Newport Defends Home Court with Convincing Win Over Redmond


Lady Mustangs Prevail in Overtime Clash with Newport
By Steven Dion

Friday- December 12 2014 KingCo 4A
Newport High School Final
Newport 56
Redmond 38


Newport Senior Jake Higgins

The nightcap of a full slate of basketball at Newport HS on Friday night was the boys varsity matchup of the host Knights and visiting Mustangs of Redmond High School. Newport has been a top half 4A KIngCo squad in recent years while Redmond has struggled to join the upper ranks of the conference. Would they have the horsepower to pick up the road win or would Newport pile on another win in front of the home crowd?

Redmond appeared they were ready to compete as they scored the first six points of the game two of which came from a circus shot by Kevin Carpenter. Unfortunately, the ‘Stangs couldn’t keep the momentum rolling as the Knights went on a 10-0 run in response to the early deficit. The length advantage of Newport forwards started to show its presence as Ryan Kingma and Jake Higgins among others glided to the rim for layup drills. Redmond was on the brink of submitting to a big halftime deficit, but closed the second quarter strong to only trail by 5.

The third quarter is where Newport put this game to rest. They limited the opposition to only 6 points in the frame while building a big lead. The Mustangs competed throughout the second half even as the Newport lead continued to grow. NHS head coach Steve Haizlip allowed many of his reserves to log some minutes down the stretch as his team closed out a 56-38 victory.

Top Performers:
Newport
Jake Higgins-24 points

Redmond
Kevin Carpenter-12 points