New London wins SEISC title

NEW LONDON — The Southeast Iowa Super Conference’s championship race came down to a Henry County showdown between New London and Winfield-Mount Union on Saturday night, and it was the battle-tested Tigers who had the upper hand.

New London, the more experienced of the two one-loss squads heading into the game, jumped on the Wolves early and led from start to finish, winning 54-40.

“Generally when we have these type of games, it's going to be a battle,” said New London head coach Bryant Porter. “It was a good game. The referees let it go. It was fun.”

New London jumped out to a 20-6 advantage after one quarter. Blaise Porter and Devin Swanson put up seven points each in the opening period to lead the way.

The Wolves, however, wouldn’t go quietly into the night. WMU battled back in the second period, cutting the lead all the way back to two possessions. Cam Buffington had 12 points at the break and New London’s lead was down to 28-22.

“I think we just slowed down a little bit offensively,” said WMU head coach Klay Edwards. “We weren't rushing to get 3-point shots up every time.”

When the two teams came out of the locker rooms, New London started to pack it in even more on defense, leaving the outside open to try and slow down Buffington and Abram Edwards, who had almost all of the Wolves’ first-half points.

New London gave up just four points in the third quarter and went up 41-26 at the end of the period, a lead that would never get back to single digits.

“We had a lot of wide-open threes, and we shot 1-for-15, and then we only went to the foul line twice,” said Edwards. “It's tough to beat good teams if that's the case.”

New London was paced by Devin Swanson, who poured in 18 points to lead his team to victory. After the game, Swanson gave credit to the team’s balanced scoring attack.

“Everyone is scoring, distributing the ball evenly, and it feels amazing just getting a team win,” Swanson said. “Teams can stop three people, but they can't stop five.”

Kade Benjamin scored 13 points for the Tigers. Kooper Schulte had 12. Porter finished with nine, and Torren Riley had two.

Buffington finished with 19 points to lead the Wolves. Edwards had 11 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Konner Wade finished with 19 points, and Carter Loyd scored two.

New London moved to 17-1 overall with the win. WMU dropped to 15-0. The two teams might still meet in the postseason, but for now, it’s the Tigers who hold bragging rights over the entire SEISC.

“We like to battle for supremacy,” Coach Porter said. “We got it tonight.”