BYRON – The way the Newman Comets came storming out the gate Wednesday night, it would have been hard for anyone to slow them down. The Seneca Fighting Irish found that out firsthand.

Newman hit 10 of its first 15 shots of the game and blitzed the Irish in the first 10 minutes en route to a 46-27 victory in a Class 2A Byron Sectional semifinal.

"At first, I think we were all surprised with how quickly we got the big lead," freshman Noah McCarty said. "We expected them to come out and play a lot like us. But we started clicking right away on both ends of the court, and it felt good to build the lead and play from ahead the whole way."