New Castle Report

Tonight in the opening round of the Blachawk Christmas Tournament the Hurricanes faced the four time defending Class A State Champion Kennedy Catholic Eagles. So far this season the Eagles only losses have come to George Junior and Farrell so the Canes expected a tough test.

New Castle who has played several lackluster games in a row opened the game with great intensity on both offense and defense. In the first 3:03 the Canes hit their first five shots, including two ‘threes’, and grabbed three steals to lead 12-5 and they never looked back, running away to a 70-52 victory.

Joe Carter opened the scoring for the Canes, then a quick steal of the inbounds led to a layup by Mark DeMonaco.

The Eagles got on the board at 7:04 but DeMonaco responded with a ‘three’ then after another steal, Dante Spino hit a ‘three’ and a ‘two’ and the Canes lead was12-2.

A Kennedy ‘three’ was answered by another ‘three’ by DeMonaco. Kennedy scored again at 3:36 but DeMonaco again hit a ‘three’ and this time he was fouled while shooting and went to the line and completed a four point play giving the New Castle a 19-7 lead with 1:49 left in the first period.

After an Eagle turnover Chris Cain nailed the Hurricanes fifth ‘three’ of the period to make the lead 15.

Kennedy hit a ‘two’ and a ‘three’ as the quarter closed to get back within 10, 22-12.

The second period was highlighted by the Canes poor shooting from the field and the Eagles shooting from the foul line. New Castle made only four of 13 shots from the field during the period while Kennedy made only one shot from the field but made eight of nine from the free throw line.

New Castle scored only 10 points in the quarter but with Kennedy scoring only 11 the Canes lead at the half was 32-23.

Carter opened the scoring in the third by hitting a ‘three’ at 7:20.

The Eagles hit a bucket at 7:03 and a free throw a minute later to get to within nine 35-26.

A basket by Spino and a free throw by Hoover Gibson got the lead back to 12 but two quick baskets by Kennedy made the score 38-30 at the 4:52 mark.

Spino made his fourth ‘three’ to start a 15-2 run by the Canes over next three minutes. The Hurricanes’ defense forced four turnovers and blocked a shot during the run.

The Eagles finally scored again at 1:14 but at the end of three periods New Castle led 55-34.

The Hurricanes extended their lead to as much as 23 during the fourth quarter and settled for an 18 point victory, 70-52.

Dante Spino led the Hurricanes in scoring with 16 points. Mark DeMonaco and Joe Carter each added 13 points while Leon Ward was also in double figures with 11.

Name	FG	FTA	FTM	3's	TP
Joseph	4	0	0	1	9
DeMonaco	5	2	1	2	13
Spino	6	2	0	4	16
Gibson	2	2	1	0	4
Carter	6	0	0	1	13
Cain	1	0	0	1	3
Currie	0	0	0	0	0
Ward	4	2	1	2	13
Hybler	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	28	8	3	11	70

score @ quarters	1	2	3	4
Kennedy Catholic	12	23	34	52
New Castle	22	32	55	70

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