With the No. 1 seed on the line for the 33rd District tournament, Ryle came through when it counted most.
Trailing by five against Conner in Hebron late in the third, the Raiders imposed their will in the final frame for a 75-68 victory in the LINK nky Game of the Week presented by Skyline Chili and Mr. Kentucky.
Not only did it secure the No. 1 seed, but it gave the Raiders an eighth straight victory, improving to 12-6 on the season.
“We preach mental toughness, physical toughness, and I felt like our guys were able to impose that in the fourth quarter,” Raiders coach Nic Dorning said.
They were led by AJ Davis with 22 points, earning the Skyline Player of the Game. Davis got going early with three trifectas from deep and 13 first half points.
“I haven’t been shooting the ball well recently, but just have to have that confidence and keep shooting,” Davis said.
Davis then asserted himself on the interior to help the Raiders dominate the boards in the fourth.
“We saw they had five early fouls in the fourth, so we were trying to downhill, get to the line, and try to end the game on the line,” Davis said.
Following Davis was Holden Smith with 19 points and Anthony Coppola with 17. While the trio combined for 58 points, it was Grace Nsuti making the biggest difference in the final frame. Nsuti grabbed offensive rebound after rebound, giving the Raiders multiple chances in the pivotal fourth.
“He is a beast in the paint, defensively, protects the rim, understands his assignment,” Dorning said. “He hit 8-of-9 from the free throw line, was high pointing balls with two hands. I can’t say enough about him and AJ and what they did in the paint tonight.”
Trailing 50-49 going into the final eight minutes, the Raiders opened with a 12-2 run to take the biggest lead of the game at 61-52 with under four minutes to play.
“We just didn’t execute very well,” Cougars coach Nathan Browning said. “We got that five-point lead, and we just kind of went crazy for a couple minutes. Took off in transition, shot, a couple quick bad shots, and they got the rebound, and were able to get down in transition and get a good shot and score and cut that lead.”
Conner’s (9-7) Finn Louden helped keep things interesting as he scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth, but the deficit was too much for the Cougars to overcome, who will be the No. 2 seed for the 33rd District tournament in late February.
The game was halted constantly by whistles. The final line on fouls was 47 fouls and 59 free throws attempted, 44 of them by Ryle (19 in the fourth quarter).
“Lot of fouls, but we talked to our guys, we’ve got to be able to play without fouling and be able to adjust to the officiating,” Browning said. “I thought they called a lot of fouls tonight, but we got to be able to adjust if they’re blowing the whistle like they did tonight.”
The contest was tight throughout, neither team leading by more than five until Ryle’s run in the fourth. Ryle led 15-12 at the end of one, and 31-30 going into the half. Conner built their biggest lead to five at 45-40 with 3:52 left in the third.
“We called a timeout and talked with our players about what we wanted, staying mentally tough,” Dorning said. “Anthony Coppola, one of the leaders of our team, looked down the bench and he said, ‘Guys, it’s only five. We got this, let’s go.’ And the team just fed off of that.”
The Raiders host Simon Kenton on Tuesday their next time out. That is, if any games will be played by then with the impending winter storm set to hit the region over the weekend.
“We enjoyed the moment after the game and I told the guys they’re going to hate me for this, but we’re getting in the gym tomorrow from 9:30-11, because we don’t know when the next time is we’re going to see them,” Dorning said.
Conner has played just four games this month, three in the past three weeks. They’ll be eager to get back on their home floor when they host Covington Catholic on Thursday.
“We’ve tried to pick up games and I emailed and emailed and emailed trying to get people to play and no one could fit us in,” Browning said. “Maybe that was part of it tonight, but I don’t think we came out flat or anything, just didn’t execute.”
MORE PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
RAIDERS 75, COUGARS 68
RYLE — 15-16-18-26 — 75
CONNER — 12-18-20-18 — 68
Scoring
Ryle (75) — Davis 22, Smith 19, Coppola 17, Nsuti 12, Colemire 3, Haley 2
Conner (68) — Louden 31, Back 8, Warner 8, Bushman 6, Nipper 6, Raider 4, Rondon 3, Smith 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Ryle 6, Conner 12
Free Throws: Ryle 33/44, Conner 8/15
Fouls: Ryle 19, Conner 28
Records: Ryle (12-6, 3-0), Conner (9-7, 2-1)