Newport played without Turner for a large majority of the first half too.  Rondon for Cooper had early foul trouble.  Rondon was subbed out around 6:52 in the first.  Cooper fought back to end the first half. 

Newport went on a run and handled the third quarter perfectly.  Newport's ability to crash the boards with their length is amazing.  Cooper trapped a lot in the fourth to force bad possessions and it worked at times.  Newport played the traps well and couldn't finish a handful of opportunities.  Pouncy for Cooper challenged a lot of those traps in the lane.  Andy Johnson caught fire with some big shots to help cut the lead to two.  In the end, Newport's resiliency paid off.  Congrats to the Wildcats!  

5 minutes ago, theguru said:

Photo credit to Wayne Litmer. 

Attendance had to be around 7000-8000.  

1 hour 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. 

I agree, except they called two fouls on Cooper's point guard in the first 90 seconds.

6 minutes ago, JUGGSPORTS said:

Attendance had to be around 7000-8000.  

I love it!

6 minutes ago, theguru said:

I love it!

Maybe 6000-7000.  Forgot it only held 8427.  

Figured Newport would come out on top again...

Pretty much nailed it with the 43-41 prediction and holding the ball.  Defense was not the reason the score was so low.

Kudos to Newport for fighting with Kinney going down early.  Jackson and Covington did a nice job to lead Newport.  Back to back Regional Champs.  I don't know if I would have ever thought that being possible.

Is Cooper, the Buffalo Bills in big games or what?  State championship loss in Football and back to back Regional Championship game losses in basketball.  Has Cooper ever won a state title?  This group will have one more chance this upcoming year in both.

8 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

Pretty much nailed it with the 43-41 prediction and holding the ball.  Defense was not the reason the score was so low.

Kudos to Newport for fighting with Kinney going down early.  Jackson and Covington did a nice job to lead Newport.  Back to back Regional Champs.  I don't know if I would have ever thought that being possible.

Is Cooper, the Buffalo Bills in big games or what?  State championship loss in Football and back to back Regional Championship game losses in basketball.  Has Cooper ever won a state title?  This group will have one more chance this upcoming year in both.

I will give you props on the score prediction. I had no idea Newport would hold the ball as much as they did but it was the smart thing to do and it paid off and achieved the objective so kudos to Coach Snapp, excellent coaching. 
As to your Buffalo Bills comment you couldn’t be more incorrect. In fact, I would state that both the Boys and Girls Basketball teams as well as the Football teams have overachieved. For a school that has only been in existence for 16 years there has been significant progress made and no other school that was started in 2008 has done more “collectively” than Cooper. The 2017 boys team shocked the State with that regional win, the girls team has now won the region 3 straight times including a trip to the final 4, the 2012 football team went to the State finals being just 5 years old, they’ve added 2 more regional titles since then and the 2023 team shocked the State again making it to the finals and that team was a year ahead of schedule. 
What Cooper has achieved is hard, really hard and I certainly wouldn’t put them in the Buffalo Bills category, that’s not even close and there are a ton schools that would love to have  the Jags resume in that short of time span. 
 

I’ll close with my thoughts and prayers go out to Kinney as the injury looked significant and I am wishing the Wildcats and Coach Snapp nothing but success in the Sweet 16!! Time for all of NKY to rally around Newport or Campbell and it’s just a shame they have to play each other first game. 

I agree totally with 1Forrest1's comment on the "poor sport."  Everyone hates to lose when you're competing, but, this is obviously a learned behavior from what I observed unfold after the final buzzer.  Those involved should be embarrassed, but, ..... they won't be.  Did anyone see the towel being thrown on the floor during the last minute of the game ?  It happened right in front of me and I'm pretty certain it was a player's Dad who threw the towel into the middle of the play as the play was ending and a whistle was being blown.  The Dad jumped up in disgust and hustled out to the concourse before the police could intervene.  A towel being thrown onto the floor in the middle of play is a really good way for a player to step on the towel, blow a knee, ankle, or have any other injury.  Those of us who have watched these kids play and develop over the past several years have observed this radical behavior from several of the parents involved.  It's not isolated to these two teams, but these dudes have crossed the line and something needs to be done.  I can imagine the outcome if a player had gotten hurt.  I'd imagine the dude throwing the towel might not make it out of the building, just saying.  It's crazy, but, so are the parties involved.  JMO 

16 hours ago, PP1 said:

I agree, except they called two fouls on Cooper's point guard in the first 90 seconds.

When you push a guy standing still near mid court causing him him to fall into the back court, no choice but to call a foul.

17 hours 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. 

This game was the most physical high school game I can ever recall seeing. Pushing, shoving, throwing a forceful shoulder into another player, grabbing a player around the neck and throwing him to the ground - all things I saw while the officials did nothing. I am amazed we did not see a fight in the floor. I like and played physical, but last night's game was crazy physical. Over the top IMO. But they were consistent - they just refused to blow the whistle.

Kuddos to Newport for fighting through and winning. Hate hearing Tay may be out for season.

Does Covington hold any offers? Is he looking to play college hoops? 

Heard from a not extremely reliable source that Kinney has torn hamstring and will miss rest of the year. Any truth to this???

6 minutes ago, LLS10 said:

Heard from a not extremely reliable source that Kinney has torn hamstring and will miss rest of the year. Any truth to this???

Post that I saw from family going around Facebook was that it was not torn. 

57 minutes ago, LLS10 said:

Heard from a not extremely reliable source that Kinney has torn hamstring and will miss rest of the year. Any truth to this???

not extremely reliable stop there lol..... his mom has said "he is ok and there is no tear. Thanks for all the prayers texts and calls checking in on him. We truly appreciate all the love. My boy will be back in no time."