Newcastle races past Elgin Owls, 69-36

NEWCASTLE — The Newcastle Racers went full speed against Elgin while easily defeating the Owls 69-36 in a Western Conference matchup last week.

Newcastle, ranked No. 6 in Class 4A, had little trouble with the Owls who were missing post player Christian Reed.

“That hurt us. It definitely would have helped if he was there,” Elgin head coach Ryan Green said. “We struggled to rebound and protect the rim.“

Sophomore Tres Lorah was Elgin’s leading scorer with seven points. No other Owl player scored more than five points.

Newcastle jumped out to a 20-7 first quarter lead and never looked back as the Racers led 38-16 at intermission. The Racers continued to apply the pressure in the third quarter as they increased the lead to 57-25 heading into the final eight minutes.

“We didn’t play well,” Green said. “We came out flat and they were up by 21 in the first half. We struggled to make shots and they scored a lot of points in the paint.”

Green anticipates Elgin will rebound from the 33-point loss as the Owls head into the 2023 part of the season.

“We need to recoup and hopefully get better and be ready for Cache,” he said.

Elgin, now 3-3, will head to Cache Jan. 3 for another Western Conference encounter followed by the Weatherford Tournament Jan. 5-7. Elgin will start tourney play 11:30 a.m. Jan. 5 against Guthrie.