Headed into overtime, Newport’s boys basketball team had to be thinking, ‘here we go again.’
With a nine-point fourth quarter lead that slipped away and two missed free throws to win the game with two seconds remaining, the Wildcats found themselves tied with Evangel Christian as the final horn sounded in regulation.
But earlier games this season and even throughout the tournament had them prepped for when adversity hits, pulling through in overtime for a 69-62 victory over the Eagles for the program’s first All “A” Classic state championship in program history.
“I feel like our schedule helped us,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “Making good decisions and keeping the ball in the middle of the floor. We knew what we had to do to win the game. These kids don’t play for themselves, they play for each other and the community of Newport. They want to win, these kids are winners.”
Newport’s Deshaun Jackson was named tournament MVP, the Saturday hero with his game-winning shot against Lyon County.
“We definitely know that we can compete with anybody,” Jackson said. “We had a couple of losses that we shouldn’t have had and now we just hope we can make a big run for the bigger tournament.”
Taylen Kinney, James Turner and Jabari Covington were named to the All-Tournament team. Kinney took over in overtime, scoring nine of his 18 points in the extra period. He got the Wildcats started in the extra frame with a 3-pointer and then followed with a three-point play to give them a 60-58 lead.
“Those were really big possessions,” Kinney said. “Feel like we needed that, we were a little tired, shots weren’t going in, we were up five and shots weren’t falling for us. That was big.”
Covington led the Wildcats with 22 points on Sunday, finishing through contact and converting on three 3-point plays. He and Kinney did all the scoring for Newport in the overtime, his layup followed by two free throws giving them a 64-58 lead with 1:37 left.
But James Turner is the one to point to as the difference maker. His rebounding kept possessions alive, much like in the second half against Lyon County on Saturday when he grabbed seven offensive rebounds.
“My motor just kicked in. I wasn’t really finishing around the rim so I just decided to crash the boards as hard as I can,” Turner said. “Just trying to help my team that way.”
Turner finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday, his lone glitch was the two missed free throws with two seconds left in regulation for a chance to win it.
Newport won four games in Corbin and they all came with a degree of difficulty. First up was an 8:30 a.m. game with Sayre in which they found themselves down by three early in the fourth quarter before eventually pulling away. Then a matchup with Danville Christian followed in the quarterfinals, trailing at halftime and without Jackson for the second half before playing stifling defense in the second half to get to Saturday’s semifinal showdown with Lyon County.
Against the Lyons, the Wildcats defended and executed their gameplan to perfection, slowing down a Lyon County team that came in averaging nearly 90 points per game on the season and holding them to 48. Jackson, who they weren’t sure was going to play the morning of Saturday’s game, hit the game-winner with two seconds to play to get Newport into Sunday’s championship.
The Wildcats knew they had a challenge ahead of them in the title tilt, Evangel coming in ranked as a top 10 team in the state and the defending champion at the All “A”. The Eagles had dynamic guards in Christian Doerr and Kyran Tilley, the two combining to score 42 points on Sunday. Tilley’s 3-pointer tied the game with less than a minute to play, the Eagles rallying from the nine-point deficit in the fourth and down five with 1:24 to play.
“The 8:30 game was a grind. If you win at 8:30, things get a little easier, get to rest, get prepared. Happy to get through that,” Snapp said. “Our path was pretty challenging. All the teams we played were all really good in different ways and we had to make adjustments. The kids, they executed, they did a heck of a job.”
But Newport’s poise is continuing to blossom, even as the defending 9th Region champions from a season ago. The schedule they’ve played this year leading up to this point had them prepared for moments like these and being able to handle whatever situation was thrown at them.
Now they get to take a big trophy home and rest their wounds with four weeks left in the regular season before the postseason begins and a chance to defend their region title.
WILDCATS 69, EAGLES 62 (OT)
EVANGEL CHRISTIAN — 9-17-7-21-8 — 62
NEWPORT — 14-13-11-16-15 — 69
Scoring
Evangel (62) — Tilley 28, Doerr 14, White 9, Mukadi 4, Chitapa 4, Trice 2, Djema 1
Newport (69) — Covington 22, Kinney 18, Turner 16, Jackson 9, Starks 4
Game Stats
Field Goals: Evangel 26/56, Newport 20/46
3-Pointers: Evangel 7/21, Newport 2/9
Free Throws: Evangel 3/11, Newport 27/37
Rebounds: Evangel 26, Newport 38
Assists: Evangel 12, Newport 10
Steals: Evangel 4, Newport 3
Turnovers: Evangel 8, Newport 9
Records: Evangel Christian 17-5, Newport 21-3
