? Final at Newport via "The Scoreboard." 

It's the first Newport win over Cooper in ten years, snapping a nine game losing streak. 

Way to be, Wildcats! 

Up next ~ Newport (20-6) plays a District game Monday at Dayton. Cooper (12-11) at Scott County tomorrow.

Not a great night for Newport, but they were able to answer every time they needed.

Much better defense by the Jags judging by the score. Hoping this team figures it out at the right time and pulls off an upset or two come tourney time. 

Cooper did a good job controlling the tempo of the game and not allowing a more athletic Newport team to run on them. Both teams hit big shots at different times during the game to keep it close. I thought Newport made a few mental mistakes late that could have closed it out sooner, but they are very young and will be so tough the next few years. If moral losses exist, this would be one for Cooper as they had a chance to win down the stretch. Cooper has now lost 4 in a row and desperately needs a good win to get the confidence back before tournament time. Newport is freakishly athletic and will be a scary matchup for anyone in the ninth region. They are going to need to find one or two more guys to step up if they want to go deep. I think they only played 6 guys and the legs were definitely looking tired. 

19 minutes ago, Handy Manny said:

Cooper did a good job controlling the tempo of the game and not allowing a more athletic Newport team to run on them. Both teams hit big shots at different times during the game to keep it close. I thought Newport made a few mental mistakes late that could have closed it out sooner, but they are very young and will be so tough the next few years. If moral losses exist, this would be one for Cooper as they had a chance to win down the stretch. Cooper has now lost 4 in a row and desperately needs a good win to get the confidence back before tournament time. Newport is freakishly athletic and will be a scary matchup for anyone in the ninth region. They are going to need to find one or two more guys to step up if they want to go deep. I think they only played 6 guys and the legs were definitely looking tired. 

I have  seen Newport play several times, they are not an up tempo team.  The controlling of tempo means you have to make them hurry up, not slow down.

Newport came into last nights game averaging 75 points per game over the last three. You don't put up 75 points a game with a slow tempo.  

23 minutes ago, Handy Manny said:

Newport came into last nights game averaging 75 points per game over the last three. You don't put up 75 points a game with a slow tempo.  

And who were they playing?? 

Exactly!!

6 minutes ago, Blueboy11 said:

And who were they playing?? 

Exactly!!

I'm not a Newport guy...but they do have a nice team.  If they can all stick around and develop the next 2-3 years at Newport will be exciting.  

As far as who they have played:

Newport 80 Bellevue 31

Newport 73 Harlan County 58  This was a nice win for Newport.  Harlan County is 21-5 and leading the 13th region at this point.

Newport 71 Clinton Massie (OH) 56, don't know anything about Clinton Massie but a win is a win.  

Cooper just plays defense...Sullivan knows how to coach defense.  Still a nice win for but I'm guessing Jakare Pouncy didn't play for Cooper but I hear he will be eligible for the 33rd district tournament play.  

3 hours ago, Mr. Sixer said:

Much better defense by the Jags judging by the score. Hoping this team figures it out at the right time and pulls off an upset or two come tourney time. 

I really wouldn't say that, as Newport ran a really patience offense also.

15 minutes ago, kyag said:

I'm not a Newport guy...but they do have a nice team.  If they can all stick around and develop the next 2-3 years at Newport will be exciting.  

As far as who they have played:

Newport 80 Bellevue 31

Newport 73 Harlan County 58  This was a nice win for Newport.  Harlan County is 21-5 and leading the 13th region at this point.

Newport 71 Clinton Massie (OH) 56, don't know anything about Clinton Massie but a win is a win.  

Cooper just plays defense...Sullivan knows how to coach defense.  Still a nice win for but I'm guessing Jakare Pouncy didn't play for Cooper but I hear he will be eligible for the 33rd district tournament play.  

Pouncy did not play.

It was an interesting game.  Other than a stretch in the third quarter when Cooper hit a couple 3-pointers and also had a couple old-fashioned 3-point plays, neither team had much of an offensive flow.  And, yes, Newport was more than fine to not push the tempo.  In the first quarter, for example, when Cooper was in a zone, Newport just pulled it out and dribbled the ball for a couple minutes. 

Game was tied when Cooper had a turnover with about 20 seconds left which led to a Newport score to put Newport ahead 44-42.  After Cooper was unable to get anything going, they called a timeout with 4.8 seconds left, after which the best they could create was a mid-court shot that was blocked.

I had no rooting interest - just a really hard-played game that was fun to watch. 

3 minutes ago, Smallhoops said:

It was an interesting game.  Other than a stretch in the third quarter when Cooper hit a couple 3-pointers and also had a couple old-fashioned 3-point plays, neither team had much of an offensive flow.  And, yes, Newport was more than fine to not push the tempo.  In the first quarter, for example, when Cooper was in a zone, Newport just pulled it out and dribbled the ball for a couple minutes. 

Game was tied when Cooper had a turnover with about 20 seconds left which led to a Newport score to put Newport ahead 44-42.  After Cooper was unable to get anything going, they called a timeout with 4.8 seconds left, after which the best they could create was a mid-court shot that was blocked.

I had no rooting interest - just a really hard-played game that was fun to watch. 

Yeah, that last 20 seconds or so, I thought we would have seen a better coaching job from Cooper.  The just looked lost.

Newport has 1 senior and 1 junior on their roster.

I've said it before on a few posts or on Twitter, and I'll say it again...

 

If this team Newport team can stay together, they'll make a trip to Rupp within 3 years

4 minutes ago, LCDAWGS19 said:

I've said it before on a few posts or on Twitter, and I'll say it again...

 

If this team Newport team can stay together, they'll make a trip to Rupp within 3 years

I'm not saying they will, but they will have a shot at it.