Thomas Burns watched at midcourt of the historic David Evans Gymasium Court at Holmes High School with his family knowing every person in attendance at the basketball game stood in his corner.
The Covington Catholic senior lacrosse player is battling a rare form of cancer called Ewing Sarcoma that primarily attacks the bones. The stands filled up for the game particularly on the CovCath side wearing yellow shirts supporting him.
“I knew I had a big support group. But just seeing them all in one room is an incredible thing,” Burns said. “It really makes it a lot easier because this is a rare disease. Very few people get it.”
His family had a whole section blocked off. Burns and family watched the Covington Catholic Colonels (14-2) lead the Highlands Bluebirds (14-6) wire-to-wire in a convincing 71-51 victory.
CovCath head coach Scott Ruthsatz said defensive stops would play a big key in this one.
“Highlands is hard to guard because (the Bluebirds) just spread you out and they have guys that can get by you,” Ruthsatz said. “You have to help and recover. We worked a lot on that in practice. We got exposed against Conner a week ago. We knew coming into games like this you have to defend. We can score. I thought especially in the second half, we were able to get that early.”
CovCath had a number of them in the third quarter expanding a 36-27 halftime lead to 50-29 with a 14-2 run in the first four minutes, 35 seconds of the second half. The Colonels led 31-27 with 1:56 left in the half when Highlands senior guard Seth Ryan made two free throws.
But the Colonels finished the half with a crucial 5-0 run. Senior guard Kascyl McGillis made a three-pointer and senior point guard Evan Ipsaro scored with 25 seconds left.
Highlands head coach Kevin Listerman pointed to turnovers and offensive rebounding leading to the result. Highlands had 18 turnovers to nine for CovCath. The Colonels outscored the Bluebirds, 27-6 off those turnovers.
“We talked before the game about controlling the glass and taking care of the basketball making good decisions with it,” Listerman said. “Outside of that, I thought our kids competed. They did some of the things we asked them to do. You have to give CovCath some credit. Their defense forced us into some bad choices. A lot of those turn into baskets at the other end. Those are hard to guard.”
CovCath also won the rebounding battle, 35-30 including a 13-10 advantage on the offensive glass. The Colonels outscored the Bluebirds, 19-6 in second-chance points.
Both teams like to penetrate and make things happen. CovCath also had 40 points in the paint to 22 for Highlands.
Ipsaro led the way for CovCath again with 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He eclipsed his season-averages of 25.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
“That’s kind of been our identity,” Ipsaro said. “The more I get in the paint, the more chances we get to kick out. It’s about trusting your teammates to knock them down all game.”
But Ipsaro had plenty of even without CovCath’s second leading scorer in injured junior Brady Hussey, who averages 12.9 per game. Senior guard Ayden Link scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior guard Kascyl McGillis and his younger brother in freshman guard Athens McGillis scored 10 points each. Kascyl McGillis came in averaging 10.3 per game.
CovCath shot 48 percent from the field including 30 percent from three-point range compared to 33 percent for Highlands including just 24 percent from three-point range.
“Against a team like this that shoots well, you can’t go for the steal,” Ruthsatz said. “You have to stay disciplined and stay in the gaps. Typically you get off your guys a little to help. But they have too good of shooters to where you just couldn’t do that. That meant other guys had to do a good job of moving their feet, taking a step back and basically keeping them in front.”
Senior guard Seth Ryan led Highlands with 13 points. Brayden Moeves, Nathan Vinson and senior Will Herald scored 11, seven and five points, respectively. Herald came into the game averaging 20.3 points per game with Vinson and Moeves averaging 14.5 and 13.3, respectively.
“Knowing that (Herald) was a shooter really clicked in my head,” Link said. “I knew I had to run him off the line and make him shoot twos and not get hot knocking down threes.”
Both teams return to action later in the week. CovCath plays host to Lloyd Memorial (8-6) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Highlands plays host to Newport Central Catholic (9-9) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Other Boys Basketball Scores
Beechwood 64, Dixie Heights 46
Grant County 71, Conner 44
Lloyd Memorial 61, Newport Central Catholic 55
Oldham County 73, Walton-Verona 63
St. Henry 73, Bishop Brossart 41
Heritage Academy 79, St. Patrick 33
Simon Kenton 63, Williamstown 48
Girls Basketball Scores
Bellevue 64, Villa Madonna 51
Bishop Brossart 57, Boone County 22
Paris 70, Campbell County 56
Dayton 64, Newport 61
Holy Cross 65, Beechwood 32
Jennings County (Indiana) 70, Newport Central Catholic 48
St. Henry 58, Simon Kenton 54
