By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Stan Steidel would have been proud – not to mention pleased and thrilled – at what took place in this gym that has his name on the basketball court.
Proud of how the midseason small school tournament for which Steidel, the late Dayton High player, coach and AD, provided both the inspiration and implementation nearly five decades ago was going strong – maybe stronger than ever – in its 46th edition.
In front of a large, loud crowd in Dayton just a tick short of standing room, upstart Beechwood – senior strong and playing like it — “finally got the big one,” Coach Ross Hart said as he cradled the game ball from his team’s thrilling 59-57 victory.
And All-A Classic MVP Jack Sullivan got a storybook night he’ll be smiling about decades from now. Two quick threes got him to the career 1,000-point Club, and then he just kept going. The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder moved out to guard to get his Tigers back in the game as he kept firing away from downtown while handling the ball like a point guard who has been playing there his entire life.
“We treat him as a guard,” Hart said. They needed him there to erase that big Newport lead. They were trying to create mismatches and moving Sullivan around was just the answer Beechwood needed against a much bigger Newport team.
Just as big were Sullivan’s 27 points that included six three-pointers in 10 attempts, one longer than the next, as Beechwood hit on nine (of 22 attempts) to Newport’s three (on 11). the Tigers outscored the Wildcats, 14-4, to open the third quarter with Sullivan’s two free throws giving them a 45-43 lead going into the fourth.
But as much as the pressing Wildcats pressured them, tying it once at 47 with 5:43 left, Beechwood never lost the lead from that point on, surviving with Hart’s timeout call from the bench with 9.7 seconds left erasing a turnover with a 58-57 lead.
“Coach Hart saved my (butt),” Sullivan said with a laugh at the maybe game-saving call.
The defending state All-A champion Wildcats are clearly still working their way back – “a work in progress,” said Coach Rod Snapp, although this loss just might benefit them in the long run.
“They really wanted it,” Snapp said of the veteran Beechwood guys, “this is their last shot.” Of his team, they need to get healthy. Clearly, senior guard transfer Yamil Rondon (nine points, two-of-nine shooting, three assists, five turnovers) in Game 3 of his return, is not back fully from his shoulder surgery.
And with sophomore starting guard Amontae Lowe going out with a sprained ankle after three minutes and senior AJ Lowe out with a fracture in his thigh, Newport isn’t full go just yet.
The combination of 6-7 junior James Turner, who is playing every bit like the big-time Division I prospect he is, and his 6-8 sophomore sidekick Griffin Starks, in the Wildcats’ front court, were just not enough against Beechwood on this night. Although Turner, with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and a steal, was a load. On two of those, he converted to scores the other way and on another, he pinned a layup on the backboard from behind like it was an NBA game.
Starks offered his support with 15 points, nine rebounds, a block and a steal. But it wasn’t enough. Not at the end as Newport had three hurried, out-of-control attempts that didn’t come close after Sullivan’s final free throw made it 59-57 with 8.5 seconds left.
Now it’s Beechwood with four senior starters headed to the Owensboro Sportscenter Thursday, Jan. 23, for an opening round 11:30 a.m. game against not only the unofficial host but the team that Beechwood just beat in the state Class 2A championship football game – Owensboro Catholic.
Not that any of that was on Hart’s mind. “I have no idea who we play or when,” said Hart, when asked as the Beechwood alum was too busy accepting hugs and handshakes and pats on the back from Tiger fans to have any time now to think about what comes next.
After a first half of the season playing the likes of big schools Ryle, Conner, Covington Catholic and Olentangy (Ohio) Liberty in the big school division of their Florida tournament that Hart requested they be assigned to and then St. Henry, Holy Cross and Newport Central Catholic just to get to Newport in the All-A regional championship game, it was time, Hart told his guys.
“Time to win one of these,” he told them, even when they were down 11, 32-21, just two minutes before halftime. “It’s why we play those big schools.”
And why Beechwood came up big on this night in the small school tournament.
• ALL-A ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Nate Bessler, St. Henry; Mykah Foster, Dayton; Adam Kues, Bellevue; Lex Palmer, Heritage; Gavin Goetz, Holy Cross; Byron Conley, Ludlow; Ian Mann, NewCath; Ayden Way, Beechwood; Carson Blackburn, Beechwood; James Turner, Newport; and Griffin Starks, Newport. MVP: Jack Sullivan, Beechwood.
SCORING SUMMARY
BEECHWOOD 13 14 18 14—59
NEWPORT 14 21 8 14—57
BEECHWOOD (11-5): Blackburn 4-12 1-4 2-2 11, McCormack 3-4 1-2 0-0 7, Way 2-7 1-4 0-0 5, Brockett 3-4 0-1 0-0 6, Sullivan 9-18 6-10 3-4 27, Popham 0-1 0-1 -2 1, Coppage 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Hammons 1-1 0-0 0-0 2; TOTALS: 22-47 9-22 6-8-59.
NEWPORT (9-7): Turner 9-15 1-2 3-3 22, Starks 6-13 1-4 2-4 15, Rondon 2-9 1-3 4-6 9, Nichols 1-3 0-0 0-0 2, Lowe 1-2 0-0 0-0 2, Anderson 3-6 0-1 1-1 7, Lee 0-1 0-1 0-0 0; TOTALS: 22-49 3-11 10-14 57.
