It was February 14, Cooper had just lost their fifth of the last six games to a 7-18 Dixie Heights team in double overtime.
Caleb Brooks was already lost for the season to a knee injury in December, then the Jaguars got some good news, JaShaun Pouncy ruled eligible right before the 33rd District tournament. The Pouncy addition jolted the Jaguars past Boone County and Conner on their way to a 33rd District title.
But Pouncy went down in the third quarter of the Ninth Region Quarterfinals against Highlands on Wednesday. He’d be lost for the season as well with a knee injury, the Jaguars then rallying to defeat the Bluebirds.
But here was Covington Catholic, 27-4 and the consensus pick to win the region.
Cooper’s resolve and resiliency showed once again, knocking off the Colonels 57-54 to advance to Tuesday’s Ninth Region championship. From 13-12 and a bad loss on Valentine’s Day to not losing since and a game away from Rupp Arena and the state tournament.
“I’m in love with this team. I mean, every team is different. Everything is special in their own way. But we’ve really challenged this team and this team has challenged me. I’ve had to adjust and how to figure out how to work with them. My normal ways of motivating and pushing hasn’t worked, so I’ve had to be better. We’ve got so many scars with this team, we’ve got guys hobbling around everywhere,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said. “The way that this team leans on each other is a very special thing.”
It’s been a full on team effort for the Jaguars despite being shorthanded. Seven of the eight players that entered the game on Sunday scored, led by Yamil Rondon’s 16 points.
Rondon wasn’t backing down from the moment and decorated Colonels guard Evan Ipsaro. Instead of letting the game come to him, Rondon took it to the Colonels early on, a 9-2 personal run giving them a 15-4 lead.
“He’s a great player. I look up to him, so me going at him, giving him a couple of buckets here and there. He’s coming back. He’s giving them back. I mean, that’s what fed the game up. Energy was going, our teammates are connected, we’re doing good, we’re all, really connected. Nobody’s here, nobody’s there, we’re all connected and I thought we started off well in the first half,” Rondon said.
Despite taking just 34 shots in the contest to CovCath’s 48, Cooper finished 58% from the field and knocked down 6-of-12 three-point attempts.
They’d take a 15-10 lead after one, expanding it to 21-10 after a Trevor Ollier and Isaac Brown 3-pointer. CovCath responded with a 6-0 run, but Cooper’s poise had them up 30-20 at the break.
“You give them so much confidence when they’re get off to a start like that. It takes a lot to get back into it. Takes a lot more energy and then you get into defensive mode where you try to trap and get some steals. We didn’t do a good job defensively communicating and that really hurt us in the first half,” Colonels coach Scott Ruthsatz said.
After it looked as if the Colonels were going to mount their run within six to eight points for pretty much the entire third, Drew Schilling’s layup gave Cooper a 41-30 lead in the final minutes of the quarter.
But here came the run. It was 10-0 to get CovCath within one, Ipsaro scoring a layup with 5:20 remaining.
But even with their “scars” as Sullivan has stated this tournament, Cooper responded again. This time a 8-0 run to get them up nine with less than two minutes to play, Nnamdi Ajaezu’s back-to-back layups making it 49-40 with a little more than a minute to play. Ajaezu’s play this tournament has been critical. First it was helping contain Highlands’ Seth Ryan in the quarterfinal, Sunday it was the defense on Ipsaro and adding 13 points.
“We just talked in the locker room. I looked right at him in his eyes and I said, ‘When the year started, did you think you’d be in this situation?’ Then he just had a big ole’ grin on his face and had a smile ear to ear,” Sullivan said.
Evan Ipsaro and company weren’t ready for their season to end yet. They’d get all the way within two after an Ipsaro 3-point play to make it 54-52 with 15 seconds left.
Ajaezu then hit two free throws, Ipsaro’s layup on the other end making it 56-54 with four seconds remaining.
Andy Johnson then hit 1-of-2 from the line, the second one hitting off the back of the rim and giving the Colonels one last chance, Ipsaro hitting Brady Hussey up the floor in a deep 3-pointer that looked on line, but drew back iron and sent the Jaguars into a frenzy.
Cooper heads to Tuesday’s championship to face Newport, a team they faced on Feb. 9 and one of those five out of six losses, a 44-42 defeat.
“It’s going to be a dogfight again. They’re so talented. They’ve got a great group and Miller leads that group and man he’s a horse. It’ll boil down to all the little things. It really will and we preached that today. I listened to Coach Holthaus’ (Cooper girls coach) interview after the game last night and he’s talking about all those little things and he’s spot on,” Sullivan said.
The Colonels season comes to a close at 27-5. They were led by Evan Ipsaro’s 21 points as he finished as the program’s second all-time leading scorer.
“Just the bonds I made with everybody,” Ipsaro said. “I mean those are things that are gonna go for life. So I feel like that’s more important than what happens on the court.”
Ayden Link added 12, Hussey with 10. The Colonels have a large senior class with eight of them.
“It’s always tough. My 12th year, it’s always hard. They’re such great kids. This group is fantastic and they all get along. We had four or five seniors that didn’t play today and you think of how much they sacrificed. They are all part of the family, no one cares how many minutes you play. You feel for them because those practices are hard and long,” Ruthsatz said. “We won 27 games and my assistants are fantastic. I want to make sure I give them all a shout out. They do the scouts, they’re in-depth, there’s film and they did a fantastic job. I feel like this is by far my second best coaching year with this staff, 2015 up there too.”
COOPER — 15-15-11-16 — 57
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 10-10-12-22 — 54
Cooper (57) — Rondon 16, Johnson 13, Ajeazu 13, Lutz 7, Ollier 3, Brown 3, Schilling 2
CovCath (54) — Ipsaro 21, Link 12, Hussey 10, K. McGillis 4, Johnson 4, Jones 3
