Amedu, Evans too much for Bartlett as Neuqua moves to 18-1

Neuqua Valley center Kareem Amedu felt his squad needed a little extra spark after trailing Bartlett 28-27 at the half Thursday night.

He also felt the Wildcats needed a boost in their intensity after entering the Upstate Eight Conference contest following a strong showing at the Rockton Hononegah King Classic.

The 6-foot-5 senior - along with plenty of help from classmate Dwayne Evans - helped deliver both as the Wildcats survived a strong push from the Hawks to win 67-56 and stay perfect at 4-0 in the UEC, 18-1 overall.

Amedu scored 13 third-quarter points on his way to a 24-point, 8-rebound night, and Evans finished with 25 points and 21 rebounds. The two huge efforts were needed as Luke Labedzki and Frankie Cleope came up big for Bartlett, especially in the back-and-forth third quarter.

"Our intensity was low so I wanted to bring it up," said Amedu, who had three slam dunks in the game. "I was feeling pretty good out there."

With Labedzki and Cleope combining for 14 points in the quarter, the Hawks (10-6, 4-2) trailed just 49-46 after three quarters. But in the end the Wildcats' big men came up just too big, hurting the visitors with a number of second-chance baskets.

"It was incredible, the putbacks and the board work at the end of the game," said Neuqua coach Todd Sutton, whose team now boasts a 49-3 record over the last two seasons despite playing just 10 home games. "But we needed every one of them in the third quarter. We matched them basket for basket, but I wish we could have had a couple stops."

Cleope, who had a key 3-pointer early in the third quarter, sank a midrange jumper to close the gap to 57-52 with 3:45 left to play. But on the Wildcats' next trip down the floor, Evans grabbed a missed shot and put it back up and in.

"I just tried to bring the intensity up and I think rebounds will spark us and get us second shots and it did," Evans said.

Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith had no problem whatsoever with his team's effort. Despite giving up plenty of size to the likes of Evans and Amedu, the Hawks battled and kept the game tight until the final quarter when Evans took control for the hosts with 10 points and 6 boards.

"This was a great opportunity," Wolfsmith said. "They will probably be dancing downstate and we played them toe-to-toe for 32 minutes. We didn't take advantage of the fact that we had them in the bonus all of the fourth quarter, but we'll learn from this."

When asked about Neuqua's pair of 6-foot-5 threats, Wolfsmith replied: "I'd take either one of them, thank you very much. They're tremendous athletes with size we just don't have."

Labedzki finished with 20 points for Bartlett, while Cleope and Larry Whitaker also scored in double figures.