Newport Basketball Advances with Narrow Win over Redmond

With his team's season on the line and a sophomore at the free throw line, basketball coach Steve Haizlip could be excused for being a nervous wreck on the sideline.

He wasn't and neither was his sophomore shooter.

Isaac Dotson sank two free throws with 5.8 seconds left and Newport survived a near-miss at the buzzer by Redmond to advance in the KingCo 4A playoffs with a 41-40 victory on Tuesday night at Juanita High School in Kirkland.

"Isaac's just so level-headed for just being a sophomore," Haizlip said. "He's an absolutely amazing kid, he's confident...I was pretty comfortable, actually."

Dotson was fouled after rebounding a teammates miss with Redmond leading 40-39 and, after a timeout, calmly shot his free throws, barely pausing in between getting the ball and shooting.

Newport then had to survive a scare from the Mustangs. Redmond point guard Andrew Squiers took the ensuing inbounds pass and beat four defenders up-court before dishing to an open Connor Floan. Floan's short attempt at the buzzer looked good, but hit backboard, rolled off the rim and out, giving the victory to the Knights.

It was a fitting end to a back-and-forth fourth quarter that featured three lead changes in the final three minutes.

Newport trailed 41-38 with under a minute left, but Dotson made a lay-up, Redmond turned the ball over on a shotclock violation and Dotson finished off the comeback with his free throws.

That kind of frantic ending did not seem to be in play during the first half. Both teams struggled offensively, combining for 17 turnovers in the first half as Newport opened up a 21-13 lead.

But Redmond woke up in the second half, with Jason Harrington leading the way. Harrington scored 8 points in a span of 48 seconds early in the third quarter and Redmond jumped out to a 31-29 lead.

"We turned the ball over way too much," Haizlip said of his teams third quarter letdown. "I think we're finding out that in KingCo, defense wins the games."

Dotson then took over in the fourth, scoring 10 points in the quarter after being shut out in the second and third quarters. Dotson finished with 18 points.

The win puts Newport into the next round of the losers bracket of the KingCo tournament, where they will face Skyline on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. at Juanita, which edged past Woodinville in the late game. The winner of that game will advance to play the number-three seed out of the WesCo 4A conference for the final state tournament spot.