The often coined phrase ‘survive and advance’ was taken to the next level by the Newport boys basketball team Monday night.
They certainly survived, despite hitting just 2-of-8 free throw attempts in the last minute of the game against Ryle in the 9th Region tournament quarterfinals and barely advanced to Sunday’s semifinals with a 45-43 victory over the Raiders at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena.
Newport shot 27%, gave up 14 offensive rebounds and trailed for the majority of three quarters as not only their season, but a 21-game winning streak was on the line.
They came out with extending it to 22 straight wins, a 30th win for the season and the most in program history.
“They’re listening to it, 22 wins, that’s the longest streak in the state,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “That starts to get to you a little bit. Never won 30 games in the history of Newport. Teams see that and they’re going to come in ready to roll. We have to come ready to play better.”
Did Newport overlook the Raiders?
“We got ahead of ourselves,” Newport sophomore guard Taylen Kinney said. “They out-toughed us. Just glad we got that game out of the way.”
Ryle came in with 19 wins and plays in one of the toughest districts in the state. While many thought it was a one and done matchup or an easy first round exit, Nick Dorning and his players thought the opposite.
“Our kids are tough as nails. When that draw came out, there were a lot of people who said to us, ‘tough draw’, and we knew what we were up against and our kids never flinched,” Dorning said. “Our kids never flinched and were more excited than anything and executed the game plan. Super proud of them.”
The Raiders executed the gameplan to a T in the first half, taking a 23-16 lead into halftime as they crashed the boards with 10 offensive rebounds and held Newport to just four made field goals. They continued to lead by seven three minutes into the third until Newport made their run.
DJ Jackson scored four straight, then Taylen Kinney started to get going. Kinney would end the quarter with seven points in the frame as Newport got within one at 32-31.
“I knew I was going to get going at some point,” Kinney said. “Just keep shooting, not get down on myself and let the game come to me.”
Kinney gave Newport their first lead since it was 5-3 on two free throws with 7:25 to play and making it 33-32. Newport would get up six at 41-35 after three Kinney free throws on a fouled 3-point attempt with 4:17 to go, capping off a Newport 23-10 run.
Ryle wasn’t done yet, a staple of their team a never say die attitude. Landon Lorms hit two free throws followed by a Logan Verax triple to make it 43-41 Newport with 2:18 to play. After a stop, Ryle had a couple chances to either tie or take the lead, but couldn’t find the bottom of the net.
Then the fouling game began with under 30 seconds to play. Jackson went to the line with 28 seconds left and a Newport 43-41 lead, but missed both attempts and Ryle getting another shot.
Evan Smith was fouled, hitting 1-of-2 from the line to make it 43-42 with 13 seconds remaining. Jabari Covington was then fouled with 11 seconds left, hitting 1-of-2 from the line and a Newport 44-42 lead.
Ryle then had a costly turnover, Kinney fouled with five seconds to play and hitting 1-of-2 from the line.
The Raiders still had a chance to tie, trailing 45-42. But Newport didn’t let a game-tying 3-point attempt happen, electing to foul with three seconds remaining.
Anthony Coppola stepped to the line and calmly sank the first free throw. As for the second attempt, Ryle needed a miss and to secure an offensive rebound.
“With three and a half seconds to go and Anthony’s intelligence and basketball IQ is off the charts he knew he had to miss that one,” Dorning said.
The intentional miss went about as well as it could in that situation as Ryle had a chance to grab an offensive rebound, but DaShawn Anderson pulled down the rebound and was fouled with two seconds remaining.
Anderson would miss both free throws, but Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound for Newport and the clock struck zero from there.
“Some of them thought it would be a little easier. There’s some things we’ve got to clean up for sure,” Snapp said. “We’ll see how they bounce back on Sunday. We’re not in there celebrating. We know their expectations are a high.”
It puts an end to a Ryle season at 19-12, their most wins since the 2010-11 season when they won 20. They also see four seniors depart, all four playing a major role in the turnaround of the program this season in nearly doubling their win total from a season ago. Verax, Noah Kahmann, Grady Reynolds and Smith all wore Raider jerseys for the last time.
“I’m going to miss those four seniors. I’ve known those guys for a long time. Had Grady in the classroom, known Evan since fifth grade. Known Logan the same amount of time. We always say we’re building an empire in Union and with what they’ve done, they’re the pillars,” Dorning said.
Coppola led the Raiders with 11 points, Reynolds finishing with 10. Verax chipped in nine.
Newport was led by Kinney’s 22, Jackson finishing with nine and Covington eight. James Turner added four blocked shots on the defensive end. The Wildcats face the Juggernauts on Sunday at 2 p.m.
WILDCATS 45, RAIDERS 43
RYLE — 11-12-9-11 — 43
NEWPORT — 6-10-15-14 — 45
Scoring
Ryle (43) — Coppola 11, Reynolds 10, Verax 9, DeGroff 4, Lorms 3, Davis 3, Smith 3
Newport (45) — Kinney 22, Covington 9, Jackson 8, Turner 5, Starks 1
Game Stats
Field Goals: Ryle 15/46, Newport 11/40
3-Pointers: Ryle 5/13, Newport 1/8
Free Throws: Ryle 8/14, Newport 22/32
Rebounds: Ryle 32, Newport 33
Assists: Ryle 7, Newport 4
Turnovers: Ryle 10, Newport 9
Steals: Ryle 3, Newport 8
Blocked Shots: Ryle 3, Newport 8
Fouls: Ryle 19, Newport 17
Records: Ryle 19-12, Newport 30-3