| Highlands Throttles Newport Central Catholic
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| PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands junior Will Herald (15) makes a pass in a game earlier this season. |
This rivalry game has gone well in favor of the Blue and White these last several years.
The Highlands Bluebirds boys basketball team (16-6 overall) extended their winning streak to five in a row over the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (7-15) on Saturday. It started out close. But Highlands pulled away in the second quarter for the most lopsided win during the streak with a convincing 90-60 win on the Hill.
“We wanted the pace up and down. I thought we got to it in the first quarter and then in the second quarter, we were able to get a few more turnovers out of them, which led to us getting some transition looks,” said Kevin Listerman, Highlands Head Coach. “Despite having some of our seniors get into foul trouble, we were able to continue to push the pace.”
The Bluebirds did it with their balanced scoring attack as 11 different players scored. Senior guard Zach Barth led the way scoring 26 points. Junior guard Will Herald followed with 21 making three three-point tries and sophomore center Brody Benke scored 17.
“It was going to be a really energetic game and we knew in order to win the game, we had to keep ourselves in the game,” Herald said. “We couldn’t let the emotion get the best of us and I think we did a really good job of that.”
Highlands made 36-of-53 shots for 68 percent including 6-of-10 from three-point range for 60 percent and 12-of-21 free throws for 57 percent. The Bluebirds also had 33 rebounds. Benke, junior guard Seth Ryan and senior forward Oliver Harris had five rebounds each.
NewCath made 19-of-53 shots for 36 percent including 6-of-25 from three-point range for 24 percent and 16-of-24 free throws for 67 percent. The Thoroughbreds also had 22 rebounds led by seven from junior Kaden Butts.
The Thoroughbreds saw one player reach double digits. That is junior Coby Kramer with 14 points. Kramer had played limited varsity action with the Bluebirds as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to NewCath recently.
The Bluebirds take on Bellevue (3-17) on Monday in the final 36th District game of the season. Game time is 7:30 p.m.