CUMMING, Ga. — Holding on to a seven-point advantage at halftime, the Newton Rams used a strong third quarter to pull away from the West Forsyth Wolverines 80-59. Feb. 26’s win advances the Rams to the Elite Eight of the GHSA Class 7A state playoffs.
The first half of the matchup saw both teams go back-and-forth trading buckets.
At the end of the opening quarter, Newton had a 16-14 advantage and, by halftime, that lead grew 41-34. Then, in the third quarter, the Rams seemed to turn it up a notch.
It all started on the defensive end, too.
Coming out of the intermission, the Rams seemed to trap and suffocate the Wolverines’ offense more before even letting them get to the halfcourt line. Doing so, opened additional fast-break opportunities allowing Newton to get wide-open dunks and easier buckets.
By the quarter’s end, the Rams outscored West Forsyth 20-3 to give themselves a 61-44 cushion for the final eight minutes of action.
In the third quarter alone, Stephon Castle scored nine points while Marquavious Brown scored seven. The majority of Brown’s points came courtesy of a few alley-oop dunks, too.
When asked about what the difference was in the third quarter, head coach Charlemagne Gibbons pointed to his team’s ability to 'connect' in the second half.
“We had to make some connecting plays,” Gibbons said. “We were right there in the first half to have some pretty big runs and then we’d give up a drive. But we had to make connecting plays. Like ‘hey, if we get a steal, we don’t have to make a highlight play, just make a simple basketball play.’”
From there, the Rams seemed to be on cruise control never leading by fewer than 15 points the rest of the game. They outscored West Forsyth in the fourth quarter, too, 19-13 to solidify a 21-point victory.
Jakai Newton led Newton in scoring with 19 points while Brown and Castle finished with 15 points apiece and Marcus Whitlock had 12 off the bench. Daniel Pounds contributed eight points in the win, too.
Now, the Rams are on to the Elite Eight of the state playoffs. Their next matchup will be on Wednesday, March 2 versus Archer High School.
The two teams previously met on Nov. 30, 2021, when Newton defeated Archer 61-60 on the road.
But, for Gibbons, his team plans to focus on improving themselves for the challenge ahead.
“If we can give what we gave in the final 16 minutes for 32 minutes, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape,” Gibbons said. “That’s constantly been our goal all year long is can we get 32 minutes of everyone’s peak and, I think if we do that, we can continue to advance in the tournament.”
