The message was pretty simple from Holy Cross coach Casey Sorrell to senior guard Jacob Meyer.
“Go win us the game,” Sorrell said with 16 seconds remaining in the timeout huddle and the game knotted at 72.
Meyer responded as he did all night, knifing through five Newport defenders, his layup in the closing seconds giving Holy Cross a 74-72 victory in the 9th Region All “A” Championship game.
It was the Indians biggest game of the season to date and Meyer put together one of his best performances of his storied high school career. The game-winning bucket was two of Meyer’s 40 points on the night, scoring at all three levels, pulling down nine rebounds, dishing out four assists and collecting three steals.
“I live for this stuff. I love the energy in games like these,” Meyer said. “I didn’t think I was going to get to the basket because all the guys were coming at me, but I got there.”
Playing games against the likes of Great Crossing, Covington Catholic, Lyon County and Conner in the season to date had the Indians prepared for this moment.
“You got to go and play the big games. You have to be battle tested to win championships and we’re definitely battle tested. Those games are great opportunities for us to learn about ourselves. Playing in those games teaches you a lot,” Sorrell said.
Meanwhile, outside of a game at Highlands last weekend, Newport hadn’t really seen an environment like this in the season to date. Not that the moment was too big for their team with high profile players littered all over the starting five still learning each other.
“I talked to our coaches about it, I thought it would catch our guys off guard with the atmosphere and being young and just not having this experience before,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “This was really our second game out of 18 games playing in an environment like this.”
A slow start eventually did the Wildcats in.
Holy Cross knew what they needed to do in order to repeat as region All “A” champs and head back to Eastern Kentucky University for the state tournament. Speed up the Wildcats, who came in allowing just 49.4 points a contest and seem comfortable winning games in the 50’s.
An early run and jump trapping defense helped do the trick, Holy Cross jumping out to a 17-3 lead less than five minutes into the game as Newport looked out of sorts with a couple of turnovers. The Indians led 24-9 after one, Meyer coming out like a man on a mission with 16 points.
“We wanted to make it our game. They played a very different style than us and we wanted them to play our game and we wanted to make it an up and down game and that’s kind of what happened,” Sorrell said. “Ball pressure. We felt like with the speed of our guards, we could speed them up, make them uncomfortable and force them to play our style of basketball.”
A Javier Ward 3-pointer opened the second quarter for the Indians biggest lead of the night at 27-9, Ward continuing to play the role of Robin to Meyer’s Batman. Ward came in scoring nearly 18 points per a game and did his part with 18 points. Ward fought through cramps in his legs in the second half, he and Matthew Dreas helping speed the Newport guards up early on.
“That was important because if they hold the ball it was going to be a close game. So our game plan was to pressure them up and not let Taylen (Kinney) or Jabari (Covington) get easy lanes or lobs to James (Turner). Pressuring up the ball and making them play fast and make them take shots they weren’t used to taking so we came out strong,” Ward said.
But Newport mounted one of their numerous runs in the game from there. A 10-0 run got them within eight after a James Turner dunk and Noah Silverton layup with 4:39 left in the half. Meyer then responded with six points, the last six of the half for the Indians to keep them ahead 37-30 at the break.
Tempers started to flare right as the halftime horn sounded, Taylen Kinney and Donovan Ambrocio whistled for technicals as a shoving match ensued for a loose ball rebound in the closing seconds.
For Kinney, that meant his third foul as he was saddled with foul trouble all game.
The Indians continued to have a somewhat comfortable advantage, Newport getting within six near the end of the third, but Holy Cross scoring the final four points of the frame to take a 57-47 lead into the fourth.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Robin (Ward) and then Batman (Meyer) seemed to have Newport buried, a 66-51 lead with 5:42 to play.
Kinney took over from that point. The freshman helped ignite a 19-4 run over the next four minutes, starting the run off with a jumper. After a Turner layup, Kinney scored seven straight, an alley-oop to Turner making it 68-64 with 3:14 to play.
“He just makes plays. He’s one of those special players that can make plays because his IQ is off the charts for a freshman and his vision is really good. He can get good angles,” Snapp said.
Kinney followed with a runner to make it a two-point game, but with four fouls, Meyer attacked the rim and Kinney committed his fifth foul on a Meyer bucket.
Wildcats senior Marquez Miller took notice, following with four straight points, the last two coming off his own missed free throw for a putback as Miller finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds.
Brand new ballgame at 70-70 with under a minute to play.
Meyer and Covington then traded layups, the Indians getting the ball back with 30 seconds remaining. With 16 seconds to go, Holy Cross called time.
“Coach told me to go get the ball, get to the rim and win the game for us,” Meyer said.
Mayer caught the ball in the backcourt, started picking up steam as he avoided a double team, split another double team and finished at the rim.
“He’s a winner. He he has the my ball, my game mentality,” Sorrell said.
Newport’s last ditch effort with five seconds remaining ended up with a missed 3-pointer that came up way short in the corner as time expired.
“Holy Cross did a really good job of speeding us up and I figured they were going to speed us up and I knew it was coming,” Snapp said. “We just have to learn to make good decisions, if your guy leaves, then you have to come to the ball and help and make a play. They took us out of that. But I like the way we responded, we had a three there to win it. If Kinney was in there we feel like he could have made something happen.”
Holy Cross now gets another chance to play at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond for an All “A” state title. While its a repeat run, it’s a first for starting seniors Jacob Smith and Dreas.
“Jacob Smith didn’t play basketball a year ago, Matt Dreas hasn’t played since his freshman year,” Sorrell said.
Smith finished with six points, Dreas with three points, four assists and two steals.
They open up with Danville on January 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Newport knows they missed an opportunity, but the game is a valuable learning experience for a team getting used to these moments. They’ll have plenty more ahead.
“This was good for us in the long run. Come district play and cross your fingers and hope we get to the region. This was great, we could have lost to St. Henry the other night,” Snapp said. “Some of these kids still don’t understand all of this. They just want to win.”
After Miller’s 28 and 13, Kinney followed with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds, Turner adding 12 points and seven rebounds and Covington adding 10 points and eight rebounds.