Newell leads WHS to wins over Avery, Wilkes Central
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat

Watauga’s Jeff Newell became a one-man wrecking crew for Watauga in its sweep of two games this week.
Newell scored 20 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the Pioneers’ 73-66 victory at Avery Tuesday night.

He followed with five blocked shots, a slam dunk and seven points in the Pioneers’ 70-41 thumping of Wilkes Central Wednesday night at Lentz-Eggers Gym.

Watauga, which lost its first game of the season, improved to 2-1 heading into next Tuesday’s game at Ashe County. The Pioneers were scheduled to play at West Caldwell Friday night, but the game was rescheduled for Wednesday because Watauga’s state 4-A football game with Mount Tabor is also Friday night.

It means the Pioneers will have to play back-to-back games the second week in a row. That didn’t seem to be a problem for Watauga, which was never in any serious danger of losing either game this past week.

“We told our guys to make sure on every possession that we execute our offense and take advantage of our size in the post,” Pioneers coach Rob Sanders said following the Wilkes Central game.

Watauga hosted a Wilkes Central team that had practiced just two times before traveling to Boone. Kareem Newkirk scored 20 points and Jack Noyes added 14, giving the duo 34 of the team’s 41 points. Matt Abernathy had the other seven.

Watauga, which suited up just nine players, had more balance. Ian Dale scored 13 points to lead the Pioneers. Murphy Fancher came off the bench to hit two of Watauga’s six 3-point shots and score 10 points.

David Isaacs added nine points and three Pioneers — Will Watson, Zach Greene and Chad Eppley — finished with eight points each. Newell and Ethan Moyer each had seven.

Watauga never trailed against Wilkes Central. Newell got the Pioneers off to a fast start with a slam dunk on their first possession. Watauga eventually took a 20-13 first quarter lead and was up 38-21 by halftime.

“We thought we would be up against a more athletic team than we were against Avery,” Sanders said.

“They’re just getting their football players back and a having just a couple of days to practice with them. We were looking for them to turn it into and up-and-down type of game. They needed it to be unstructured as possible because let’s face it, how much can players (learn) in just two practices?”

Watauga, which played Avery in the early game Tuesday because Pioneers girls coach Klay Anderson needed time to get to the gym after coaching football, looked ready to blast the Vikings by taking a 13-4 lead. Avery hit just 2-of-12 shots from the field in the first quarter and turned the ball over five other possessions.

Things didn’t change much in the second quarter as Watauga held a 35-22 halftime lead. Watauga led 53-41 heading into the fourth quarter when Avery started to catch up. The Vikings closed to within seven points three times, the final one being 71-63 with 31.9 seconds left on two foul shots by Dustin Clark.

Watauga got 13 points from Greene and 10 from Dale. Moyer scored nine points and Watson had seven.

Michael Pittman scored 18 and Kyle Cable scored 14 for the Vikings. Pittman hit three of the Vikings’ six 3-point baskets.

Watauga boys 73, Avery 66
Watauga
Fancher 2 0-0 4, Watson 3 1-2 7, Greene 5 1-2 13, Moyer 2 4-6 9, Isaacs 3 0-0 6, Newell 8 4-8 20, Eppley 2 0-0 4, Dale 4 2-4 10, Koppenhaver 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 12-22 73.
Avery
Pittman 6 3-3 18, Childress 0 3-3 3, Phillips 3 0-0 7, Ward 1 2-2 4, Potter 0 0-0 0, Cable 6 2-2 14, Blackman 0 0-0 0, Clark 3 4-6 1’1, Jennings 2 1-2 5, Leeka 2 0-2 4. Totals 24 15-20 66.
Watauga 13 22 19 20 — 73
Avery 4 18 19 25 — 66
3-point baskets—Watauga 3 (Greene 2, Moyer), Avery 6 (Pittman 3, Phillips, Clark). Rebounds—Watauga 48 (Newell 14), Avery 29 (Clark 5). Turnovers—Watauga 18, Avery 15. Total fouls—Watauga 14, Avery 19. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.

Watauga boys 70, Wilkes Central 41
Wilkes Central (0-1)
Noyes 4 6-10 14, Newkirk 10 0-2 20, Abernathy 2 3-4 7, Bridges 0 0-3 0, Lakey 0 0-0 0, Tuttle 0 0-0 0, Freeman 0 0-0 0, Hague 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, Shumaker 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 9-16 41.
Watauga (2-1)
Fancher 4 0-0 10, Watson 4 0-1 8, Greene 2 2-2 8, Moyer 2 2-2 7, Isaacs 3 2-3 9, Newell 3 1-2 7, Eppley 4 0-4 8, Dale 6 1-4 13, Koppenhaver 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 8-18 70.
Wilkes Central 13 8 18 2 — 41
Watauga 20 18 20 12 — 70
3-point goals—Wilkes Central, none. Watauga 6 (Fancher 2, Greene 2, Moyer, Isaacs). Rebounds—Wilkes Central 23 (Newkirk 7), Watauga 34 (Dale, Newell 7) Turnovers—Wilkes Central 15, Watauga 21. Total fouls—Wilkes Central 14, Watauga 15. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls–None.