Thursday night was just another indication of how competitive the Ninth Region tournament is going to be.
Two hopefuls to be there, Newport and Cooper met in Newport and it came down to the wire, similar to many of the games with Ninth Region contenders this season.
The Wildcats ended up making one more play, DaShawn Anderson’s game-winning layup with 18 seconds left giving Newport a 44-42 victory.
A good ole’ rock fight of a contest.
“Overall defensively, thought we did a great job. Had a couple communication breakdowns, but it’s something we work on everyday in practice and we’ll continue to do so,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said.
It was only fitting a defensive play is what ended it too, as Taylen Kinney’s blocked shot on Andy Johnson close to the buzzer sealed the deal for the Wildcats.
But back to Anderson. Often the fifth option on a talented starting five, it was a 3-pointer in the third quarter when the Wildcats were reeling when they needed that play most.
“Wide open shot, I wasn’t going to pass it up. We’ve got five scorers on the court at all times. When the others have the ball, someone is going to be open,” Anderson said.
Trailing 28-23, Anderson’s triple ignited a 9-0 Newport run and they never gave the lead up from there. Early on in the season, that shot wouldn’t have been a thought, but as Anderson has been trying to find a rhythm, the light bulb has clicked as of late.
“That was huge. Early in the year he was efficient, his percentages were great. It was just a confidence thing, he’s playing better lately. He’s hitting the boards more than he has and is more locked in,” Snapp said. “Anything we get from Anderson is a bonus.”
It took Cooper a while to settle into this one. After Yamil Rondon’s 3-pointer to open up the scoring in the contest, the Jaguars were held without a point the rest of the quarter, trailing 10-3 after the opening eight minutes.
Austin Alexander got the Jaguars going in the second, scoring six points off the bench to get them within 14-9.
“That’s the great thing about this group is that different nights like some nights Tanner Murphy comes in for us and does a great job. Tonight it was Austin and Isaac (Brown) and they’re kids that are just waiting, and they’re ready and they’re hungry,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said.
Newport built the biggest lead of the night at 17-9 after a Marquez Miller free throw, eventually taking a 19-14 lead into the break. Newport’s defense held Cooper to 6-of-22 shooting in the first half and forced six turnovers.
“Newport’s good. They’re really good. I thought the first quarter we were a little shell shocked, got in foul trouble. Then I was kind of happy Snapp held it and turned it into a halfcourt game and kind of slowed it down. It was 19-14 at half and gave us a chance,” Sullivan said.
Cooper found some life in the third, a 14-2 run capped by a Gavin Lutz 3-pointer and 3-point play giving them a 28-23 lead.
“Our energy was great and finally put our foot down and said we’re here and we’re here to play. Coming off an 11-day layoff, I didn’t know how we were going to react. The third quarter I thought we sat down and really guarded and on the offensive end we just got tough with the ball,” Sullivan said.
Anderson’s triple ignited a 9-0 Newport run to give them a 32-28 advantage with 6:27 to play.
Lutz answered with a triple, Marquez Miller with a 3-point play on the other end to make it 35-31 with 5:07 to play.
Drew Schilling got the Jaguars back within one on a 3-pointer, Tay Kinney responding with five straight to make it 40-34 Wildcats with less than two minutes to play.
Rondon would convert on a 3-point play, a pull-up jumper and another 3-point play with under a minute to go to tie things up at 42.
After both teams traded turnovers, Anderson converted in transition off the Jags turnover, Kinney getting the game-winning block shot on a Johnson 3-point try on the other end.
“We were 1-12 against Cooper. They’re tough. They make us think and make us make decisions. It was good for us. Perfect timing for us getting ready to head into district play,” Snapp said.
Miller led the Wildcats with 12 points and eight rebounds, Kinney adding 11 with four blocked shots. James Turner had eight points and seven rebounds, Anderson with seven points and Jabari Covington with six.
Newport returns to action on Monday when they host Dayton.
Rondon led Cooper with 16 points, Lutz adding nine and Alexander and Trevor Ollier with six points apiece. The Jaguars look to snap a four-game losing streak on Saturday when they play at Scott County.
“This year has been kind of up and down. If we can get that fight every night like tonight I feel we have a chance to win the region because that team is good enough to contend to win the region,” Sullivan said. “Down late we just didn’t execute and a lot of that is on me. They were taking Andy (Johnson) away and he was struggling. So I tried to do some different things and get him off the ball and it backfired, so I’ll own that.”
COOPER — 3-11-14-14 — 42
NEWPORT — 10-9-9-16 — 44
Cooper (42) – Rondon 16, Lutz 9, Alexander 6, Ollier 6, Schilling 3, Brown 2
Newport (44) – Miller 12, Kinney 11, Turner 8, Anderson 7, Covington 6