Newport Boys Basketball Team Fights Off Skyline, Advances to Cross-Over Game

The Newport Knights boys basketball team used suffocating defense and a barrage of free throws down the stretch to hold off the Skyline Spartans, 53-46 in the third-place game of the 4A KingCo boys basketball tournament on Thursday.

The Knights, despite trailing 18-6 after the first quarter, regrouped on the defensive end to earn the victory.

Skyline took a 22-19 lead into the half and were able to withstand the Knights' run to open the third period even as Kasen Williams collected his third foul four and a half minutes into the quarter.

Newport sophomore Issac Dotson took advantage of Williams' time on the bench, scoring four quick points to push the lead to 31-26.

But Skyline remained determined even with their superstar battling foul trouble and trailed by only a point, 33-32 entering the fourth quarter.

The score was the same twenty seconds into the final frame when Williams picked up his fourth foul, grabbing a Newport player after turning the ball over and again sending him to the bench.

By the time he returned with 3:46 remaining in the game, Newport had their largest lead of the game at five points and the Spartans had yet to score a point in the fourth quarter.

"I think our kids got a little too comfortable and they [Newport] amped it up," said Skyline coach J. Jay Davis.

But Davis would not go as far as to suggest it was Williams foul trouble that stifled his team's offensive output.

"We struggled offensively in the second half and it had nothing to do with Kasen being on the bench," said Davis.

"The bottom line is they [Newport] wanted it more than we did."

To Davis' point, the Spartans remained unable to crack the Newport defense even after Williams returned with a little under four minutes remaining in the game.

The Knights, meanwhile, continued to build upon their lead with the interior presence of Dotson and the outside shooting of Kyle Brown, who finished with 13 points.

Dotson, who scored a game-high 18 points, spoke after the game about his ability to keep the high-flying Williams off the offensive glass, where the senior makes his living above the rim.

"I've been matched up with him before and I know what he likes to do," said Dotson.

"I just did my best to stick him and keep him out of the paint."

Newport coach Steve Haizlip praised Dotson for his willingness to take on the challenge of dealing with Williams on both ends of the floor.

"Issac is one of those guys that you ask him to do anything and he'll do it," said Haizlip.

It was Haizlip who called a timeout after Skyline took a 8-2 advantage and chided his team for their poor energy and lack of effort early on.

"Step it up or it's time to go home," Haizlip told his team.

"If we don't pick it up, our season is over."

Williams, who is one of four Skyline seniors who saw their Spartan career end on Thursday, finished with ten points to lead his team.

Bryan Cikatz, Lucas Shannon and Will Parker scored eight each for Skyline.

Cole Wiper, a senior swingman and Drew Caraway each added seven points in the victory for the Knights.

Newport converted on 18 of their 22 free throw attempts during the fourth quarter while Skyline shot six free throws for the entire game.

Three of those came after an intentional foul was called on Skyline freshman Jonah Eastern, when he wrapped up Newport's Miles Fowler to prevent a fastbreak layup opportunity after Fowler swiped an errant Skyline pass.

Fowler made one of the two intentional free throws to make the score 48-41 and after the Knights were then awarded possession of the ball, Wiper was fouled again and added two more free throws to push the lead to nine with only 40.5 seconds remaining.

The win sends Newport into an all-or-nothing game against the third place team from 4A WesCo (Lake Stevens or Arlington) next Tuesday at Newport High School with a scheduled tip time of 7pm.

The winner of that contest will move on to the state tournament while the loser will be sent home.