Newport 46 Cooper 39 (9th Region Championship)

[FrankNicodemus]

[FrankNicodemus]

Big story Tay Kinney went down on second play with “apparently “ a hamstring injury.

Never came back in……

Prayers to him, hope for a speedy recovery 

[BOJNJ]

All year we heard about Cooper’s injuries.  Newport’s best player is injured early in the game and they still found a way to hang on for the win.  
 

Good luck to Newport going forward, and congrats to Cooper on a fantastic season!  

[StraightShooter]

I hated to see that Tay went down at the beginning of the game, and Newport dug deep to win without a star player. Kudos to the Wildcats. Thanks to 859 Sports radio. I enjoyed listening. From a listener’s perspective, it sounded like the refs had no control over the game.

[futurecoach]

Congrats to Newport! They definitely are the best team in the region and did it today without a star player. Most impressive thing was their defense today. They definitely have a shot to win state, and I know I will be rooting for the Wildcats to bring another title back to the 9th region. 
 

Congrats to the Jags on a great season, just unfortunately fell a little short again. We May see this same matchup for a third year in a row next year. I believe if Cooper had won, it would have been the first time in history that a football team, boys basketball, and girls basketball from the same school all won the region. Can shoot for that again next year. 

[futurecoach]

1 minute ago, StraightShooter said:

I hated to see that Tay went down at the beginning of the game, and Newport dug deep to win without a star player. Kudos to the Wildcats. Thanks to 859 Sports radio. I enjoyed listening. From a listener’s perspective, it sounded like the refs had no control over the game.

They definitely were letting both teams play. Which in my opinion was not a bad thing, and I rather the refs let them play and not call everything in games like this. The better team won. 

[StraightShooter]

1 minute ago, futurecoach said:

They definitely were letting both teams play. Which in my opinion was not a bad thing, and I rather the refs let them play and not call everything in games like this. The better team won. 

Thanks FC. Classy post as usual.

[Breds82]

We all were wondering how Newport was going to respond after Kinney went down and they responded in a huge way defensively. It felt like Newports game plan was to slow the game down and control the clock, which they did. Cooper played hard but just couldn’t find a shot to fall at the hoop, and one that wasn’t heavily defended by Newport. The officials let both teams play,  calling the game the same way the entire tournament was called. 
 

The chippiness from the first game definitely carried over and it made for an extremely exciting environment. The last shot Rondon took I felt like he should’ve passed it off before he even started to drive. He had two very quick 1st quarter fouls that put him on the bench for the half. Credit Cooper for taking the lead into half, but Newport started the 3rd on a 5-0 run and Cooper never did recover. 
 

Hopefully Kinney is ok bc he’s exciting to watch. Good luck next week Cats.

[RRW]

23 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Congrats to Newport! They definitely are the best team in the region and did it today without a star player. Most impressive thing was their defense today. They definitely have a shot to win state, and I know I will be rooting for the Wildcats to bring another title back to the 9th region. 
 

Congrats to the Jags on a great season, just unfortunately fell a little short again. We May see this same matchup for a third year in a row next year. I believe if Cooper had won, it would have been the first time in history that a football team, boys basketball, and girls basketball from the same school all won the region. Can shoot for that again next year. 

Any shot at a state title was likely lost when Kinney went down. Don’t see him playing again this season.

[1Forrest1]

Just an observation: Yamil kid is a poor sport. I get talking trash but to attempt to go straight to the locker room is sad. I did witness his dad get into it with what looked to be a Cooper fan. 
 

prayers for Tay! Hope the hamstring heals quick. Jackson and Covington put that Newport squad on their back. 
 

really need to see Silverton and Anderson taking shots and not hesitating so much.. 

[nees1212]

If Kinney’s injury was indeed a hamstring, and if anyone on here knows the family, tell them to stay away from St. Elizabeth. Tell him to go to Beacon and see Kremchek’s team. St. Elizabeth is horrible with hamstrings. I just went though it with my daughter.

[1Forrest1]

1 minute ago, nees1212 said:

If Kinney’s injury was indeed a hamstring, and if anyone on here knows the family, tell them to stay away from St. Elizabeth. Tell him to go to Beacon and see Kremchek’s team. St. Elizabeth is horrible with hamstrings. I just went though it with my daughter.

I was thinking the same Kremchek does an amazing job with Athletes 

[Breds82]

I’ve only seen Newport 3 times this year.  This is the first time I recall them just dribbling out the clock. 1st half and then the second half when they got up 7 points. It worked tonight because Cooper couldn’t make a shot from 3 feet, is this a regular strategy? It didn’t hurt them in this one just curious going into the tournament if this is an every game thing or just one where you are better at keep away than the other team is man defense.

[1Forrest1]

2 minutes ago, Breds82 said:

I’ve only seen Newport 3 times this year.  This is the first time I recall them just dribbling out the clock. 1st half and then the second half when they got up 7 points. It worked tonight because Cooper couldn’t make a shot from 3 feet, is this a regular strategy? It didn’t hurt them in this one just curious going into the tournament if this is an every game thing or just one where you are better at keep away than the other team is man defense.

Play defense. Newport makes things happen in space. So I love making the opponent play up. Until shot clocks are a thing in KY high basketball it’s a solid move. 

[theguru]

Photo credit to Wayne Litmer.