Newport thwarts Tribe 4A basketball playoff bid

Scappoose falls behind early and never quite gets within range

By John Brewington

The South County Spotlight, Mar 9, 2010

TOP SCORER—Scappoose’s Jacob Kienlen got hot in the second period but it would not be enough.

John Brewington / The Spotlight

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Newport’s quickness and pressure proved too much for the Scappoose Indians on Wednesday night in the first round of the 4A boys’ basketball playoffs.

The Indians didn’t lay down by any means. They made several runs at Newport but each time the Cubs had an answer, prevailing in the end, 71-57.

Newport built a 20-9 lead by late in the first period, and only Cody Stutzer’s three at the horn closed the gap. Scappoose would get closer in the second period, but fell farther back in the third and languished around 13 points behind the rest of the way. Early turnovers and errant passes plagued Scappoose in the first half.

Scappoose guard Jacob Watt had the unenviable task of trying to contain Newport’s Tristan Metcalf. The 6-foot, 1-inch senior point guard would lead all scorers with 25 points.

“He’s an athlete,” Watt said afterwards. “I heard he was getting recruited for football and baseball at OSU. He’s strong. One time I jumped up and he caught me on the way down.

I thought I was going to land on my face and he just caught me. (You’ve) got to give credit to them, they played really well.”

“Anytime I’m scouting a team, at the end, I’m always right down two or three things that I feel like we must do to win. For Newport I wrote in my notes, rebound and handle their pressure and we win the game,” Coach Ryan Svenson said. “Unfortunately we got hurt in those areas, with 23 turnovers and getting out rebounded by nine. We felt like we were ready to go and that we’d be able to handle their press and traps, but it’s a hard thing to replicate in practice and we really struggled against their length and athleticism. We knew going in that there would be some match up problems for us and that proved out during the game.”

The Indians were fairly close to Newport after the first period. Jacob Kienlen went on a streak for Scappoose in the second period. He scored the first 12 points of the period for the Indians, including two treys, and Scappoose pulled within four. Newport came back with eight and led by nine, 36-27 at the break. Kienlen would lead Scappoose with 17 points. Cory Hendryx added 16. Scappoose guard Nick Paxton felt the Indians gave it their all. “I thought we played hard,” he said. “They were very athletic. They made some really tough shots and we weren’t making shots. It was tough.”

Newport outscored the Indians 9-2 in the first two minutes of the third period. They led 45-16. Scappoose surged at times, but could only get as close as 10 points.

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