Regardless of who was going to be on the floor for the Cooper boys basketball team, Newport knew what they were getting into.
The Jaguars down their floor general in Yamil Rondon and close to a return with Andy Johnson, battled in a rematch from last season’s 9th Region championship game, but ultimately came up short to the Wildcats, 48-42.
Newport got 28 points from Taylen Kinney, his hot start getting the Wildcats out to a 24-6 end of first quarter lead. The Wildcats couldn’t do much wrong in the game’s first eight minutes, Kinney hitting from everywhere, Jabari Covington wowing the crowd with his crossover dribble and Deshaun Jackson’s activity in getting to the rim.
From there, a war took place.
“They played possessed,” Newport head coach Rod Snapp said. “We knew what we were getting into. Coming out here hostile environment, everybody pumping this game up. We’ve played shorthanded earlier this year and those guys over there, good team, they work on their stuff and don’t miss a beat. The guys that fill in those shoes play ultra-possessed. We’re just happy to get out of here whoever played or didn’t play, just happy to get out of here with a win.”
The Wildcats are a little banged up, too, evidenced by James Turner’s bloody lip, hurt tailbone and tape on his wrist after trying to slow down Cooper’s Shaun Pouncy.
“He’s going to need more than a cold tub after that one,” Kinney said.
Turner had to exit the game a couple of times due to being banged up.
“I don’t know whatever happened, if he got hit by brass knuckles or something, but he was a bloody mess,” Snapp said.
Cooper got back into the contest quickly with what they do best, play hard and guard. They held Newport to a three-point second quarter and nine in the third quarter , cutting what was once a 17-point deficit down to as little as four before going into the fourth trailing 36-29.
“You look at the first quarter and we were a little shell shocked,” Cooper head coach Tim Sullivan said. “Then we sat down and guarded in the second and battled back.”
Pouncy keyed the run, his presence in the paint a tough task for Newport’s two bigs in Turner and Griffin Starks. A Pouncy thunderous two-handed dunk got the Jaguars within five with 4:51 to play, Chris Rodriguez following with a layup to make it 40-37 with 4:26 left in the game.
Then it was closing time for Kinney. The Wildcats sophomore scored Newport’s last eight points over the final 3:47, Cooper still having their chances down 44-42 and with the ball, but a turnover and a few empty possessions helped the Wildcats pull away late.
“To have a chance down two with the ball, says a lot about our kids,” Sullivan said. “Newport is just so good with the ball and so many athletes. In getting prepared for them, you have to be able to guard one on one. Those guys are really good with the ball and they feed off of it. I thought after the first we did a really good job of making them shoot contested shots and making it tough to get to the rim.”
Kinney scored on a putback and layup in the final two minutes to get Newport’s lead back to six and virtually end the game from there.
Early on, it looked as if Kinney was going to set a new career-high, well on pace to break his 49-point outing earlier in the year. He put up 16 in the first quarter as he couldn’t miss, knocking down three triples, a couple dazzling layups and some free throws.
But as Kinney cooled down, so did the Wildcats. With the outside shot no longer falling, Kinney took it upon himself to attack the rim and close the game out strong.
“I didn’t really alter the way I play because I work on those shots every day and make those shots every day,” Kinney said. “Snapp lets me go out there and shoot those type of shots, but when I started getting out of rhythm that’s when I started attacking and getting layups.”
With the Wildcats struggling offensively, Pouncy was feasting in the paint on the other end. He scored six of the Jaguars eight points in the third.
“When we play through Shaun like that good things happen,” Sullivan said.
Pouncy would finish with 19 points and four rebounds.
Tuesday’s contest is pretty similar to what fans should get used to at Truist Arena come March for the 9th Region tournament in Highland Heights. The games are going to be knockdown, dragouts and no guarantee a team will even get to 50.
“There’s three or four teams that have a shot and we’re all beatable,” Snapp said. “Who’s in foul trouble, who’s making shots, who’s going to turn the ball over? We talk about this a lot and I know they all do to.”
Newport gets another dose of what the 9th Region tournament will most likely look like with Lloyd Memorial on Thursday at Newport. The Juggernauts and Wildcats battled in last year’s 9th Region semifinals.
As far as Cooper, they’re close to being fully healthy. Johnson has resumed practice and participated in warmups. Barring any setbacks, Sullivan confirms he’ll see his first game action Saturday against Grant County. It will be the first time he’s played since suffering a wrist injury on Dec. 3. Rondon heads back to the doctor early next week and if everything checks out okay, he’s expected to return to action shortly after. Fully healthy isn’t something the Jaguars are used to.
“One of my assistants Josh Ball dropped some research on me and asked me over the last two seasons how many times have we played with a full roster? I said probably 10-12 games. The answer was zero,” Sullivan said. “We’ve yet to play with a full roster the last two years and Lord willing we get those two guys back.”
WILDCATS 48, JAGUARS 42
NEWPORT — 24-3-9-12 — 48
COOPER — 7-14-8-13 — 42
Scoring
Newport (48) — Kinney 28, Jackson 8, Covington 7, Turner 5
Cooper (42) — Pouncy 19, Combs 7, Johnson 4, Rodriguez 4, Brown 3, Blackburn 3, Alexander 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Newport 16/41, Cooper 17/42
3-Pointers: Newport 4/12, Cooper 2/8
Free Throws: Newport 12/15, Cooper 6/9
Rebounds: Newport 26, Cooper 22
Assists: Newport 2, Cooper 5
Turnovers: Newport 9, Cooper 9
Steals: Newport 6, Cooper 5
Blocks: Newport 5, Cooper 1
Records: Newport 25-3, Cooper 17-8