Nothing easy.
That’s what the pre-game warmup T-shirts said for Newport. And boy that was certainly the case.
Yamil Rondon’s 3-pointer at the buzzer kept Newport’s 3-peat hopes alive with a 50-47 victory over Holy Cross in Saturday’s St. Elizabeth Healthcare 9th Region tournament quarterfinals.
Tied at 47, Newport called timeout with 12 seconds left, getting the ball into Rondon’s hands and letting him create. After a couple of moves near the top of the key, Rondon pulled up from three, draining the shot as the horn sounded.
“I was supposed to go downhill, but I see the clock with five seconds left on it and was like, ‘No, I can’t shoot this right now,'” Rondon said. “So tween, in and out, cross up, fake, jump shot. Just one of those feelings man.”
It surely didn’t come easy. From the early part of the second quarter to three minutes left in the game, Holy Cross held the lead. They executed their gameplan as they escaped Newport’s pressure often, worked possessions and shot 50% from the floor with just nine turnovers while staying even in the rebounding battle.
The Indians led by as much as seven and took a 41-35 lead on Brady Gabbard’s dunk in the opening moments of the fourth.
“Across the board I thought we were well prepared,” Indians coach Ricardo Johnson said. “From top to bottom, transition, offensively, defensively, we were prepared for battle. It came down to the last 15 seconds of the game and an All-Conference guy made a play. Hats off to him. At the end of the day, a player made a play.”
The two-time defending 9th Region champs locked in from there. They went on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes, taking their first lead at 43-41 with 4:33 to play on an Amontae Lowe layup.
They remained in a deadlock, William McElheney tying the contest up with 1:27 to play on a layup in the paint to make it 47-all.
After a Holy Cross timeout, the Wildcats decided to sit on the possession, using 1:15 off the clock before calling time.
“We wanted to get the last shot,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “We wanted to get down to 15 seconds and burn a timeout. The coaches were all on the same page and we wanted to run UC curl. I told Yamil he is going to either get a good look and one of the bigs is going to slip or you’re going to get fouled. They ran it perfect, ran it to a T.”
Rondon, who missed the first half of the season with a shoulder injury, has been ramping up his shots in practice and on Saturday it showed as he hit all four of his 3-point attempts for a game-high 20 points.
“I feel like I’m finally back to 100%,” Rondon said. “Just been rehabbing my shoulder and getting a ton of shots up on the gun before school. Take a couple hundred shots before school. My shot feels a lot better.”
The win gets Newport into Tuesday’s semifinals against Lloyd Memorial, a team they’ve defeated in the semifinals the prior two seasons. The Juggernauts defeated the Wildcats in the regular season, 59-52 back on Dec. 22 in the King of the Bluegrass Tournament in Louisville. Rondon was still out with his injury at that time. Tuesday’s tip is set for 8 p.m.
Griffin Starks added eight points with five rebounds for Newport, Amontae Lowe with seven and James Turner with six points and six rebounds while battling through an illness.
Holy Cross was paced by Nate Rominger’s 14 points, Brady Gabbard with 13 and Luke Arlinghaus 11. While Saturday’s loss will sting, the future is bright for the Indians with just three seniors on the roster that includes McElheney, Jonah Crail and Gavin Goetz.
“With the guys coming back, you can kind of use this experience losing on a buzzer-beater for fuel for next year,” Johnson said. “With most of my guys returning back, at least three starters, they’re going to put pressure on everyone else in the locker room to raise the standard and get back to where we want to be.”
They close their season with a 17-12 record.
PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Newport-Holy Cross 9th Region tournament quarterfinals (provided by Charles Bolton)
WILDCATS 50, INDIANS 47
HOLY CROSS — 10-18-11-8 — 47
NEWPORT — 13-8-14-15 — 50
Scoring
Holy Cross (47) — Rominger 14, Gabbard 13, Arlinghaus 11, McElheney 5, Urlage 3, Hunt 1
Newport (50) — Rondon 20, Starks 8, Amontae Lowe 7, AJ Lowe 6, Turner 5, Anderson 4
Game Stats
Field Goals: Holy Cross 17/34, Newport 17/40
3-Pointers: Holy Cross 5/17, Newport 6/16
Free Throws: Holy Cross 8/11, Newport 10/13
Rebounds: Holy Cross 22, Newport 22
Assists: Holy Cross 10, Newport 10
Steals: Holy Cross 3, Newport 6
Blocked Shots: Holy Cross 3, Newport 4
Turnovers: Holy Cross 9, Newport 7
Fouls: Holy Cross 17, Newport 16
Records: Holy Cross 17-12, Newport 19-10