FORRESTON The Newman Comets fended off a fierce Wildcat attack Tuesday to secure a 66-57 Forreston tournament quarterfinal victory.

River Ridge (4-5, 1-0 NUIC West) shot the ball well in the first half, thanks in part to a 50-percent effort from behind the arc. This strong showing was led by junior Brenden Dauphin, who hit a pair of 3s in the second quarter. He scored eight of his 12-points in the second quarter.

Dauphin's free throws with 2:35 remaining in the first half gave his Wildcats a 26-25 lead.

This stunned the Comets (7-0, 1-0 Three Rivers North), as the No. 10 seed was threatening to knock out a second seeded Newman team.

"It wasn't a good feeling," sophomore Noah McCarty said. "We should have been leading from the beginning. We didn't come out and play very well as a team, and it seemed like an individual effort up until then. Coach Sharp got us all together and started talking to us about how we needed to play team defense to put us back in front."

McCarty responded, as he made a pair of baskets to restore the Comet lead at 29-26 with 43.9 seconds left. He finished a rebound short of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The lead was short, as Dauphin answered with his second 3 of the half to tie things at 29-29 with 25 seconds left.

"I thought offensively they executed a lot better than what we did in the first half," Newman coach Ray Sharp said. "We rushed our shots, where as they were a lot more patient and worked hard to get a good shot. That was the difference in the first half. They were 4 of 8 from 3 while we were 0 of 8 from 3, and that's a big difference. Probably the biggest one in the first half."

A pair of baskets was exchanged by each team before halftime, as junior Nolan McGinn completed a strong putback with under 10 seconds left. The Wildcats then inbounded and dribbled coast-to-coast in enough time to knock down a buzzer-beater layup to tie the score at 31-31.

Halftime adjustments were made for the Comets.

Read more:

Comets fend off Wildcat attack