Newcastle wins one, and loses one

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
Six of one, half a dozen of the other is how the Dogies ended their first weekend of the new year. On Friday, the Dogies dropped a hard-fought battle with the Torrington Trailblazers in the Dogie Dome by 6, and then got the better of the Gering Bulldogs on the road on Saturday by 6. 
Head coach Allen Von Eye would have liked to nab two wins to start the year, but was pleased with what he saw from his team in both contests.
“What a great weekend!” he said. “You hate to lose to a conference team on your home floor, but the game against Torrington presented us with some great learning opportunities and the guys fought so hard right up until the very end, and you can’t ask for more than that.”
The Dogies came out on a mission in the first half and led the ‘Blazers 14-13 at the end of one and 31-28 at the end of the first half. In the first two quarters of play, there were 11 lead changes and two ties as the squads exchanged blows.
The third quarter was a little rough as the ‘Blazers went on a 15-point run to the Dogies’ 5, and in the second half Torrington led by as much as 11 until the Dogies came fighting back to get within 2 late in the game. 
Unfortunately, Newcastle ran out of time to get back on top, and a foul committed with just .6 seconds to play allowed the ‘Blazers to get up 6 when time ticked off the clock to take the 55-49 win. 
“You cannot say that his squad doesn’t work their tails off. They fly around so hard and they played defense so hard and so well, especially in the full court and three-quarter court,” Von Eye insisted. “To come out and play a good, hard first half and have a lead going into the half, then to get down, but come charging back in the fourth, is a testament to this team about what their buy-in is, and the fact that they believe in themselves.”
The Dogies got contributions from seven different players throughout the contest. Slade Roberson led the team with 22 points, and Aidan Chick was next with 11. Quint Perino put in 5, Tate Engle 4, Avery Chick hit one beyond the arc for 3, while Hogan Tystad and Hayden Overman each chipped in 2.
The Dogies took the disappointment from the loss and learned from it as they took on the Bulldogs in Gering on Saturday.
“They got up on us 11-4 and things were going their way,” Von Eye began. “We weren’t playing very solid and weren’t doing what we needed to do at that point, but then we took a time out, took a deep breath, and refocused.”
The squad came out of the time-out and produced turnover after turnover, and pretty soon the deficit turned into a pretty decent lead for the Dogies.
“We had the momentum and then we did some good things to go into the half up by 6,” stated Von Eye. “But then the third quarter hit and
it seemed to be a rerun of the Torrington game. We even talked about making sure we didn’t have another let-down in the locker room, but the Bulldogs came out doing some really good things.”
Fortunately, the Dogies were able to turn things around much more quickly than they had the night before and got the momentum back. Roberson hit a 15-footer from the elbow to start things off, then when the team was down 2 points toward the end of the game, he hit a 3 from the corner to put his team on top.
The free-throws down the stretch were also huge for Newcastle. Aidan Chick went 8-10 from the line and Roberson was 8-9. Chick got himself to the line several times in the final moments of the game and was dialed, which put the game out of reach for the Bulldogs as the Dogies went on to take the contest 63-57.
“Players make plays, and the guys took that to heart,” Von Eye said. “It was just a really great ball game by the kids, and any time you can get a win on the road in a tough environment, it makes it a good win.”
Roberson once again led his team with 23 points, and Aidan Chick
followed with 15. Overman added
9 points, Tystad and Engle each
had 6 and Perino rounded out the scoring with 4.
This week the Dogies are on the road and will travel to Wheatland on Friday to face off against a tough, veteran Bulldogs team scheduled
to begin at 7, then will head to Spearfish on Saturday morning to take on Rapid City Christian in a 12:30 contest in the Donald E Young Center on the Campus of Black Hills State University.