When playing or watching Newport, a highlight-reel play above the rim is capable of happening at any given moment.
The Wildcats used three dunks in a third quarter flurry to help carry them to a 54-44 victory over Ryle Saturday afternoon on Hall of Fame Day at the Newport gym.
First it was a DeShawn Anderson flush in transition, then it was Tay Kinney finding James Turner on a lob, the last a Jabari Covington lob to Turner to cap a 11-0 Newport run and a 41-32 advantage near the end of the third quarter.
“We do a lot of drills where they’re getting out in transition and we do a couple of drills where they’re throwing lobs off the backboard or transition stuff. Just things we work on so that kind of stuff is expected,” Wildcats coach Rodney Snapp said. ” Dunks in transition can come at any given time, but we also want to make some good decisions when doing so.”
The Raiders regrouped, getting within three on Evan Smith’s triple with three minutes remaining to make it 47-44, but Newport put the clamps on from there, Anderson and Covington making them pay with layups off turnovers and the Wildcats escaped with a hard fought battle, Snapp defeating his former assistant in their first ever matchup.
Newport (6-2) won their fourth straight in doing so, continuing to show bright flashes for a young team with just one senior on the roster.
“Four in a row, but a long way to go. It’s fun, we’re going into games expecting to win, but if we’re going to get beat we want it to be a dogfight no matter who we are playing,” Snapp said.
Early on, Ryle was methodical, limited transition points and were able to control the boards.
The Raiders (2-4) were controlling tempo in the first half in building a 12-8 lead after the first. Case in point, their opening possession was 78 seconds.
They continued to play at their pace in the second, a 9-0 run capped by a Logan Verax triple giving them a 21-14 edge more than halfway through the frame, eventually taking a 25-21 lead into the break.
“That was kind of the plan. We knew that they wanted to get out and run. So the game plan was to just make sure that we get back and and stay in front and switch it up a little bit. I thought my guys did a really good job of doing that,” Raiders coach Nick Dorning said.
But a Covington steal and layup followed by Anderson’s dunk in transition to start the second half got Newport going, outscoring the Raiders 20-9 in the pivotal third.
Kinney, who finished with 15 points, seven assists, four rebounds, two steals and no turnovers in playing all 32 minutes mixed in a couple 3-pointers. Marquez Miller got Newport going early with nine of their first 14 points in taking a 14-12 lead. Miller would finish with 11 points.
Turner and Covington finished with nine points apiece. Newport’s next contest will be in the Swauger Holiday Classic at Bellevue, opening up with Holmes on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Ryle responded nicely after a 74-50 defeat to Boone County Friday night. Verax led the Raiders with 14 points, Landon Lorms adding nine, three others with five as they were unable to overcome 15 turnovers and hit just 1-of-10 attempts from three in the second half.
“We just talked to them about character and bouncing back. Sometimes things aren’t gonna go your way in life. So we challenged them a little bit and I felt like they stepped up and met the challenge and they were ready to go today,” Dorning said.
The Raiders also play at the Swauger, opening up with Beechwood on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
