There are brutal ways to lose a game and then there are ‘brutal’ ways to lose a game. The Lyon County Lyons experienced the latter Saturday afternoon at The Corbin Arena.
Deshaun Jackson’s floater in the lane over the extended arms of Bray Kirk with 2.6 seconds left in the game was the game-winner as Newport upended Lyon County 50-48 in the first semifinal of the All A Classic.
After a timeout, Travis Perry was able to launch a shot from the three-point line at one end towards the basket at the other end of the court, but there would be no happy miracle finish for the Lyons and their large contingent of fans that made the journey across state hoping to see Lyon County claim its first All A title as Perry’s heave was just off the mark.
Jackson’s game-winner for the Wildcats came after Lyon County had to fight back from a late-game deficit to even get to that point. With less than four minutes to go, the Lyons were down six at 45-39 and Newport had all the momentum. But the Lyons are nothing if not a resilient group.
Travis Perry hit for three with 3:45 left to make it 45-42. Taylen Kenney hit one of two free throws to put the lead back to 46-42. On back-to-back possessions for Lyon County, Travis Perry was fouled and on each occasions he made one of two free throws as the Lyons trimmed the lead to 46-44 with 2:23 left.
Newport had run a patient offense from the beginning of the game and the late-game was no different. The Wildcats spread the court, slowed the game down, and looked for an opportunity to attack the Lyon County defense. James Turned scored for Newport to make it 48-44.
Still, the Lyons fought on. A basket from Brady Shoulders with 1:50 to go cut the lead in half at 48-46. Lyon County then came up with a steal in the corned and pushed the ball upcourt. Travis Perry went into the lane, spun, and banked in a shot that evened things up at 48-48 with 53.3 seconds left.
Newport held the ball, running the clock down to 9.2 seconds left, and took their timeout. Out of the timeout, Jackson came out to the right side high to get the ball with Bray Kirk trailing him. Jackson accelerated down into the lane, elevated, and dropped in the floater that would sink the Lyon County hopes of a state championship.
Early in the game, it looked as if there would be no such dramatics at the end. The Lyons knocked down four three-pointers in the first quarter and took an 18-10 lead.
But to Newport’s credit, they never got away from their style of game and did not panic early on when it looked as if it would turn out to be a higher-scoring game than their style would allow. Instead, the Wildcats buckled down and got down to business. Trailing 20-12 early in the second quarter, Deshaun Jackson took his team on his back and sparked an 11-2 run that put Newport up 23-22.
Lyon County would get key baskets from Travis Perry, Lukas Breedlove, and Brady Shoulders late in the half to get back in front 29-28, but the pace of the game had shifted in the favor of Newport, and the Lyons would not be able to get things back to the speed they prefer for the rest of the afternoon.
The third quarter was more of the same grind-it-out style that the Wildcats prefer to play. Both teams scored just seven points in the quarter as the Lyons were holding on with all claws to a one-point 36-35 head going into the last 8 minutes.
With Lyon County leading 39-37, Newport made its move. After back-to-back old-fashioned three-point plays from Amontae Lowe and Jabari Covington, Covington added two free throws, and Newport had a six-point lead, setting the stage for the terse finish.
Travis Perry finished the game with 22 points for Lyon County, including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc. Brady Shoulders finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds. One of the stories of the day was the job that Newport did on Jack Reddick, who was heroically trying to push his way through an ankle injury suffered in the All A regional championship against UHA. The Wildcats held Reddick to 0 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds.
Taylen Kenney and Deshaun Jackson scored 14 points each for Newport. James Turner had only 4 points but was huge on the glass with 14 rebounds. In fact, Newport outrebounded the Lyons 21-17 for the afternoon.
After blistering the nets at 61.1 percent in the opening half, the Lyons cooled off at a bad time and shot just 38.9 percent in the second half.
The loss, which is Lyon County’s first to a Kentucky team, drops the Lyons to 20-2 for the year. The Lyons are currently scheduled to host Henderson County Tuesday night in Jason White Gym.
