With their defense a strong suit this season, Covington Catholic showed they can win an up-tempo game too.
The Colonels used a terrific night on both ends of the floor to go the road and
dismantle Walton-Verona, 81-69.
On offense, it started with the inside presence of Caden Miller, who didn’t just finish
with 22 points and nine rebounds, but also scored his 1000th point.
“It means a lot for me,” Miller said. “It’s something that’s been on my mind all year since it’s my senior year. It’s always been one of my goals as a high school player and throughout my career and hopefully I can build off that.”
His physicality and strength made it tough from the get-go on the Bearcats. CovCath
outscored Walton-Verona 50-22 on points in the paint.
“We certainly didn’t stop him tonight. He’s a great player and then add in his size
and physicality,” Walton-Verona coach Mike Hester said. “You watch film and
think there’s ways to stop him and then he comes out and shows you that he’s not a
one-dimensional player, that he can do other things. That’s what he did to us
tonight. I’m just glad we’re not in the 9th region.”
Once the Bearcats adjusted to the post play of the Colonels, the guards stepped up,
especially Cash Harney. Harney, who finished with 29 points, wasn’t just a threat on
offense, but made it tough for the opposing guards on defense.
“I could only do it because of my teammates,” Harney said. “They love to get me shots and I’m thankful for that. When I drive, the defenders like to stay with Caden, so I’m able to get easy shots. As far as defense goes, I feel like my defense is my offense a lot of the time.”
Athens McGillis was another Colonel that had a big night scoring 19 points and hitting 3-of-5 from deep.
Defensively, the quick hands of the Colonels’ guards were a problem for Walton-
Verona.
“We’ve done a good job of that this year. Our guards have great hands,” Colonels coach Scott Ruthsatz said. “They get hands on balls and the last couple of games we’ve had a lot of steals. It was all about positioning and getting in the gaps. Knowing that they love to drive it and kick it we wanted to be there early and see if we can get a couple of strips early and we did.”
The Colonels were clicking with a lead that eventually got up to 25 points, but a last ditch effort by Walton-Verona made it interesting down the stretch. The Bearcats outscored Cov Cath 16-8 in the fourth quarter.
“I probably slowed it down too much for them and they got out of their flow. At that
point, you want to run some clock, you want to make them foul you because you get
the automatic two which I love, we just couldn’t. Suddenly, it got a little tighter,”
Ruthsatz said.
The Colonels won heir seventh straight, moving to 14-4 overall.
Walton-Verona was led by Aaron Gutman, who also scored his 1,000th career point. He led
the Bearcats with 19 points.
“He’s a three-level scorer,” Hester said. “He can score at the rim, mid-range, or perimeter. He fits in great in our offense and style. It just shows because he’s being doing this for two
years. The sky is the limit for him.”
Three other Bearcats had double-digit scoring contributions. Julian Dixon with 18,
Landon Bach with 13, and Zach Smith with 10.
CovCath will finally start to get into the bulk of their region schedule for the rest of the season. They’ve played just six 9th Region opponents to date, with five of their last 11 coming against region opponents. They will go to Lloyd Memorial on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and take on Cooper and Highlands next week.
Walton-Verona moves to 14-6 and plays at Williamstown Saturday at 7:30 p.m. After the 32nd District battle, they’ll turn their attention to the All “A” state tournament that starts on Jan. 25, taking on Augusta in the first round.
“I put this game to prepare us for the All “A” state tournament and I think it did,” Hester said. “Next week, we will see teams that are very similar. It’s nice to have this before we get down there.”
COLONELS 81, BEARCATS 69
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 22-30-21-8 — 81
WALTON-VERONA — 13-26-14-16 — 69
Scoring
COVINGTON CATHOLIC (81) — Harney 29, Miller 22 (9 reb.), McGillis 19, Hussey 9,
Bradshaw 2
WALTON-VERONA (69) — Gutman 19, Dixon 18, Bach 13, Smith 10, Montgomery 6,
Kerns 3
Game Stats
Field Goals: CC 33/57, WV 23/48
3-Pointers: CC 6/11, WV 8/22
Free Throws: CC 9/9, WV 15/18
Rebounds: CC 30, WV 21
Assists: CC 12, WV 11
Turnovers: CC 14, WV 13
Records: Covington Catholic 14-4, Walton-Verona 14-6