High school games last only 32 minutes with eight minutes per quarter, it only took Newton (15-2, 5-1 Region 2-AAAAAA) all of 30 minutes – due to the mercy rule there were only six minutes in the fourth quarter – to score 120 points in a 120-51 old-school beatdown against Alcovy (3-16, 0-6 Region 2-AAAAAA) in Ram territory.

Jaquan Simms led all scorers with 30 points, JD Notae poured in 24 and Ashton Hagans added 16.

“I thought all three of them played extremely well for three quarters,” Rick Rasmussen, Rams head coach, said. “I thought they just blew it up open and [we were] just too explosive for them. I thought from the starting group the three of them played extremely well.”

A glaring issue for Newton was the absence of usual-starting sophomore forward DeAndrae Butler, who will be out for some time after he injured his knee attempting to dunk at a pep rally on Friday. Chaz Tanner started in Butler’s place and played with a strong intensity.

“He (Chaz) got wrapped up in the emotions of the game and got a technical early. He’s got to learn that he’s an energizer guy, but it can work counter-intuitive,” Rasmussen said. “He’s a bright, bright young man, but sometimes he just overanalyzes it and gets too excited. We’re going to need him to be smart going forward and play well.”

Tanner opened the scoring with a floater in the lane to go up 2-0 early. Alcovy’s Carnacion Cosby knocked down two free throws after four straight from Simms to make it 6-2, Newton.

Hagans would find Josh Tukes with a nice lob-pass that Tukes turned into two points with an easy layup giving Newton a 9-4 lead.

Suddenly the Rams were up 13-4 in the first three minutes after Hagans hit Notae on a cut to the basket for the reverse layup forcing a timeout by Alcovy head coach Mack Hardwick.

The Tigers put up some more points but before you knew it the Rams were up 25-10 and Tanner was showing off his biceps. Notae lead the fast break and found Simms for three to make it 32-11 with 1:11 remaining in the first quarter.

Tempers were flaring between Alcovy and Newton players. One Tiger received his second technical and was ejected with 53 seconds left in the first. Notae put a cherry on top with a two-handed dunk at the end of the quarter as Newton led Alcovy 39-11.

Simms and Notae had back-to-back flushes and Newton was dominating up 47-17 in the second period.

Alcovy didn't go without some highlight plays of its own. Cosby got the Alcovy crowd excited with a stunning block on Tukes going up for a layup.

The Tigers went into halftime down 64-37.

The entire third quarter looked like the Rams were practicing and succeeding at what to do on a fast break. Newton led 101-40 at the end of the third.

Cosby scored 22 for Alcovy, followed by nine from William “AJ” Pascal.