Four games ago, Newton-Conover’s head coach David Rutledge had a choice to make. Did he keep things the way they were, and hope his team would work its way out of a four-game losing streak? Or was it time for a change.

Rutledge decided on the latter, and with that change came the Red Devils’ fourth straight win on Friday with a 52-45 victory over visiting Fred T. Foard.

Rutledge changed his starting lineup by inserting three sophomores, and also changed the team’s philosophy of the game—pound the ball inside. Since then, Newton-Conover hasn’t lost, and his changes were evident on Friday.

Sophomore big man Jordan Gibbs came two points shy of his career high with 15 points, and sophomore Sam Royall added seven points and two key steals to spark the win. “The three sophomores have stepped up big for us, and the seniors have really put a lot of faith in them and their abilities,” Rutledge said. “We started three sophomores after losing four in a row. Since then, we’ve won four in a row.”

The Red Devils (11-8, 9-5 Catawba Valley Athletic Conference) used Gibbs’ inside presence, and the hot hand of the rest of their shooters to pull away from the Tigers (10-9, 7-7) early. Newton-Conover hit 13 of its 20 shots in the first half in building a 30-13 halftime lead.

Newton-Conover’s zone defense forced Fred T. Foard into long 3-pointers all night long, which resulted into long rebounds for the Red Devils and ultimately points in transition. “We emphasize weak-side rebounds,” Rutledge said. “Their long misses helps us get rebounds.”

Foard, which was forced to take bad shots all night long, shot only 39 percent for the game (16 of 41), and made only 16 percent of its 3s (3 of 19).

The Tigers jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but watched it dwindle away quickly as the Red Devils went on an 11-0 run to close out the first quarter. In that sequence, Adrian Powell gave the Red Devils their first lead at 8-7 after he made the first of two monstrous dunks, which were both created off Foard turnovers.

From there, Newton-Conover went on to outscore Foard 17-6 in the second period, on its way to building a 30-13 halftime lead, a half in which the Red Devils as a team shot 65 percent.

In the second half, Gibbs came alive.  He scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the half, and hit all four of his shots. “He’s an incredible athlete,” Rutledge said. Gibbs joined the team after Winter Break, and coach Rutledge said he is just now coming around after getting the conditioning he needed after football season. “He worked out with us all summer, and he’s just now getting into shape,” he said. “He’s a monster on the basketball court.”

Foard did make it interesting in the fourth quarter. Trailing 42-25 to open the period, the Tigers pulled to within 10 at 44-34 on a 3 from Tyler Wharton with 3 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. Newton-Conover pushed the lead back to 14 with back-to-back buckets, but Foard got to within eight at 48-40 on a small 6-0 run with 44 seconds left.

Roderick Geter’s two free throws put the lead back to 10. Foard’s Jameel Owens answered with two of his eight points in the quarter for a 50-42 game. After Noah Gillespie hit the first of two free throws for a 51-42 advantage, Wharton hit another 3 to cut the lead to 51-45—the closest  the Tigers had been since it was 13-7 to end the first quarter, but that’s as close as they got.

Denzel Dillingham led Foard with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Landon Isenhour followed with 13. Owens added 12. Geter added 13 points for Newton-Conover.

NEWTON-CONOVER 49

FRED T. FOARD 39

On a night when Taylor Deal was honored for her 1,000-career point, Laurin Swink scored a game-high 15 to lead the Red Devils to victory.

Deal added 13 for the Red Devils (14-5, 11-3). Lacey Schanilec led Foard (8-11, 6-8) with 14.