By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Nothing came easy. Nothing.
Not either way.
Although someone had to win this take-no-prisoners first-round Ninth Region boys’ basketball brawl.
Ryle Coach Nick Dorning was into the game as much as his Raiders were. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
But who?
In the end, it was the team going for its school-record 30th win of the season with its best-in-the-state 22nd straight victory, its status as Kentucky All “A” Classic champions title and Northern Kentucky’s defending Sweet 16 representative and its blazing success story that has unified its town and generated a fan following like nothing else in memory.
So then why did it take Newport’s Wildcats — the state’s No. 3 team that has challenged itself against the best in places like Mason and Middletown, Ohio, and against state titlists in Ohio and national programs at the Griffin Elite Classic and back home in Coach Rod Snapp’s native Indiana and against all four of the other top five in Kentucky – until the final 2.9 seconds to win this one? And by a slim 45-43 final margin.
Why? Because Ryle’s Raiders wouldn’t let them. It was that simple. Neither team really could take advantage of all their late chances in a game where a fast-starting, tough-minded and tougher physically Ryle team jumped on the Wildcats from the get-go. Thirteen minutes into the game, Ryle had doubled-up the shaky-shooting Wildcats, 16-8.
And it took until 1:40 was left in the third quarter for a scrambling Newport team to catch up at 29-29 on a Taylen Kinney three-pointer. And then it was on. Back and forth. Up and down. Literally as in going up for a layup and ending up down on the floor or in the seats.
Ryle’s Evan Smith and Newport’s Taylen Kinney meet at the basket. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
“Credit Ryle for being physical,” Snapp said, praising the gameplan of his former assistant, Nick Dorning. “They made us uncomfortable.”
“We needed that for sure,” said Newport super-soph Kinney, who shook off a one-point first quarter for a game-high 22 points in a bang-bang game where the teams shot 46 free throws – Newport 32 of those on drives to the basket against the Ryle zone – making 20.
But in the final 28.3 seconds, Newport made just two of eight free throws. In the final 2:26, there were more timeouts, fouls, turnovers, steals, loose ball scrums – you name it – than made field goals of which, there were exactly zero.
Not that there were all that many the rest of the game. Newport (30-3) won this with a mere 11 made fields goals (out of 40 shots, 27.5 percent). Ryle wasn’t a great deal better, hitting on just 15 of 46 shots (34.6 percent).
Most every other stat was within one or two except for steals. Newport had eight steals, Ryle just three.
The biggest came with Ryle down just two – 44-42 – with 11.5 seconds left and the Raiders bringing it up against Newport’s late-game press. And then it happened. The second pass bounced off the back of Ryle sophomore point guard Anthony Coppola’s leg with the game in the balance. A game-winning three was almost within reach as Coppola, who led Ryle with 11 points, had already hit two of three.
But the loose ball was scooped up by Kinney, who would make one of two for a 45-42 lead. Coppola would make one of two next – missing the second deliberately with 3.8 seconds left. But Newport’s DeShaun Jackson grabbed it and fired the final shot as the horn went off.
Newport’s DeShaun Jacksonwith the perfect block shot from Ryle’s Anthony Coppola. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
“How about my kids,” Dorning said after a long locker room goodbye as the Raiders filed out. “They’re tough as nails . . . they never flinched.”
Drawing favored Newport, they told themselves, was “an opportunity.” An opportunity for Ryle’s veteran front-line guys to take it to Newport’s younger, leaner, taller front-liners who looked a bit overmatched here.
And yes, Dorning said, his team practices that scrambled, crazy final second scenario. And when it happened, he asked them in one of the many timeouts in the final seconds: “How fun is this?”
And then came the tears and hugs. “I’m going to miss these guys,” Dorning said of his four seniors whose high school careers ended here.
The story for Newport was the oldest cliché in tournament sports: “Survive and advance,” Snapp said.
Newport’s Taylen Kinney was the only Wildcat to hit a 3. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTri bune)
Said it twice, remembering how they beat Lexington Sayre, 45-42, before going on to win the All “A” Classic beating Kentucky No. 2 Lyon County in the process.
No one remembers that Sayre score because they beat Lyon County and won it all. Now the challenge is to repeat here moving on to face Lloyd Memorial Sunday at 2.
“We’ve had a couple of nights like this,” Kinney said. “We’ll see how they bounce back,” Snapp said, “at least they’re not in there celebrating.”
And while his style is to take the quick offense if they can get it and then take care of the ball in the halfcourt offense if they don’t, there was a problem with that against Ryle.
“Our shooting was horrendous,” Snapp said. “And I think some of them thought it (this game) would be a little easier.”
Only Ryle said no way. No easy win for you. And while the Wildcats won and kept those streaks going, it could not have been any harder to “survive.”
But they did. And now they “advance.”
SCORING SUMMARY
RYLE 11 12 9 11–43
NEWPORT 6 10 15 14—45
RYLE (19-12); Lorms 0-8 0-3 3-4 3, Coppola 4-9 2-3 1-2 11, Davis 1-2 1-1 0-0 3, Verax 3-8 2-4 1-2 9, H. Smith 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, E. Smith 1-3 0-0 1-4 3, Reynolds 5-11 0-0 0-0 10, DeGroff 1-5 0-2 2-2 4; TOTALS: 15-46 5-13 8-14 43.
NEWPORT (30-3): Kinney 4-12 1-3 13-16 22, Anderson 0-4 0-0 0-2 0, Covington 3-14 0-3 3-4 9, Jackson 3-5 0-0 2-4 8, Turner 1-2 0-0 3-4 5, Starks 0-1 0-1 1-2 1, Silverton 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Lowe 0-1 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 11-40 1-8 22-32 45.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter)@dweber3440.
Featured photo: Ryle’s Anthonoy Coppola has a lane to the basket on Newsport’s Jabari Covington. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
