Covington Catholic senior Evan Ipsaro hit buzzer beaters to close out the first, second and third quarters on the way to 32 points as the Colonels extended their win streak over Beechwood to seven straight, 70-52.
“I’ve watched him for three years. He’s the only guy that I can say consistently does that,” said CovCath Coach Scott Ruthsatz. “If you give him the ball with a few seconds left, I would put money on it that he’s making that shot because he’s an ultimate competitor.”
Ipsaro gets glowing reviews from the opponent often, too.
“He’s a tremendous player. He’s as good as they come in Northern Kentucky, maybe in the state,” said Beechwood Coach Erik Goetz. “He’s really talented and obviously likes the bright lights, and he’s tough to stop in any circumstance. Those were back breakers. We got to do better situationally, but he’s tough to stop. He’s one of the best players in Kentucky, got to give him some credit.”
The Den at Beechwood was at full capacity for this 35th District rivalry. And Ipsaro, a Miami (Ohio) signee, proved to be worth the price of admission. The Mr. Basketball candidate entered the game averaging 25.4 points per game.
With the game tied at 10-10 early, Ipsaro dropped a midrange jumper to give CovCath its first lead with four minutes to play in the first quarter. He closed out the quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the visitors an 18-10 advantage. Ipsaro had eight of those 18.
After a Logan Wermuth three cut the Colonels lead to 18-15, Ipsaro answered with a three of his own followed by a baseline jumper. Beechwood battled back. Jack Sullivan’s triple pulled the Tigers to within 23-20 with just under two minutes to play until half.
About a minute later, Ipsaro stopped and popped a free-throw jumper in transition to give CovCath a seven-point cushion. Then with three seconds left in the first half, the Colonels inbounded from just in front of the Beechwood bench. Ipsaro caught the ball in the corner, shot faked and blew by on the baseline for an easy two just as the halftime horn sounded to give his team a 29-22 lead.
“It just gives you that momentum that you need, especially going into halftime when we didn’t feel like we were playing too well,” said Ruthsatz, who became Covington Catholic’s all-time winningest coach this season, now at 322 wins to 69 losses.
Ipsaro had all but two of the Colonels’ 11 points in the second quarter and had 17 points at the midway point.
Because of Ipsaro, what could’ve been a five-point deficit after one quarter was instead eight. What could’ve been a five-point deficit at the half was instead seven. Without those two buzzer-beating buckets, Beechwood would’ve only been down two at the half.
The Tigers came to play, and that fight was noticeable on the backboard. Beechwood outrebounded CovCath 23-13 in the first half.
“I thought we really played well defensively,” Goetz said of his Tigers’ first-half
effort. “All night, I thought we rebounded the ball well. That was a major point of emphasis for us. I thought our defense kept us in the game. Offensively, I thought we took some bad shots but also had some really good looks there and couldn’t cash in that first half. It could’ve been a very different score at halftime and maybe the second half turns out differently, who knows.”
Coach Ruthsatz agreed.
“(Beechwood) showed great toughness inside. They rebound the ball well. They
offensive rebounded really well. And we just had no answer for them early. They kept balls alive. They made big shots. They made layups. And they had us on our heels,” the Colonels coach said.
Ipsaro was well aware of the implications on Friday of being a district seed game.
“We knew it was a big game. We knew they were going to pack the place.” Ipsaro said. “To be honest, we didn’t really follow coach’s plan too well. He told us to come out, take good shots, get layups, don’t start jacking up threes. We played the basketball that (Beechwood) wanted us to play, and I think that was reflected in the (haltime) score.”
The top-five team in the state pulled away from the Tigers in the third quarter. The lead grew to 10 on an Athens McGillis three. Ipsaro tacked on four more with an elbow jumper and a pair of free throws.
And once again, he got the call with the quarter winding down.
CovCath inbounded the ball under the Beechwood basket with three-point-five seconds remaining. The pass came to Ipsaro in the backcourt. He raced past a defender to the left side of the key, pulled up from about 22 feet and got nothing but net as the clock hit zero. That made it 52-37 after three and 26 points for Ipsaro.
How does he do it?
“Honestly, it’s the team and the coaches. They trust me enough to get it in my hands at the end of the quarter. They know it’s going to me, and it’s my job to make a play. Everything to them for trusting me,” Ipsaro said.
Ipsaro’s next bucket with 4:40 left in the fourth quarter gave Catholic its biggest lead of the game at 61-39. He finished 12-of-20 from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line to go with four rebounds and four assists.
“He will do kind of whatever it takes to win the game,” Ruthsatz said of his star. “He hasn’t lost many games while he’s been here over his three years. He can pass. He can shoot. He can take you off the dribble. He’s got a great mid-range. And then defensively he can really pick up the pace, too.”
Brady Hussey had 18 points and five rebounds for the Colonels. Catholic’s Kascyl McGillis chipped in with nine points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Beechwood was led in scoring by Cash Harney with 14 points. Cameron Boyd had a double-double for the Tigers with 11 points and 11 boards. Teammate Jack Sullivan had 10 points and six rebounds.
CovCath shot nearly 52 percent (27-of-52) and 40 percent from three-point range (8-of-20). Beechwood was held to 20-of-56 from the field (35.7%) and 5-of-17 from three (29.4%).
The bright spot for Beechwood was rebounding, winning the battle on the boards 37-28, which included 10 second-chance points on 12 offensive rebounds.
CovCath was able to capitalize on 16 Tigers turnovers, resulting in 18 points. The Colonels now lead the all-time series with Beechwood 64-9.
Covington Catholic improves to 12-1 and has yet to lose to in-state competition, with its lone loss coming to a top five team in Florida against Olympia. The Colonels now enter a stretch of five straight home games, beginning with Conner on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. That’s followed by visits from Holmes, Highlands and Lloyd Memorial before Reed Sheppard and North Laurel come to town on January 21.
Beechwood has dropped four in a row heading into the 9th Region All “A” Classic against Newport on Tuesday.
