You had the 9th Region’s gold standard over the last 10 years for boys basketball on one side and one that made it back to the championship game for the second time during that span hoping to dethrone the arch-rival.
Both happened to be nicknamed Colonels.
When the game finished, the Covington Catholic Blue Colonels (28-4 overall) brought home another region championship against the Dixie Heights Red Colonels (22-7) with a 59-43 victory. CovCath has won 10 in a row.
The sixth region crowns with Scott Ruthsatz as head coach is the most under one head coach in school history. Mote Hils led the Blue Colonels to five straight region championships between 1967 and 1971.
“You have to stay sharp,” Ruthsatz said of the eight days between games. “But you also can’t see them every day because it’s a long season. We do a lot in the summer. So now, we’ll sit with the coaching staff and take a look at what kind of schedule we put them at. We want to get over in some arenas at Xavier, UC (Cincinnati) making sure we’re staying sharp with the arena feel. I don’t think we need to go for long and we need to make sure they’re taking care of their bodies.”
CovCath will take on the 16th Region champion Ashland Blazer Tomcats (26-5) in the state tournament March 17 at 8:30 p.m. at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The teams met in Ashland on Jan. 29 with the Tomcats handing the Blue Colonels their last loss by a 71-60 final.
The final score does not indicate how close it was until the game’s final three minutes. CovCath did not built a double-digit lead at 49-38 until the tournament’s most valuable player in 6-foot-8-inch senior Mitchell Rylee converted a three-point play on an assist from junior guard Evan Ipsaro with 2:02 left in the game.
Dixie Heights Head Coach Roddy Stainforth said the Red Colonels had to resort to trapping among other things to try to rally late in the game. But he said that is tough to do against the Blue Colonels because they constantly find the open players when doubled, especially Ipsaro.
“(CovCath is) super physical. That bothered us on some shots,” Stainforth said. “We got some good looks that we didn’t connect on.”
The match-up between Rylee and Dixie Heights 6-6 center Billy Wogenstahl would mainly decide who controlled the paint. Rylee had a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds to go with two assists and four blocked shots. Wogenstahl had 11 points, five rebounds, one assist, two blocked shots and a steal. Eight of Wogenstahl’s points came in the first half. Rylee scored 17 in the second half.
“It’s a dream come true for a Kentucky kid playing high school basketball,” Rylee said. “I took a lot to prepare for this post-season. Everybody on the team trusts everybody. When times get tough, we stick together and I know our team is going to finish strong. When we got the ball in the post, if one of us got doubled, we dished it off to others. We have to have the dog mentality every single possession.”
CovCath won the rebounding battle, 28-18 including 14-7 on the offensive glass. The Blue Colonels had 11 second-chance points to five for the Red Colonels.
The Blue Colonels outscored the Red Colonels, 15-2 in points off turnovers. CovCath had seven steals off 12 Dixie Heights turnovers and yielded jus two steals on five turnovers.
The Blue Colonels had better scoring balance recording 1.37 points per possession and 1.11 points per shot to .98 per possession and 1.10 per shot for the Red Colonels. CovCath also had 26 defensive stops to 16 for Dixie Heights.
Ipsaro did his thing running the point. He made all four free throws on his way to 11 points to go with seven assists, one blocked shot and one steal. Junior 6-6 forward Chandler Starks added 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals.
CovCath received a huge boost from sophomore guard Brady Hussey. Hussey scored 11 points to go with three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“Brady was in and out of the starting line-up,” Ruthsatz said. “Then we just made him our defensive stopper throughout the course of the year. But he can make shots and free throws. If you saw us at the King of the Bluegrass (in Louisville) against Male and North Laurel, he made big shots when we needed them. We knew this was a kid we could count on late in games to make good, smart plays. I thought maturity really showed. It’s playing that tough schedule, taking those lumps along the way and getting to that point where he can contribute in big games.”
The fifth CovCath starter in junior guard Kascyl McGillis may not receive the attention the other starters might. But he did have three rebounds and an assist to help the CovCath cause.
“My role is normally to shoot the ball. I went 0 for 4 this game,” McGillis said. “I realize in the second half I needed to create more. I started with defense. I started getting rebounds. I thought that was going to be the most effective way to help the team win.”
CovCath made 22 of 47 shots for 47 percent including 2 of 14 from three-point range for 14 percent and made all 13 free throws. The Blue Colonels also had 14 fouls, 18 assists and five blocked shots.
Dixie Heights made 16 of 33 shots for 49 percent including 4 of 7 from three-point land for 57 percent and 7 of 12 free throws for 58 percent. The Red Colonels also had 15 fouls, 11 assists and two blocked shots.
“(The Red Colonels) really do a nice job running their offense. Guys stay in their lanes,” Ruthsatz said. “They hit some big shots. They really did. They made some great calls that had us spun around defensively. Then I thought in the second, we were able to come out, kind of dictate some things, slowly just do our thing and just try to advance.”
Senior forward Kiernan Geraci kept the Red Colonels within striking range with 16 points to go with three rebounds and two assists. Sophomore Hudson Blank added eight for Dixie Heights. But no one outside the three main scorers for Dixie Heights scored more than three points against the tough CovCath defense.
“You can’t hold Kiernan (Geraci) down for too long,” Ruthsatz said. “But you can’t let other guys get going. We can’t let guys hit threes or do things that a guy that’s averaging six (points per game) get 15 or whatever. That was our game plan. Defend (Wogenstahl and Geraci). If other guys make shots, which they did in the first half, we’ll adjust as the game goes on.”
After Wogenstahl started the game recording an offensive put-back, CovCath scored six in a row before Geraci had a three-point play and Blank hit a lay-up to put Dixie Heights up 7-6. A Hussey three gave CovCath a 12-7 lead before a Rylee score gave the Blue Colonels a 16-9 advantage with 1:30 left in the first quarter. Geraci hit two free throws with 33.2 seconds left to make it 16-11 Blue Colonels after the first quarter.
Dixie Heights fought back and grabbed a 20-18 lead with 5:10 to go in the first half when Blank made a three. The teams went back and forth the rest of the half.
Down one in the final seconds of the second quarter, CovCath’s other senior in guard Mekhi Wilson drove the left baseline and found junior forward Aiden Jones for the score. That gave CovCath a 26-25 halftime lead.
“Everyone plays a big role,” Wilson said of the play. “It felt a little bit more positive (at halftime). It was still a long 16 more minutes of a grind to get it done. You never want to be afraid because that takes away from your game. You want to go to the hole strong and shoot with confidence.”
Dixie Heights had two leads in the third quarter. But a Rylee lay-up with 4:09 left in the quarter gave CovCath lead for good at 32-30. Starks gave the Blue Colonels their largest lead of the third quarter at 38-33 with 1:03 remaining on an assist from Rylee. The Red Colonels trimmed the deficit to 38-34 entering the fourth quarter when Wogenstahl made a free throw.
Neither team scored in the fourth quarter until the 5:04 mark when Hussey made two free throws to give CovCath a 40-34 advantage. Blank found Geraci for the score with 4:35 left in the game trimming the lead back to four at 40-36.
“I like us first. But I picked Dixie Heights second because I knew (Geraci) was a great competitor,” Ruthsatz said. “Billy (Wogenstahl) does a great job inside. Then they have role players that just fit their system. Roddy does a great job of keeping them all together. They competed their tails off (Tuesday).”
But Dixie Heights did not come any closer. CovCath scored seven straight culminating with the Mitchell three-point play. The Blue Colonels outscored the Red Colonels, 12-7 the rest of the game.
Dixie Heights graduates eight seniors from the team. They are Wogenstahl, Geraci, Jay Flynn, Ryan Dilts, Logan Landers, Nate Metzger, Pierce Rohlman and Brennan Staton.
“They are a special, special group,” Stainforth said of the eight Dixie Heights seniors. “They worked their tails off. They overachieve. They give everything they got. They don’t leave anything on the table.”
The teams met early in the season in Park Hills on Dec. 3. CovCath won 79-59.
9th Region All-Tournament Team:
Covington Catholic – Mitchell Rylee (MVP), Chandler Starks, Evan Ipsaro
Dixie Heights – Kiernan Geraci, Jay Flynn
Holy Cross – Jacob Meyer, Sam Gibson
Lloyd Memorial – Ryan Davis, Garrett Vogelpohl
Conner – Dalton Kramer
Highlands – Will Herald
Newport – Evan Snapp
Cooper – Caleb Brooks
9th Region Boys Basketball Results at BB&T Arena at NKU:
Saturday, March 5 Quarterfinals:
Lloyd Memorial 75, Highlands 64
Covington Catholic 49, Cooper 37
Dixie Heights 51, Newport 37
Holy Cross 80, Conner 74
Sunday, March 6 Semifinals:
Covington Catholic 71, Lloyd Memorial 52
Dixie Heights 65, Holy Cross 57
Tuesday, March 8 Title Game:
Covington Catholic 59, Dixie Heights 43