Newcomer’s eight 3s ground Rockets

By Adam Brewer

MVI Sports

In Wednesday’s win against Carmichaels, Frazier’s Owen Newcomer didn’t even attempt a three-point shot, according to Coach Zach Keefer.

But in Friday’s game against Jefferson-Morgan, Newcomer not only attempted a 3-pointer, but made several of them and poured in a career-high 34 points in a 82-54 rout.

“I’m laughing now, but early in the week I was yelling at Owen because he wasn’t attempting any outside shots,” Keefer said. “Shooters have to shoot and find those good shots on the court. Owen knows that and I think tonight he was just aggressive. He works his tail off in practice and his work ethic rubs off on the rest of the team. I’m really proud of his effort.”

Newcomer registered eight treys in the victory for the Commodores (8-3, 5-1) and tallied 18 points in the final quarter.

“My teammates always get me good shots, and tonight it seems like I was making a lot of them,” the senior guard stated. “I had the hot hand tonight and the guys were feeding me the ball. It was just one of those nights for me, but it’s not just about me. It was a total, team effort tonight.”

Luke Santo collected 15 points and is now 39 points shy of 1,000 career points. Rounding out the lead scorers for Frazier was Colton Arison (12), Chase Hazelbaker (8) and Noah Oldham (7).

After scoring 82 points the night before against Bentworth, the Rockets (5-7, 3-5) were out of sync offensively and quickly fell behind 10-0 in the opening minutes.

J-M rebounded with a 10-2 run before two free throws by Santo closed out the scoring in the opening quarter.

“To be a great basketball team in the playoffs, you got to put together four, full quarters,” Keefer said. “We came out with the hot start and I loved our defensive intensity early on. But they got back into the game and it took us a little bit to find that same energy. We are really close to putting together a full game, so we have to learn from this.”

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