If you found a person outside of Newport’s locker room that thought they’d be 18-8 headed into their last two games of the regular season, I’d love to meet them.
The Wildcats added another marquee 9th Region victory on Monday night in Newport, defeating Beechwood 54-47.
Newport has now taken down Conner, Dixie Heights, Beechwood and Holy Cross this season, three of the four most likely to make the region tournament.
“To be where we’re at right now, I’m proud as hell,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “No matter what happens the rest of the way, we want to win of course and losing first round of district tournament would be devastating, but I think overall, this has been a really good year.”
Having fun, being coachable and most importantly getting it done in the classroom has been a key to the Wildcats success, according to Snapp.
“When you do all that, then the positive things stack up,” Snapp said.
The Wildcats are just a few months removed from losing two starters to prep school. It marked the third that went the prep school route in the last two seasons when factoring in nationally ranked prospect Taylen Kinney along with Griffin Starks and James Turner, all three drawing Division I interest, Kinney having already committed to Kansas.
But those players are in the rear view mirror while the current team is having a successful season of their own.
While Amontae Lowe has shouldered the load for the majority of the season when not injured, others have stepped up in spots to get where they are now. On Monday it was Davae Andrews-Glover and Keegan Farrell stepping up as Andrews-Glover had 16 points, Farrell with 10 points and six rebounds.
“It’s very important that they take some of the load off of me and just get some buckets themselves,” Lowe said. “Davae went off tonight.”
Lowe added 12 points to go with 10 rebounds. He scored nine in the first to give the Wildcats an 11-6 advantage after one, and slowed down from there, but got others involved with four assists.
The Wildcats can also thank their defense for their 18th win of the season. Beechwood’s Dylan Topmiller led the Tigers with 20 points, but no one else had more than eight as Newport kept Beechwood out of rhythm for the majority.
“They’re a well coached team and they play very smart. They kind of pick their spots offensively,” Tigers coach Ross hart said. “They play a difficult tempo and a very nice half court defense and it got the better of us tonight.”
Beechwood (20-8) is another team exceeding expectations this season. They’ve reached the 20-win plateau and are looking for a third region tournament berth in the last four years. Tired legs could also be to blame for a sluggish shooting night, connecting on just 30% of shots from the field and 28% from the 3-point line.
“Fourth road game in seven days, our seventh game in 12 days,” Hart said. “Flu-B got us, but the biggest thing that got us tonight was the Newport Wildcat defense.”
They got their bearings in the second quarter as they trimmed an 11-3 first quarter deficit to eventually take a 18-16 lead near the end of the half.
Newport’s Farrell drained a 3-pointer at the halftime horn to give the Wildcats a 19-18 advantage at halftime.
Then the Wildcats exploded in the third. They opened with a 7-0 run and scored 20 points in the quarter to take a 39-29 lead into the fourth.
“We try to win for three minutes out of the half, we do that in practice,” Snapp said. “We do a minute segment, or two minute segment, three minute segment, win that three minute segment. They did a good job. Defense led to great offense and some easy shots. That was huge.”
MORE PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
After trailing by as much as 13, the Tigers got within four late on two different occasions, but costly turnovers and missed open looks didn’t go their way in defeat, snapping a seven-game winning streak.
“We had a lot of good looks and it just didn’t go in that we normally make,” Hart said. “Credit Newport and tiring out some of our legs and there’s some other factors as well.”
Newport now sets their sights on a 20-win regular season as they have Villa Madonna and Dayton left this week on Tuesday and Thursday before they open the 36th District tournament with Newport Central Catholic next week. The Thoroughbreds won the first meeting between the two, 62-59, back on Jan. 28.
“We were a little too cocky last time we faced them,” Andrews-Glover said.
Beechwood finishes their regular season with Highlands on Thursday before they get Holy Cross in the 35th District tournament next week.
“Rest and get healthy,” Hart said. “That’s the top two things going into next week. We’ve only had one practice this past week because we’ve been battling illnesses and playing basketball games. Haven’t practiced a shell defense and practice our defensive fundamentals in quite a while. So there’s certainly little things that you practice all season for that you just need to get back to, back to the basics.”
WILDCATS 54, TIGERS 47
BEECHWOOD — 6-12-11-18 — 47
NEWPORT — 11-8-20-15 — 54
Scoring
Beechwood (47) — Topmiller 20, Brockett 8, McCormack 7, Stiles 6, Knasel 4, Eck 2
Newport (54) — Andrews-Glover 16, Lowe 12, Farrell 10, Hurry 6, Nichols 4, Jackson 3, Petty 2, Holder 1
Game Stats
Field Goals: Beechwood 15/50, Newport 21/43
3-Pointers: Beechwood 7/25, Newport 3/8
Free Throws: Beechwood 10/14, Newport 9/15
Rebounds: Beechwood 26, Newport 35
Assists: Beechwood 12, Newport 12
Turnovers: Beechwood 11, Newport 13
Steals: Beechwood 7, Newport 7
Blocked Shots: Beechwood 6, Newport 6
Fouls: Beechwood 13, Newport 17
Records: Beechwood 20-8, Newport 18-8