By RON PONIEWASZ JR.
rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com

Foul shooting was a factor in keeping the New Castle High boys basketball team out of the playoffs last year.

Last night, it kept the Red Hurricane from putting away Calvin M. Woodward (Ohio) in the first round of the New Castle Tipoff Tournament.
New Castle missed five of six foul shots late in the fourth frame, but had enough to hold off the Polar Bears, 50-43 at the Ne-Ca-Hi Field House.

“Our free throws were big when we needed it. But then at the end we kind of slacked off,” ’Canes coach Mark Stanley said. “When we needed to really hit them and put it away we missed them.

“I keep telling them if you make five more foul shots you’re in the playoffs (last year). It’s very important for us to make them.”
The ’Canes (1-0) will take on Altoona, a 57-43 victor over Perry Traditional Academy, at 6 p.m. today in the championship game. Woodward will oppose the Commodores at 2 p.m. in the consolation contest.
The game also marked Stanley’s debut as New Castle’s coach.

“I was nervous, there was no question,” Stanley said. “Once the game starts the butterflies leave, though.”

The Polar Bears (0-1) committed a pair of steals in the opening 20 seconds of the fourth quarter and converted them into layups to knot the count at 36. The ’Canes turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter and 18 times overall.

“We picked up our defense a little bit more,” Woodward assistant coach Chuck Washington said. “We picked up our intensity, that was our key to getting back in the game.”

Said Stanley, “We’re running away from it, they have to come to the basketball. We definitely have to take care of the ball.”
The Polar Bears turned the ball over 19 times, seven miscues each in the first and fourth quarters.

New Castle’s Rodney Parchman broke the tie when he grabbed a rebound off a Mike Andrews miss and sank a putback for a 38-36 advantage with five minutes left. The ’Canes never lost the lead the rest of the way.
Parchman buried a pair of foul shots with 2:39 left for a 44-38 buffer. However, the foul shooting woes began at that point as New Castle tried to seal the win, finishing 13 of 23 from the stripe.

The ’Canes were 8 of 14 from the foul line in the final stanza.
“I thought we made some in big moments where we stretched the lead,” Stanley said. “Then we had (the lead), for coaches sake, I’d like us to make them and I could sit down and relax for that last 30 seconds. We’ll continue to shoot them and in big moments you have to step up and make them.”

New Castle, which never trailed, started strong. Tyrone Steals bucketed eight of his 12 points in the first quarter, six of which came on 3-pointers as the hosts built an 11-2 lead.

“It did catch us off guard,” Washington said. “We didn’t have a scouting report or know what they had.

“We were sitting back in a zone and playing timid off it. We came out of that zone because they were hitting some perimeter shots.”

The Polar Bears finished the opening quarter strong, trailing 13-11 and they hung close until New Castle opened up a 23-17 halftime lead.
“When you hold a team to 17, you’d like to be up 20 at halftime,” Stanley said. “We want to get our defense to turn into offense.”

Woodward was frustrated throughout the game with deflected passes and blocked shots. The Polar Bears finally caught the ’Canes at 32 on a 3-pointer by Rasean Gordon with 2:33 left in the third quarter.

New Castle held its ground, not allowing the visitors to grab a lead.
Nick Colella, a senior and the team’s leading returning scorer, led all scorers with 15 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Andrews followed Steals’ 12 markers with 10 of his own.

Brandon Underwood paced Woodward with 14 markers.