By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
There was no place to park. It was like getting to The Pavilion late on Christmas Eve. Good luck.
This Newport Wildcats basketball team has an entire town behind it. That’s what winning 17 straight games going on to 18 Thursday night against a visiting Lloyd Memorial team trying to shoehorn its way into the Ninth Region’s top three will do for you.
“It’s awesome,” Rod Snapp enthused in the same way he coaches up his now 26-3 Wildcats after their 71-48 romp that had most of the Lloyd fans heading home to Erlanger after three quarters. “Why are they all leaving?” one young Juggs’ fan asked. “Because this game is over,” an older fan told her.
Sorry Juggernauts, not right now. Even if your worst loss in Kentucky was by just eight points to Covington Catholic earlier in the week, the packed Stan Arnzen Sports Center was not the place for you Thursday night, especially at the end of a four-games-in-six-days week.
The only ones in a worse place were the two mice caught in the rodent trap in Snapp’s office, although Snapp was hoping the custodian could catch and release them. No such luck for a Lloyd team (19-8) that seemed a really bad matchup against Newport with two young defenders – 6-foot-7 sophomore James Turner and 6-8 freshman Griffin Starks – who could neutralize somewhat Lloyd’s big-time junior prospect – 6-8 EJ Walker, holding him to 11 points (on five-of-13 shooting) and six rebounds.
Snapp had told his kids to “look at this place, look at these people who probably had a hard time finding a place to park and they’re here to watch you play . . . and they did.”
Play, that is. It was 20-9 after one period thanks to an 11-0 Newport run. Midway into the third period, it was 46-23. And unlike Monday at Cooper, the big guys had come to play, joining speedy blue-chip sophomore Taylen Kinney, who had a game-high 24 points on explosive length-of-the-floor drives with twisting finishes through traffic mixed with a couple of long-range threes and six of seven from the line.
Turner, despite getting roughed up a bit Monday at Cooper, played with purpose through a sore back for 10 points while Starks continues to show he’s no longer a raw freshman with seven points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and a terrific two-handed flying fast-break dunk on a lob.
How well the big guys did, they didn’t even have to double Walker if the ball went inside. They kept him away from the basket, according to the plan, turning him into a jump-shooter. In fact, they turned Lloyd’s team into perimeter shooters as the Juggs hit just one of 18 from three-point range.
“I’ve just focused on being tougher,” Starks said. “It’s been rough at first,” he said of winning a starting spot, “but I thought I deserved it.” Where is he most improved, Griffin was asked. Before he answered, Snapp tapped him on the head. “His brain,” Snapp answered. “I am smarter,” Griffin agreed.
And that lob-dunk on a fast-break pass from Kinney was a perfect example. “I made eye contact at the three-point line,” he said. That’s all it took.
“Our goal in the third quarter was staying consistent,” Snapp said, “and keeping our foot on the gas pedal” in the most-complete game for his team since knocking off Lyon County in the All “A” Classic in Corbin.
So where are the Wildcats now, No. 3 in the state and winners of 18 straight?
“We used to always talk about peaking,” Snapp said, “but not as much this year. We tell them to be consistent, be sharp.” And they did talk about assists. They got just two Monday at Cooper. Thursday they had a 13-8 edge on Lloyd with seniors Jabari Covington and DeShaun Jackson recording four each and Kinney three.
Lloyd sophomore Anthony Blaackar continues to impress with 11 points and five rebounds. For Newport, Noah Silverton came off the bench to score 12 with a couple of threes.
SCORING SUMMARY
LLOYD 9 8 14 17—48
NEWPORT 20 16 21 14—71
LLOYD (19-8, 9-3 Ninth Region): Collins 1-7 0-3 0-0 2, Blaackar 5-11 0-2 1-2 11, Sebastian 4-8 1-3 0-0 9, Walker 5-13 0-5 1-3 11, Sims 0-4 0-1 1-3 1, Golsby 2-3 0-1 0-0 4, Lewis 1-4 0-3 0-1 2, Copeland 1-2 0-0 0-0 2, Crenshaw 1-2 0-0 0-0 2, Jackson 2-2 0-0 0-0 4; TOTALS: 22-59 1-18 33-9 48.
NEWPORT (26-3, 13-1 Ninth Region): Kinney 8-14 2-6 6-7 24, Anderson 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Covington 4-7 0-2 2-2 10, Jackson 3-7 0-2 0-2 6, Turner 4-7 0-0 2-3 10, Starks 3-7 1-3 0-0 7, Silverton 5-8 2-4 0-0 12, Hurry 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Nichols 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Lee 0-0 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 28-52 5-18 10-14 71.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.