While Holy Cross ran the gauntlet last year to earn their berth to Richmond, things set up rather nicely this year as their path is carved out to return to Eastern Kentucky University for the All “A” state tournament January 26-29.
It would be quite the surprise if the Indians aren’t in Saturday night’s 9th Region All “A” Classic tournament final, assuming they get past Heritage Academy and then either the Dayton/Villa Madonna/Ludlow winner of the play-in and quarterfinal matchup on the bottom half of the bracket.
The most intriguing storyline of the tournament is who comes out of the top half of the bracket? Newport, Beechwood, St. Henry and Newport Central Catholic can all make their case.
The tournament begins Monday night. All games will be played at Beechwood High School.
The first two matchups on Monday are the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds taking on the Bellevue Tigers at 6 p.m., followed by Villa Madonna and Dayton at 7:45 p.m.
Newport Central Catholic enters the tournament 8-7 led by Senior Coby Kramer and Junior Jase Iles who average a combined 33.4 of the Thoroughbred’s 73.6 points per game. Kramer is fifth in the state for 3-point field goals made averaging 3.9 per game which adds to the team’s 36.5% shooting percentage from the 3-point line which ranks 49th in the state. The Tigers enter 4-8 and are coming off a Friday night victory against Calvary Christian. Junior Noah Frommeyer is averaging 14.6 points per game to lead the offense for the Tigers. The winner of this game will face St. Henry Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
On the other side of the bracket Dayton (3-9), will face Villa Maddona (4-10). These teams played each other Friday night and the Vikings won 79-71. The Vikings had five different players score in double digits and attempted 41 free throws in the victory.
On Tuesday night, the quarterfinals begin with the winner of NCC and Bellevue taking on St. Henry (5-8) at 6 p.m. St. Henry comes in winners in three of four, led by Senior Braden Fedders who is 20th in the state in field goal percentage shooting an extremely high 65%. If NCC wins Monday night this will be a rematch from an early season matchup between these two teams which occurred on Dec. 3. NCC came out on top with a 70-57 victory. St. Henry was held to 13% shooting from the 3-point line and only 54.8% from the free-throw line on 31 attempts. Kramer and Iles combined for 47 in that game so clearly, the Crusaders will have to be able to stop the Thoroughbred’s deadly duo if they hope to avenge that early loss.
The other quarterfinal on this side of the bracket will be between two teams that can make a run at Richmond. The Newport Wildcats come in at 12-3 and are led by a variety of weapons, starting with lone senior Marquez Miller. Miller averages 13.5 points and 5.7 rebounds a game. After a 2-2 start, the Wildcats were given a boost of firepower when Jabari Covington was ruled eligible. Since then the Wildcats have gone 10-1 and Covington has led the offense with 14.5 points per game, not to mention what dynamic freshman Taylen Kinney and James Turner are capable of, Kinney averaging 14.1 points per game and Turner with 8.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. On the other side of the floor will be the Beechwood Tigers (5-9) who are commanded by three-year starter Cameron Boyd, who is 45th in the state with 21.7 points per game. Boyd and his partner in crime Cash Harney, who is averaging 15.7 points per game, will be hoping to get to the free-throw line as much as possible. The Tigers are second in the state shooting 80.8% from the charity stripe. Boyd is shooting 91.2% from the line which ranks second in the state. This could be tough against a Newport defense that ranks 16th in the state allowing only 50.2 points per game. This game will come down to which team takes care of the ball better and doesn’t allow the other to get easy baskets. Both of these teams struggle to shoot from distance as both are shooting right around 30% from the three-point line.
On Wednesday night, the two other quarterfinal matchups tip-off with the winner of Dayton (3-9) and Villa (5-10) facing Ludlow (10-5) for a birth in the semifinals. Ludlow is led by star senior guard Jaxson Rice, who is averaging 31.5 points per game which is third in the state. The Panthers hold double-digit victories over both Villa and Dayton in which Rice had 26 and 41 points. No matter who wins on Monday clearly the key in this game will be stopping Jaxson Rice.
After the finish of that game, the Holy Cross Indians (8-5) will face the Heritage Academy Eagles (8-4). Indians superstar Jacob Meyer currently leads the state in scoring averaging 34.8 points per game to lead the Indians’ seventh-ranked scoring attack in the state at 78.5 points per game. The Eagles have four double-digit scorers led by Landon Warner who is averaging 18.7 points per game. This is the first time these two teams have matched up this season but the Indians did win the last time these teams played back in 2021.
The semi-finals will be played on Friday night with the games beginning at 6 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. The Championship will be played Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Tournament schedule:
Monday, January 9
Play-In Games
Newport Central Catholic vs Bellevue, 6 p.m.
Dayton vs Villa Madonna, 7:45 p.m.
Tuesday, January 10
Quarterfinals
St. Henry vs Newport Central Catholic-Bellevue winner, 6 p.m.
Newport vs Beechwood, 7:45 p.m.
Wednesday, January 11
Quarterfinals
Ludlow vs Dayton-Villa Madonna winner, 6 p.m.
Holy Cross vs Heritage Academy, 7:45 p.m.
Friday, January 13
Semifinals
St. Henry-Newport Central Catholic-Bellevue winner vs Newport-Beechwood winner, 6 p.m.
Ludlow-Dayton-Villa Madonna winner vs Holy Cross-Heritage Academy winner, 7:45 p.m.
Saturday, January 14
Championship, 7 p.m.