By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Perfect.
Kenton County vs. Campbell County. District 35 vs. District 36. Private school vs. public school. The Class “A” Classic’s top two all-time winningest teams. And two at the other end of the small school tournament history books.
Holy Cross’ Will McElheney with a strong move to the basket against a Beechwood defender Friday night. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
Beechwood vs. Holy Cross. Newport vs. Newport Central Catholic.
Doesn’t get any better than that for Friday night’s Ninth Regional semifinals in the 45th annual All “A” semifinals at Bellevue’s Ben Flora Gym.
Fans are here 45 minutes early for the 6 p.m. first-game Beechwood-Holy Cross tipoff. The place is going to be packed when the Newport-NewCath fans show up for the second game. No point in taking a chance to get shut out.
Here we go.
SCRAPPY BEECHWOOD EXTENDS HOLY CROSS IN DISTRICT 35 BATTLE
Maybe there’s not all that much destiny in history as a Beechwood team that’s on the wrong side of an all-time 19-69 record against Holy Cross – and down 1-7 in the All “A” Classic – comes out all feisty and playing tough defense as it jumps out 7-0 on the Indians in a score that holds there for most of the first five minutes.
And then the light went on for Holy Cross as the Indians, behind 6-5 junior Will McElheney and 6-2 sophomore leaper Nate Rominger, proceeded to go on a 25-7 run, scoring from inside and out, for a 32-24 halftime lead as McElheney fired in a dozen and Rominger eight.
Holy Cross’ Luke Arlinghaus makes it look easy on this layup against Beechwood defender Tyler Fryman. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
Beechwood matched that with their top two scorers, Carson Blackburn, who would finish with a game-high 17, and Jack Sullivan, firing in 10 apiece. But with the depth advantage to the Indians, was that the end of it for the boys from Ft. Mitchell?
It was not. Just the way they did it in the first half, the Tigers opened with a 10-2 entire-team run to start the second half, finishing with a 14-5 third-quarter edge and a 38-37 lead going into the final quarter.
“We knew we had to match their intensity,” Beechwood Coach Ross Hart said. “They play with the intensity that Ricardo (Johnson) played with when I coached him at Holmes,” Hart said of the Holy Cross first-year coach. “We knew it would come down to one play at the end and we came up short . . . but we’ll probably get to play them three times so . . . ” So they’ll get a couple more chances.
But in this one, the Indians (11-4) made more of those last chances. Their big man, McElheney wouldn’t let them do anything else, scoring all five of Holy Cross’ points the last 2:10 to preserve the 48-44 win and put the Indians into their third straight championship game and fourth in the last five years against a Newport team that beat NewCath, 75-55.
McElheney finished with team highs of 17 points and six rebounds. Rominger added 14 points, five rebounds.
“They got us last year,” Newport Coach Rod Snapp said after winning the second game. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow (until the 7 p.m. tipoff).”
For Holy Cross’ Johnson and his young team without a senior starter, he’s not looking down the road to next season or even next week. “I’m going to take it one day at a time and try to get better as much as we can.”
As for McElheney, “He’s a gym rat,” Johnson says. “He’s like a lot of our guys, they can’t wait until they get into the gym.”
They won’t have long to wait Saturday, no matter what Newport’s Snapp says.
SCORING SUMMARY
HOLY CROSS 13 19 5 11-48
BEECHWOOD 9 15 14 6—44
BEECHWOOD (8-7 ): Blackburn 6-3-2-17, Eviston 1 1 1 4, Dawson4 0 1 9, Navin 2 0 0 4,3 0 4 10, McCormack 0 0 0 0, Way 0 0 0 0, Brockett 0 0 0 0, Stiles 0 0 0 0: TOTALS: 16-38 4-18 8-13 48.
HOLY CROSS (11-4): Urlage 0 0 0 0, Arlinghaus 2 0 0 4, Crail 1 0 0 2, Rominger 7 0 0 14, Reinersman 0 0 0 3, Adams 0 0 0 0, Goetz 2 1 0 5, Gabbard 1 1 0 3: TOTALS: 18-42 4-12 8-12 48.
NEWPORT TAKES CITY RIVALRY, KINNEY BECOMES THE 1,000-POINT MAN
Newport’s Taylen Kinney in the ‘1000 point’ T-shirt his dad had made up for him. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
No, Taylen Kinney tells you, he was not wearing that nifty “1,000-point Sophomore” shirt his father, Charles, had printed up for him and “15-plus” of “my whole family,” after the 14-3 Wildcats’ 75-55 romp over a NewCath team that tried to challenge them on every pass, shot, dribble and rebound.
Kinney was able to put the shirt on after the game only after the blue-chip recruit finally nailed his 16th point to reach the milestone in two seasons on a follow-up two-hand tip out of a scrum with 6:26 left in the final quarter for a 63-35 Newport lead. After a scoreless first half with nothing going down for him, Taylen started taking the ball to the basket and breaking down the outmanned Thoroughbreds at the rim.
“When I got close, I knew it,” Kinney said of the final basket he needed on a night when he hit on just six of 18 from the field and zero for five from three-point range. “There was nothing to get panicked about,” he said of his shooting struggles on this night, “it’s happened before.”
No reason to panic because the Wildcats will defend you, even after allowing a 15-2 NewCath run for a 24-18 lead before Newport put together a finishing 13-0 run for a 31-24 halftime edge. NewCath had given itself a chance as point guard Louie Collopy hit back-to-back rainbow three-pointers to spark the Thoroughbreds’ run.
Newport’s leading scorer Jabari Covington splits the NewCath double team from Gabe Lyons and Vinny Petroze. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
But it wouldn’t get better for NewCath as Newport’s young front-liners – 6-foot-8 sophomore James Turner and 6-9 freshman Griffin Starks — presented a long-armed wall inside, keying a 28-6 Newport run over two periods for a 46-30 lead. Leading the Wildcats offensively was 6-2 senior guard Jabari Covington, who scored 20 points and joined with Kinney in the backcourt to hassle NewCath’s ballhandlers everywhere.
NewCath would finish with 17 turnovers to Newport’s eight with the rebounds in Newport’s favor, 32-27.
“That’s kind of what we do,” Newport’s Snapp said. In fact, it’s who they are. “If we can’t hit shots, we get out of our comfort zone.” And put their opponent in the un-comfort zone, as they did with nine steals against a NewCath team that fell to 5-11.
Leading NewCath were Gabe Eaglin with 14 points and Ian Mann with 12.
“We wanted to get to the line and we hit 14 of 15 there,” Snapp said, “that’s the best we’ve shot it all year.”
The Wildcats also unveiled another young playmaker in freshman guard Amonte Lowe, over from football, who scored 10 points on a series of impressive speed moves.
Now they’ll face a Holy Cross program with 17 championship game appearances – and eight titles – to Newport’s one championship in eight finals appearances. And that two-point loss to the Indians a year ago.
SCORING SUMMARY
NEWPORT 14 17 21 23–75
NEWCATH 9 15 11 20–55
NEWPORT (14-3): Kinney 6 0 5 17, Anderson 0 0 0 0, Covington 8 3 1 20, Jackson 4 0 0 8, Turner 2 0 2 6, Starks 1 0 0 2, Silverton 2 2 0 6, Lowe 4 0 2 10, Thompson 1 0 0 2, Nichols 0 0 4 4, Lee 0 0 0 0: TOTALS: 28-59 5-15 14-15 75.
NEWCATH (5-11): Bivens 2 0 1 5, Collopy 2 2 0 6, Eaglin 4 2 4 14, Kraft 0 0 1 1, Gearding 1 1 0 3, Lyons 2 0 0 4, Mann 5 0 2 12, Petroze 0 0 0 0, Sandfoss 1 0 2 4, Jo. Luhn 2 0 0 4, Anderson 0 0 2 2: TOTALS: 19-45 5-17 12-14 55.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
