Newport boys get needed league wins

NEWPORT – Newport senior Austin Owen scored 29 points, including three 3-pointers as the Grizzlies got their first win of the season, a 59-48 defeat of Chewelah in a Northeast 2B league game Wednesday night, Jan. 29, at Newport.

Newport followed it up with a key 41-36 home win against Kettle Falls Saturday, Feb. 1 in the last regular season league game of the year, positioning themselves for a playoff run.

Newport coach Brett Mackey said the Chewelah win was a relief.

“The win against Chewelah just seemed to give the team a sigh of relief,” he says. “Now we are just playing basketball, and that showed over the last couple games.”

Owen led all scorers and was the only Grizzly to score in double figures in both games. Against Kettle Falls he scored 15, including a pair of 3-pointers. Berg Hughes and Hank Kirkwood both scored nine against Chewelah including a 3-pointer for Hughes. Against Kettle Falls, Zach Peone scored eight points and Kutter Driver scored six points, including a 3-pointer for each.

There were 45 fouls in the Chewelah game, including a technical team foul on Chewelah. Newport picked up 23 fouls and Chewelah 22. Each team had two players foul out.

Newport cut down on the fouling against Kettle Falls, with 10 fouls to Kettle Fall’s 20. Kirkwood picked up a technical foul, but no Grizzlies fouled out.

Mackey says the Kettle Falls game was a grind.

The win put Newport (2-8, 2-16) in a game at St. George’s (5-5, 8-10) Tuesday, Feb. 4. Win or lose Newport hosts Davenport (8-10, 5-5) Thursday, Feb. 6 for their last regular season game and senior night. That game starts at 5:45 p.m.

“This week will determine playoff scenarios. If we can manage to get another win, we should be into the double elimination portion of the district tournament starting next week,” Mackey says. “If we stay in the position that we are in, then we would play in a play-in game at St. Georges on Saturday vs. a South NE2B team.”