By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Newman Coach Michael Milling had a two-fold plan for his team to erase a four-point halftime deficit against Riverside on Friday night.

The first step was to get the ball inside to forward Havens Cary. The second was to do a better job halting Riverside’s penetration into the lane.

The Greenies accomplished both and added a third — ridiculously hot third quarter shooting. It added up to a 51-40 win in a District 10-2A game in New Orleans.

Newman (11-14, 6-1) outscored Riverside (6-21, 3-4) 23-6 in the third quarter, highlighting the performance with a 19-2 run that included the Greenies scoring on seven straight trips down the floor.

“They just started making shots that they missed in the first half,” said Riverside coach Ben Wilson. “They got their big guy (Cary) involved, and that forced us to cave in on him a little bit. When we did that, he always seemed to find the open man on the wing.”

With the Newman can still control its own destiny within district play — it trails district leader John Curtis by a game, and the two teams will play again this month.

After Josh Tassin hit a jumper to extend Riverside’s halftime lead to 28-22, Newman hit two three-pointers to start the quarter.

Cary took over from there, scoring via an array of post moves, off of steals, and getting to the foul line. He scored eight of Newman’s next 11 points, leaving the Greenies with a 41-30 lead. He led all scorers with 23 points.

“We felt like he’d be the dominant man inside,” said Milling.

He was that, and his play seemingly left the Rebels flustered, without an answer.

“What disappointed me was that some of our guys started to hang their heads when things began to shift their way,” said Wilson. “They got the momentum in their gym, with their crowd going, and we did not handle the adversity very well.”

Newman was able to slow the game’s pace to a crawl in the fourth quarter, and it kept Riverside out of rhythm, holding the Rebels to eight fourth quarter points.

“Our starters played a lot of minutes. We tried to pick up the tempo and force the issue,” said Wilson. “But we just had tired legs.”

Smith led Riverside with 14 points. Tassin finished with eight.

Dylan Brown scored 10 for Newman.