The Racers had to win out at the Area Basketball Tournament last week in order to continue post-season play.
That’s exactly what they did.
Their payoff is a trip to the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City for the State Tournament.
Newcastle beat Hilldale, 5947, in the first round on Thursday. This moved them to a Friday afternoon game against Victory Christian. The Racers won that game, too, by a score of 65-58. The victory moved Newcastle to the Saturday night Consolation Championship — a rematch against the Ada Cougars.
The Racers won the Consolation Championship, 59-40, and punched their ticket to State.
Newcastle played Weatherford at noon on Wednesday this week to open the State Tournament, but because of print deadlines for the Newcastle Pacer, we were unable to publish the results.
Here’s how Newcastle made it to the State Tournament.
Newcastle versus Hilldale
The victory against Hilldale in the first round of the Area Tournament Thursday placed Newcastle in the Friday game against Victory Christian, who had won their game with McLain.
Hilldale kept the game close with the Racers leading the score, 40-38, midway through the third period; however, Newcastle made the fourth period count, outscoring their opponent while playing tough defense.
Chase Sucharda had 17 points to lead the Racers. He was followed by Zach Cragg with 11, Carl’Sheon Young and Connor Boydstun with nine each, and Antonio Brown with eight. Also scoring for the Racers were Tre Martinez with three, and Nathan Ashley with two.
Newcastle versus Victory Christian
Head Coach Jessie Brown said his Racers locked in defensively in the game against Victory Christian on Friday, pressuring their guards and a 6’6” player they have. Brown said the pressure defense worked — stopping them. At the end of the fourth period, the Racers were controlling the game, but Victory Christian had a couple of three pointers which narrowed the gap to a conclusion of 65-58.
Newcastle versus Ada
In the Consolation Championship Saturday, Newcastle again faced the Ada Cougars, who had given the Racers their only post-season loss. This time Newcastle shut Ada down.
Brown said the team played by their motto: “Make them beat us. Don’t go for any gambles.”
While the game’s conclusion was a 59-40 Racer victory, at halftime there was a different outlook. Brown said Ada came out hot in the first half and netted a three-point buzzer beater to take the halftime lead.
“We went to the locker room and talked about us gambling, but then came back out and cleaned that stuff up,” he said.
Newcastle held Ada to only three third-period points and eight fourth-period points.
Carl’Sheon Young led Racer scoring with 31 points. He was followed by Sucharda’s 15.
In the first post-season game with Ada, Brown said the Racers did not play very well.
“They played well and we didn’t lock-in defensively,” Brown said. “We made some mistakes in overtime that gave them the victory.”
Saturday’s game and the outcome was very different this weekend.
Newcastle at State
The Racers played against Weatherford at noon Wednesday at the State Fair Arena. The last time the two teams played, Weatherford beat Newcastle by 14 points. Brown said the Racers didn’t play very good in that game.
He said to be successful at State, the Racers will need to focus on playing their game, and doing what the coaches ask of them — just “do what we know to do.”
