LEXINGTON – They’re still standing. Although the heart of this Covington Catholic team, point guard Evan Ipsaro, is limping. More like standing on one leg.
But if you thought Ipsaro was hurt badly enough to stay in the locker room after a painful ankle injury left him lying at the bottom of a pile on a rebound attempt with 4:18 left, well, think again.
Nope, Ipsaro returned for the final two minutes Friday to provide the winning difference in CovCath’s 59-57 survival-into-the-semifinals at Rupp Arena.
Against a tough, gutty, gritty Lyon County team from the Land Between the Lakes country, Ipsaro made the crucial shots – and the only two free throws for CovCath in the final two periods – to give the Colonels their second straight escape from a Sweet 16 outing that looked like it just might be their last.
Discombobulated by a combination of mystery calls, no-calls, grabbing, pushing and pulling by a smart, physical Lion team, and with the crowd pulling for the underdogs, it took Ipsaro’s two free throws with 8.8 seconds left to provide the difference in this one.
And to send CovCath on to Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinals against another western Kentucky team, a very quick, not-very-big, well-coached Warren Central, a 54-48 winner over Murray in the final game Friday.
“He’s been a warrior all year,” CovCath Coach Scott Ruthsatz said of Ipsaro. “You want the ball in his hands even . . . “ even if he’s on one leg. And even if he was fouled three times by Lyon County on his return, the last one levelling him, before he finally got into the bonus and to the line.
“We had full confidence he was going to make them,” Ruthsatz said. That gave CovCath a 59-55 lead.
And that’s all they needed even though Lyon County just kept making everything the Lions put up from everywhere on the court with the coach’s son, Travis Perry, just a sophomore, hitting for eight quick points of his game-high 21, in 1:40.
It wasn’t enough. As Ruthsatz told his team in the final huddle, “No matter what happens, there’s not going to be enough time.” There wasn’t.
After Lion Jack Reddick’s floater down the lane with 2.3 seconds left, CovCath sophomore Brady Hussey grabbed the ball as he’d been told to do and ran out of bounds – and stayed there. And the clock ticked down to 0:00.
“Survive and advance,” Ruthsatz said as every coach in this situation does. But with a special emphasis on “survive.” Just not the way the 30-4 Colonels usually survive.
This one belonged to junior Kascyl McGillis, whose five-for-11 three-point shooting and 17 points – 12 in the first half – got the Colonels off to a start they had to have.
Then McGillis passed the torch to Hussey, who scored 10 of his 13 points mostly in Ipsaro’s brief absence. “We saw Evan go down . . . we had to win one for our teammate.”
McGillis stepped up first, he admitted, “but then Brady stepped up . . . we just have guys who keep stepping up.”
Six-foot-8 senior Rylee Mitchell was his usual self, with 16 points on seven-of-10 shooting with a pair of dunks. He also had 11 rebounds. But the pile-ups under the basket clearly spooked the not-so-sure-handed Colonels, who were outrebounded 31-26 by the smaller Lions.
“It didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” said Lyon County Coach Brian Perry. But for a team that hadn’t made it to the Sweet 16 in 71 years, “there are no bad finishes at Rupp Arena.
“That’s a really good Covington Catholic team,” Perry said, “you just can’t take everything away from them. It was going to take a special effort to beat them.”
“I’m so proud of our team playing with a team like that,” Travis Perry said, “a team that Lyon County would (normally) never have a chance against.”
But they did have a chance. Even when CovCath went up nine, 37-28, the Lions fought back, taking a 45-41 lead three minutes into the final period with a 17-4 run.
Which is when Rylee inside and Hussey outside got the Colonels going to lead 57-52 in the final seconds. And still they couldn’t shake the Lions.
Until Ipsaro one-legged it back into the game. And CovCath put the ball – and the game – in his hands.
Now the big question is whether — and in what shape — Ipsaro will be able to return Saturday after overnight rehab on that ankle.
And can he do so fit enough to play two games in 4 ½ hours in order for CovCath to win it all?
Ipsaro’s quickness with the ball should somewhat negate Warren Central’s team pressure on defense. Without him, this will be a classic power vs. speed battle.
