Racer boys end hoops season at 16-13

    The Newcastle boys’ basketball team ended the 2018-19 season with an 88-69 loss to Tulsa’s Daniel Webster High School last Friday evening in the Class 4A Area 2 tournament at Midwest City.
    The Racers ended the season with a sparkling 16-13 record. In the three seasons prior to this one, Newcastle won a total of 17 games (6-19 in 2017-18, 7-17 in 2016-17, and 4-22 in 2015-16). This year left first-year Newcastle head coach Jessie Brown with good memories.
    “I’m pleased with the boys and their effort,” Brown said. “They strive to get better. I think we just ran out of gas at the end. We had some hard-fought games at the end of the year. We were playing back-to-back and it was tough. Our goal was to make it to state and I thought that was a realistic goal. We were excited to be in the position we were in.”
    Newcastle beat Class 4A No. 13 Tuttle, 62-53, last Thursday in area tournament action. The Tigers had beaten the Racers twice this year – 61-54 at Tuttle and 66-50 at Newcastle. But, the third game belonged to Newcastle.
    “Tuttle is a very good team and that was a great win,” Brown said. “We didn’t play well the first two times we played them. But, we had already played them twice and knew what they could do. The boys were amped up going into last Friday’s game. (Daniel Webster) was just better than us on that night.
    “We played hard and had the right game plan and everything. It was a good game but it was tough to end the season like that. I’m just so proud of these guys. My first year was a blessing being with them. We struggled with injuries but our guys persevered.”
    According to Brown, this season was a total team effort.
    “We had many guys who led the way - Kalub Hunt, Andrew Shumard, Cooper Baldwin, and a bunch of others. It’s hard to pick one player who led the way. It was a true team effort. That’s all I can say and I’m proud and appreciative of every one of our players.”