw, but the Wildcats are part of an ultra-competitive field with some of the best big school teams in Ohio.
Quackenbush called the whole process "a crap shoot."
"There are so many good teams in the top 10 or 12 and I don't think we're in the top 10 or 12," Quackenbush said.
sblackbu@gannett.com
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Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR
Stat book
Newark 18-20-18-16 — 72
Tri-Valley 10-13-16-17 — 56
Newark: Carter 2 0-0 5, Duling 10 3-3 23, Long-Weber 4 0-0 12, Thomas 3 2-2 8, Jarrett 1 1-2 3, Dennison 3 0-0 8, Shumate 3 0-0 8, Quackenbush 1 0-0 2, Crist 1 0-0 3, Pressley 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 28-40 6-7 72. Three-point goals: 9-12 (Weber 4, Dennison 2, Carter, Dennison, Crist). Turnovers 18.
Tri-Valley: Hittle 1 0-0 3, Nolder 1 2-2 5, Cameron 2 2-2 7, McLoughlin 4 2-5 10, Dempsey 5 9-9 21, Brock 1 0-0 2, McGee 1 0-0 3, King 1 0-0 2, Gaiters 1 0-0 3, TOTALS 17-42 15-18 56. Three-point goals: 7-21 (Dempsey 2, Hittle, Nolder, Cameron, McGee, Gaiters). Rebounds 12. Assists 11 (Hittle 5). Steals 6. Turnovers 10.
Officials: Sayatovich, Prati and Anders.