By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
In all five of their losses during the regular season, the Highlands boys basketball team made five 3-pointers or less and scored 68 points or less. But the Bluebirds toppled those tendencies in the 36th District championship game Friday night at Bellevue.
Despite hitting just one 3-pointer and tying its lowest point total of the season, Highlands came away with a 60-50 win over Newport to take the title for the first time since 2021.
“I’ve been in the varsity program four years and we’d lost to (Newport) every year until now,” said Highlands senior forward Nathan Rickard. “It just means so much to finally get over the hump and get the job done.”
The Bluebirds were behind, 29-25, at halftime and didn’t take the lead until late in the third quarter. They ended up outscoring Newport, 35-21, in the second half, even though they missed seven of their last 12 free throws.
“At halftime, we talked about toughness, and I thought our kids really responded,” said Highlands coach Kevin Listerman. “We did a much better job on the glass. We did a much better job on 50-50 balls. And that’s what flipped it for us.”
Junior forward Tayden Lorenzen scored 11 of his 18 points during the Bluebirds’ second-half rally. It was his basket following an offensive rebound that put them ahead for the first time, 39-38, with 3:29 left in the third quarter.
Highlands extended the margin to 49-42 going into the fourth quarter. Newport responded with a 6-2 run that trimmed it to 51-48, but the Wildcats did not score on six of their final seven possessions.
“We knew they weren’t going to stop playing and stop competing,” Newport coach Rodney Snapp said of the Bluebirds’ second-half rally. “They’ve got tough kids who play hard, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Highlands stepped up its full-court defensive pressure in the second half. Newport handled it well enough at first to open up a 38-29 lead, but then the momentum shifted and the Bluebirds went on a 20-4 run.
“We didn’t do a good job of getting to our traps with our pressure in the the first half,” coach Listerman said. “We cleaned it up in the second half. Our guys made great reads and we were able were to create turnovers and get into transition.”
In the third quarter, senior guard Vinny Listerman, the coach’s son, got nine of his 14 points and Rickard got eight of his 13.
It was Listerman who hit the team’s lone 3-point goal in the final seconds of that quarter.
“(Coach) said we needed to get the ball inside more and that we needed to work on finishing more interior-wise,” said Rickard, who was named most valuable player on the all-tournament team. “I loved it. It was more opportunities for me so I was happy to be the one to receive more action.”
Newport junior guard Amontae Lowe scored 10 of his team’s 19 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 20 points. The Wildcats’ other double-figure scorer was sophomore Damarco Jackson with 14 points.
Highlands and Newport both advance to the 9th Region tournament. The other six teams in the bracket will be Ryle, Conner, Lloyd, Dixie Heights, Covington Catholic and Holy Cross.
Cooper won last year’s tournament, but this is first time since 2013 that the defending region champion will not be in the field. A draw to determine first-round pairings is set for Saturday morning. The tournament will start on March 7 at Truist Arena.
HIGHLANDS 8 17 24 11 — 60
NEWPORT 14 15 13 8 — 50
HIGHLANDS (25-5): Wimzie 3 1 7, Rickard 4 5 13, Listerman 5 3 14, Messmer 2 1 5, Ebert 1 1 3, Lorenzen 8 2 18. Totals: 23 13 60.
NEWPORT (21-9): Lowe 8 2 20, Jackson 6 1 14, Andrews-Glover 2 0 4, Petty 1 0 2, Nichols 2 0 4, Hurry 1 0 2, Keegan 2 0 4. Totals: 22 3 50.
Three-pointers: H — Listerman. N — Lowe 2, Jackson.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Highlands — Nathan Rickard (MVP), Vinny Listerman, Tayden Lorenzen. Newport — Amontae Lowe, Damarco Jackson. NewCath — John Luhn. Bellevue — Arion Stuckey. Dayton — Malachi Kennedy.