NEWTON FALLS Tigers beat Irish for 8th win

Newton Falls' 45-43 win was Ursuline's first loss.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NEWTON FALLS -- Newton Falls High boys basketball coach Roy Sembach knew his team had to stop Ursuline standouts Isaiah Poindexter and Marc Palermo, so he gave his defense a simple message.
"We just tell them to get in their kitchen and stay there," Sembach said. "With players like that, you can't give them one foot."
The Tiger defense held the Irish duo to two points in the second half, and their offense warmed up in the fourth quarter as host Newton Falls beat Ursuline 45-43 in a battle of unbeatens Saturday night.
"They were a better team at crunch time," Ursuline coach Steve Leslie said. "Our guys are disappointed and they should be disappointed."
Ursuline held a 36-28 lead entering the fourth quarter, but Tiger junior Kevin Powell scored 10 of his game-high 16 points as Newton Falls opened the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run.
It was the Tigers' first lead of the game.
"Kevin Powell came off the bench and gave us a great game inside," Sembach said. "We were tentative [offensively] all night but we finally started attacking in the fourth quarter."
Ursuline senior Andre Edmonds scored five straight points to cut the Tiger lead to 42-41, but Tom Nemet answered with a 3-pointer for Newton Falls with 2:41 remaining.
The final two minutes weren't pretty, as the Irish shot 1-for-8 down the stretch and the Tigers had three turnovers, two misses and a missed free throw.
Poindexter had a chance to tie the game with seconds remaining, but missed and Gil Pagan grabbed the rebound for Newton Falls.
"One player who gets no credit is Gil Pagan," Sembach said. "But if you watch the game, you know he's a big reason why we win."
Eric Lance scored 13 points and Jeff Stanley added 7 points for Newton Falls (8-0). Edmonds led Ursuline (7-1) with 13 points and Poindexter added 10.
"We had 15 turnovers and seven assists and that's not a real good job by us," Leslie said. "We got beat by a better team in the fourth quarter."
Palermo scored all nine of his points in the first quarter as the Irish opened a 17-13 lead at the end of one. Poindexter then scored nine points in the second quarter to give Ursuline a 29-21 lead at halftime.
But the Irish offense went flat in the second half, and Newton Falls' defense had a lot to do with it.
"We could have been down 20-25 points with an average defensive effort," Sembach said. "We stayed right up on their kids and we used our bench to stay fresh."
The two teams played even in the third quarter and Ursuline managed to score just 14 points in the second half.
The Tigers had 26 turnovers and shot 35 percent from the field (17 of 48). Ursuline hit just 17 of 57 attempts (30 percent) from the floor.
"They outworked us on the boards and got a lot of second chance points," Leslie said. "They played well in front of a big crowd and they have great fans. It was a playoff atmosphere."
scalzo@vindy.com