They don’t get much weirder than the 35th District Basketball Championship between visiting Covington Catholic and host Holy Cross.
They certainly played it in the right place Friday night, the place Holy Cross folks call “the Finn” – more properly the Msgr. Thomas B. Finn Activity Center in the heart of Latonia. “The Finn” was filled to the gills not only with fans but, as the name indicates, with activity. Lots and lots of activity.
By early in the second period, there had been five tie-ups, countless deflections, dives all over the floor and fouls, a whole bunch of fouls, as well. And before this one was over, toss in a few technicals followed by a number of officials’ discussions as they managed to keep the lid on this one and when it was all over, no hard feelings.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a blowout that was that intense,” Covington Catholic all-state junior point guard Evan Ipsaro said, with an absolutely on-the-money analysis – and a shake of the head — at how the Colonels’ 96-57 win over the Indians seemed more like a nail-biter than a near-40-point romp.
“I haven’t been in one like that either,” said CovCath junior strong man Chandler Starks, whose 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame was often in the middle of the end-to-end physicality that saw the teams shoot a combined 50 free throws on 42 personal fouls.
“I feed off that,” said Starks, whose 18 points and 14 rebounds fueled the Colonels’ pressure game that uses its quick offense and a constant, get-after-it defense – and lots of substitutions — to wear opponents down over time. And often not very much time. Like instantly. Almost before they know it.
Like when the Holy Cross crowd cheered a Jacob Meyer jumper from the state’s leading scorer that put their team up, 10-9, not four minutes into the game. Three minutes later, Holy Cross still had 10. But CovCath had 21. That’s a 12-0 run in 3:08 although it might have been hard to notice in the din of “the Finn.”
These fans – with maybe a tad more for the state’s third-ranked Colonels going for their 25th victory (against four losses) – simply didn’t take a play off. That’s what happens when you play CovCath. You can’t afford to.
They come at you from so many directions. The explosive Ipsaro led the way, as he often does, with 22 points thanks to 11 of 14 free throws. Six-foot-eight Mitchell Rylee, CovCath’s only senior, powered his way to 20 points and like Starks, 14 rebounds.
“It’s nice when you have a 6-8 and 6-6 guy in there,” Starks said. Especially when you’re going against a junior like Holy Cross’ 6-foot-10, 215-pound Sam Gibson, whose game hasn’t quite caught up with his body although he did make the All-Tourney team.
“I need to play like that,” Gibson said of the CovCath bigs, “lots of defense, rebound everything . . . it helps a lot to play against those guys, it gets me used to it.”
With a personal trainer and a basketball skills trainer, Gibson is working on it. His teammate who doesn’t have to work on the basketball skills part, nor on the physical part of his game, 6-2 junior Jacob Meyer, was able to show off his game as usual, scoring 33 points (not quite up to his 38.5 average), but a heck of an accomplishment against this CovCath defense.
On a couple of those, the left-handed shooter left the floor with the ball in his normal shooting hand only to switch when airborne to convert a field goal with his right hand.
And that was against a CovCath defense that ran three different defenders on him.
“Meyer’s going to get his points,” said Ipsaro, who shadowed him the first period. But what made the CovCath game plan so effective was how they took every other Indian out of the offense with no one else reaching double figures. Junior guard Javier Ward, averaging 18.0 points a game, was limited to four on just six shots.
Brady Hussey gave CovCath its fourth double-figure scorer with 10 points and Mehki Wilson added nine.
The stat line made it clear how this one tilted CovCath’s way from a 21-12 first period on. The starkest difference? CovCath had 11 steals, Holy Cross none. That explains how Holy Cross had 18 turnovers to CovCath’s four.
Although if you’re a Holy Cross fan, or coach, you’re surely looking at the 42-18 CovCath edge in free throws attempted or the 30-13 advantage in free throws made. Although the foul differential – 23 for Holy Cross, 19 for CovCath – doesn’t exactly explain those numbers.
With four of CovCath’s starters underclassmen while Holy Cross’ top three threats are as well, this might be a matchup we’ll see next year, right, Gibson was asked.
Forget next year. “I hope to see them in the finals,” the Holy Cross big man said. Just a little bit after this game, the head-to-head intensity between the two Catholic school rivals hadn’t faded and with both teams advancing, it is possible.
We’ll see how that looks when the eight Ninth Region teams draw for the bracket Saturday for the regional tournament starting Saturday, March 5, at NKU’s BB&T Arena.
This article has been corrected to reference the 35th District. It was incorrectly referred to as the 34th District previously.
