A lot of the talk surrounded Jaguars Reed Sheppard and Covington Catholic’s Evan Ipsaro headed into Saturday night’s matchup.
Rightfully so, two of the top candidates to win Mr. Basketball in Kentucky this year.
But it was CovCath’s Ayden Link stealing the show in the closing minutes, scoring eight points in the final two minutes as the Colonels (16-2) surged late in a 69-65 victory.
“This was definitely enjoyable,” Link said. “Coming to the games when I was younger and seeing this and being able to be a part of it is a lot of fun.”
Tied at 55 with a little more than two minutes to play, Link blocked a shot. He then followed it with back-to-back 3-pointers in the same corner right in front of the Colonel Crazies. The roof almost blew off after the second one.
“When Link hit those two 3-pointers, that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard this place,” Ipsaro said, who’s played in quite a few games in Park Hills over the last three seasons.
It ignited a 10-0 run in a little over a minute, propelling the Colonels to the victory in front of a sold out crowd.
CovCath made things difficult all evening on Sheppard, the University of Kentucky signee finishing with four points, his only field goal coming in the closing seconds of the game off a long rebound with the game already decided. Sheppard added six rebounds and eight assists as he often found the open teammate due to multiple Colonels running at him, but CovCath wanted to make sure someone other than Sheppard was going to beat them.
“Trying to face guard him to eliminate, really getting over in the gaps and making guys make shots. I think the other thing was switching guys up, once a guy got a foul, we switch it up. We had three rotations, maybe four rotations of guys on one guy and some of them were bench players. Got someone fresh on him, made him so sick of being faceguarded. He made the right plays, just sometimes the shots go in, sometimes they don’t,” Colonels coach Scott Ruthsatz said.
Ryan Davidson and Gavin Chadwell almost just did that, Davidson finishing with 32 points and nine rebounds, Chadwell 14 points and nine rebounds, the two helping mount a rally in which the Jaguars (11-9) faced a 12-point second half deficit to eventually take the lead in the fourth.
A 15-2 run gave the Jaguars their first lead of the night after a Gavin Chadwell putback to make it 44-43 with 7:30 remaining in the game.
The Colonels responded with a 7-2 run for a 50-46 edge, Ipsaro scoring five points during the run and 12 of his 21 in the fourth quarter.
“Coach calls that timeout when we’re down one and I told the guys just put everything you got out there on the floor. If the ball doesn’t bounce our way, that’s it, but you don’t want to leave here thinking you didn’t give it 100%,” Ipsaro said.
The Jaguars answered back with a 7-0 run of their own, Brady Brock’s triple giving them a 53-50 lead with about four minutes to play.
Ipsaro responded with five straight again, a 3-pointer giving the Colonels a 55-53 edge.
Davidson answered with a layup, knotting the game up at 55.
Then Link stole the show. A block, 3-pointer and 3-pointer and suddenly a 61-55 Colonels lead with 1:27 to go. Ipsaro followed with a Eurostep and layup, Brady Hussey hitting two free throws to basically end the game in a minute span.
The win gives more validation to a Covington Catholic team already considered as one of the state’s elite.
If Ipsaro needed to state his case as the state’s best player, he did so with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists. He’ll get another chance to do so again as the two will play again on Feb. 10 at North Laurel.
“I don’t really see it as playing against a marquee player. I see it as playing against North Laurel. That’s no discredit to Reed, kids an amazing player, probably the best in the state,” Ipsaro said.
Another marquee player was in the building watching, Colonels alum CJ Fredrick taking in the game after he and the University of Kentucky beat Texas A&M earlier in the day for their third straight win. Fredrick was recognized at halftime and got to see one of his future teammates in Sheppard. Fredrick helped lead the Colonels to the 2018 KHSAA state championship.
“You always got to remember those days. Sometimes you take it for granted on how lucky you are when you look at that poster over there (of the state championship team). All the guys that are there that are still playing, that are going to be playing at the next level. So proud of what we’ve been able to establish here but you look at those and we say ‘Man, those days were great.’ So glad they’re invested in the future of the program and love them all, all those groups,” Ruthsatz said.
