SECTION 4 BOYS' BASKETBALL: SCHWEIZER'S LATE FREE THROWS HELP LEAD ND PAST NEWFIELD IN CLASS C QUARTERS (24 PHOTOS) (2025-02-28)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
NEWFIELD — Facing a loud, playoff atmosphere on the road, Notre Dame’s Finn Schweizer stepped to the line with a chance to seal Friday’s win over Newfield in the Section IV, Class C quarterfinals.

Up by three, the Crusaders knew one free throw would all but wrap up the win and Schweizer calmly hit both to help seal a 62-56 victory.

“They (the nerves) were going, I just tried to mute the crowd as much as possible,” Schweizer said. “That has to be the biggest moment of my career and I was just happy to knock them down.”

Notre Dame coach Nick Weirmiller knew that in that moment at least one free throw was crucial.

“When he was shooting them I told him you have two of them, at least make one of them,” Weirmiller said. “And, he came through and made both. Really proud of him.”

Notre Dame got off to a strong start, leading 15-8 after one quarter and going up by 12 in the second quarter, but all through the game Newfield made runs to prevent the Crusaders from pulling away.

The key for the Crusaders was that every time the Trojans made a run the Crusaders answered, never trailing in the second half.

“They all knew this was going to be a tough game, tough environment to play in,” Weirmiller said. “They ere fired up for it and I’m just really proud of the effort they had for four quarters.

“We talked a lot about that the past couple days in practice. We knew Newfield was going to have their runs, this was their home court. And just stop that and answer that and weather the storm and I thought our kids did a great job of that.”

The two big free throws came on a night when Notre Dame made just 50% from the free throw line.

However, with the game on the line Notre Dame made the shots on Friday, going 8-for-13 in the final quarter.

“It’s really tough in this type of environment to get a win, but we got it done,” Gabe Patterson said.

Right from the start the Newfield crowd was into the game, being loud and vocal.

“That one was huge,” Schweizer said of the win. Especially in front of a whole town like that pretty much.”

Notre Dame led by one with the ball with just over a minute left, and they ran clock and got the ball to Schweizer for a basket in the paint to make it a three-point game with 45 ticks left on the clock.

Newfield had a shot to try and tie things, but after missing the Crusaders grabbed the rebound, leading to Schweitzer’s two free throws. Throughout the final minutes of the game the Crusaders were strong on the boards.

“The rebounding was huge,” Weirmiller said. “They did a really good job the last minute and a half of the game making sure they secured rebounds and then getting the ball up the court and getting good shots up.”

The players knew they had to be big on the boards if they wanted to win.

“Rebounds win games,” Schweizer said.

After leading 15-8 after one, Newfield had the game tied in the final minutes of the half, but Notre Dame finished on a 6-0 run to lead 33-27 at the break.

Getting off to that fast start was big for the Crusaders.

“It’s crucial because this game is a game of runs so to get the first big, major run sets the tone,” Patterson said. “If the team you are playing gets a little momentum it can be really hard to come back.”

And, the early lead had the Crusaders feeling good.

“It’s huge, it gave us all the confidence in the world to go out and win the game,” Schweizer said.

The opening two minutes of the game was tough for either team to make shots, as the Crowd was going crazy on every shot.

“I just try and just mute it (the crowd) out from the start so it doesn’t affect me that much,” Patterson said.

“I try and settle into our plays and slow down,” Schweizer added.

For Notre Dame whenever Newfield did make some shots, the defense came up stopping them from going on a big run.

“It’s basically what we needed to do to get the win,” Schweizer said. “We had to put our defensive guys in to get stops and they came through.”

For Patterson the loud crowd just made the game that much more exciting.

“It’s awesome, it really adds to it (the atmosphere),” Patterson said. “It gets me more excited when I make a basket.”

Both teams scored 15 in the third and 14 in the fourth quarters.

Schweizer had 16 points, with a three. He had eight points in the first half and six in the fourth quarter.

Landon English had 11 points for Notre Dame, seven in the second quarter, with a three.

Rocco Sayers had nine points, five in the fourth and Patterson had eight points, with a pair of three.s

Pat McCarthy and Luke Richards each had seven points and Menelik Jenkins and Max O’Connor finished with two points each in the game.

LeMari Spears had 22 points for Newfield, all of them in the final three quarters. He had eight points each in the third and fourth quarters.

Zakieus Vaughn had 12 points, eight in the first quarter. However, the Crusaders held him scoreless in the second half.

Malcolm Jenkins had eight points for Newfield, seven in the second half.
PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES



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