It may have not been the most exciting way to do it, but Newport’s boys basketball team followed the gameplan and took down All “A” Classic tournament favorite Lyon County on Saturday at Corbin Arena.
The Wildcats grinded out possessions and presented all kinds of problems on the defensive end as they took down the No. 2 state-ranked Lyons, 50-48.
Deshaun Jackson’s floater with 2.6 seconds to play was the game-winner.
“Our coaches had trust in me. Knew we needed this bucket, so I had to get it and the rest just happened,” Jackson said.
Despite all the firepower both teams possessed, this one was a grinder all the way through. The Lyons have the all-time leading scorer in KHSAA history in Travis Perry, who happened to break the record against Newport in last season’s meeting of the first round of the KHSAA Sweet 16 state tournament.
Perry hit another milestone on Saturday, his left-handed bank shot to tie the game at 48 with under a minute left his 5,000th career point.
“He’s pretty upset right now. Those two free throws he missed in the fourth quarter would have made the game a whole lot different and I know he’s stewing about that,” Lyons coach Ryan Perry said. “Five-thousand is awesome and that’s good, but he wanted this state championship pretty bad. He’s pretty upset about it.”
After Perry’s miracle shot to tie it, Newport did what they had done for the majority of the game, be patient, run some time and find the shot. They ran 44 seconds off the clock before calling timeout.
“There was no other option. Deshaun was either gonna get fouled or get a shot off,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “That’s just what we were doing, I wasn’t budging.”
Jackson, a transfer from Taft (Ohio) over the summer, took the pass, dribbled into the lane and hit the floater.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’ve been to state (in Ohio) as a freshman, but I’m actually playing now. It’s hard to explain it,” Jackson said.
A timeout was granted to the Lyons with 1.2 seconds left, officials got together and put 2.6 on there. Everyone in Corbin Arena knew who was taking the final shot, Perry’s three quarter court shot coming up short, sending Newport to their first All “A” state championship game in program history.
“They had a really good gameplan. They played really, really well. They’re banged up just like we are and managed to get through it a little bit better than we did,” Lyons coach Ryan Perry said. “That’s a good team right there, a roster full of D1 guys and well coached. They wanted it a little bit more than we did tonight.”
Newport got to that point thanks to their rebounding prowess. They won the rebounding battle 32-16, including grabbing 14 offensive rebounds, James Turner the biggest beneficiary with eight of them, most of them coming in the second half.
“We talked to James at halftime, can’t really put what was said in the paper, but he was a beast in the second half, vicious,” Snapp said. “He was a monster, man.”
Lyon County came out hot, hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter and jumping out to an 18-10 end of first quarter lead, the largest lead of the day for both teams. Newport responded with a 11-2 run in the second quarter before the Lyons took a 29-28 lead into halftime.
Jackson, who was in question to even play on Saturday due to rolling his ankle against Danville Christian in the semifinals, gave it a go and was active early with 10 points in the first half, six of them coming during the Wildcats second quarter run. Taylen Kinney matched Jackson with a game-high 14 points, another Wildcat with injury questions entering the tournament.
“It was really swollen, we did a lot of icing and Patrick our trainer did a lot of work on it and made sure I got right,” Jackson said.
“We didn’t know if he was going to play today when we woke up today. Honestly didn’t think he’d play,” Snapp said of Jackson.
Four lead changes took place in the third, the Lyons taking a 36-35 lead into the fourth.
Newport got its largest lead of the night on an Amontae Lowe three-point play followed by two Jabari Covington free throws to make it 45-39 with under four minutes to play.
The Wildcats had been in this position before this season, letting late leads slip away against Great Crossing and Trinity.
“We talked about that,” Snapp said. “Can you finish a game? Can you handle situations? Can you get the ball to the middle of the floor? Can you make free throws? Can you make good decisions? Can you have confidence? Brought that up during the game. Honestly think Amontae Lowe has helped with that.”
A Turner layup followed by a Brady Shoulders layup made it 48-46 Wildcats with less than two minutes to play. Perry scored all but six of the Lyon County points in the second half, needing at least two more to extend the game.
The win for Newport sets them up for a championship matchup with Evangel Christian, winners over Murray in the other semifinal. Evangel won the All “A” last season in an epic contest with Holy Cross. Now they’ll look to take down another 9th Region contender.
Sunday’s tip is scheduled for 2 p.m.
WILDCATS 50, LYONS 48
LYON COUNTY — 18-11-7-12 — 48
NEWPORT — 10-18-7-15 — 50
Scoring
Lyon Co. (48) — Perry 22, Shoulders 12, Kirk 8, Breedlove 4, Collins 2
Newport (50) — Jackson 14, Kinney 14, Starks 8, Covington 5, Lowe 5, Turner 4
Game Stats
Field Goals: Lyon Co. 18/39, Newport 19/42
3-Pointers: Lyon Co. 8/16, Newport 2/7
Free Throws: Lyon Co. 4/7, Newport 10/15
Rebounds: Lyon Co. 16, Newport 32
Assists: Lyon Co. 12, Newport 12
Steals: Lyon Co. 5, Newport 4
Turnovers: Lyon Co. 7, Newport 10
Fouls: Lyon Co. 13, Newport 5
Records: Lyon County 20-2, Newport 20-3