Tim Sullivan and a number of the players watched the state’s third-ranked Cooper Jaguars girls basketball team led by head coach Justin Holthaus, one of his former assistants, down the Union rival Ryle Raiders, 61-48 for the second straight 33rd District championship on Thursday at the home gym.
About 24 hours later, the Jaguars boys basketball team (16-12) had the chance to make history winning the 33rd District crown in the same season for the first time in school history. The Jaguars had to take the Conner Cougars (19-8) to overtime to do it. But they did it dethroning the three-time defending district champions, 59-55. The district championships this year and last year for the Cooper girls basketball teams are the only two since the school opened in 2008.
“I got to follow (Holthaus),” Sullivan said. “He’s winning and he’s doing it great. I’m at a loss for words right now with the belief in our kids right now, what we’ve been though all year to come out here and do what we did. Justin and the girls are unbelievable to watch and they’re helping raise our game because our boys want to be in that limelight as well. It’s pretty cool.”
Three pairs of siblings play for each of the Cooper basketball teams. Sophomore point guard Yamil Rondon, senior forward/guard Drew Schilling and sophomore forward Austin Alexander play for the boys. Their sisters on the girls team are senior forward/guard Yamilet Rondon, sophomore forward Audrey Schilling and junior guard Maleah Alexander. The Cooper girls have two sisters starting at guard in senior Kay and junior Liz Freihofer.
Cooper and Conner have met for the boys 33rd District crown four of the past five seasons. The Cougars had won the previous three between 2020 and 2022 after the Jaguars won it three straight years between 2017 and 2019.
“That goes back to the kids we’ve had,” said Matthew Otte, Conner head coach. “We’ve had great kids that are willing to work, show up and do what we ask them to do. It’s all them what we’ve accomplished here in this stretch and we’re going to try to continue to do it going forward.”
Both teams saw four different players score. For Cooper, they were the four points per game average leaders not including injured 6-foot-9-inch center Caleb Brooks. Sophomore point guard Yamil Rondon once again directed the offense well scoring 17 points eclipsing is 12.8 points per game average.
“I feel like every since I’ve stepped in here, Coach Sullivan has taught me to buy in every day,” Rondon said. “Every day, we go hard in practice. The Maroon team gets us better and better so I feel they get me more ready every single day for games. I don’t get rattled in games because (my teammates) already do it in practice.”
Cooper senior forward/guard Gavin Lutz also scored 17 eclipsing his average of 9.6 per game. Lutz said he learned a huge lesson from Sullivan after Cooper’s 55-42 loss at Conner on Dec. 16. Conner senior guard Landen Hamilton burned the Cooper defense for the score. After the play, Lutz admitted his fault of pointing fingers. Rondon started to calm things before Sullivan stepped in and told Lutz not to do that again. Rondon and Lutz both made the all-tournament team.
“I needed that,” Lutz said. “The biggest things for us was staying connected. We’ve grown so much in that regard. We started the season struggling. We separated there for a second. All of us have become so much more mature. It’s helped us on the floor.”
But junior forward Shaun Pouncy has given the Jaguars a huge inside scoring presence with 17 points. He became eligible after transferring over from West Clermont (Ohio) just before the season.
Tournament Most Valuable Player Pouncy has scored a combined 39 points in the two tournament games since the Kentucky High School Athletic Association declared him eligible. Pouncy scored 28 points making all 13 shots as a sophomore for Boone County in the 73-63 loss to Conner in the 33rd District semifinals at Ryle last year.
“It feels good to have the support from the fans and especially my team and my coaches,” Pouncy said. “Ever since I came in here, it’s been support and love. Without them, I couldn’t do it. My teammates pushed me showing me some sets. We talked after practice going over everything. It was a great time.”
Many perceive the Jaguars like to slow down the pace and work the ball around for good shots. But Sullivan said the Jaguars are not afraid to push the ball if it is right in the moment. Sophomore guard Andy Johnson scored the other eight points for Cooper.
Every free throw made a difference in this game. Cooper made 14 of 21 free throws for 67 percent and three triples with Conner making seven triples and 10 of 15 free throws for 67 percent.
Conner has consistently seen their four starting senior guards score in double figures all season. But only three did in this game. Dalton Kramer, Landen Hamilton and Daniel Campbell surpassed their season averages of 15.2, 17.7 and 12.2 with 22, 18 and 13 points respectively. Kramer and Hamilton made the all-tournament team.
“We’ve played all those (region tournament) teams this year so we know how to battle against them,” Hamilton said. “We’ll get right back to work (Saturday), keep our heads up and look forward to Monday or Wednesday whenever we play. Cooper was more into us, which could have led to more back cuts. We just didn’t execute and didn’t hit as many shots as we used to.”
The fourth guard in Ayden Lohr averages 14.6 per game. But he did not make any of his three shots leaving the game with an apparent arm injury. Junior forward Ben Fay scored the other two Cougar points in the loss.
“I thought we did a good job,” Otte said. “I thought the pace was fine. No matter when we play or what each team has, it’s like that so we knew it was going to happen so that wasn’t anything I was disappointed with. I thought we played smart. I thought they just made a few more plays down the stretch.”
Neither team led by more than seven points in this one. Tied at 12 in the first quarter, Cooper scored six straight to go up 18-12 with 1:39 left in the first quarter after Pouncy recorded an offensive putback. After Kramer made a three, Pouncy hit two free throws to give Cooper a 20-15 lead after the first quarter. Otte said the Cougars prepared for Pouncy after seeing the Jaguars beat Boone County on Wednesday putting together a scouting report and trying to execute it like other opponents.
Lutz made a reverse lay-up with 6:20 left in the first half before Hamilton and Kramer made consecutive triples to cut that lead to 22-21. After a Pouncy score, Kramer made another one of his five three-pointers to tie the game at 24. After Cooper missed four straight free throws, Hamilton hit two free throws to give Cooper a 26-24 halftime lead.
Cooper started the second half with a 7-0 run after a Lutz three to take a 31-26 lead. But Kramer and Campbell made consecutive threes to put Conner back up 32-31.
Cooper responded with a 7-1 run to go up 38-33 after a Pouncy lay-up. But Hamilton had a steal and lay-up before Kramer recorded a three-point play to tie the game at 38 entering the fourth quarter.
Conner built a 46-41 lead with 3:22 left in the final quarter after Hamilton scored five straight on a three-point play and fastbreak lay-up. After Cooper cut it to 46-45, Kramer made a jumper in the left post to put Conner up 48-45 with 1:14 left before Pouncy recorded a three-point play to tie the game at 48.
“We knew coming into this game you’re not going to outscore Conner with Dalton Kramer playing as well as he is right now,” Sullivan said. “That kid just goes to war. Prayers to out to Lohr. It looked like his shoulder popped out. We know you have to sit down and guard. We even talked about that going into overtime.”
Conner took the ball up the court and ran the clock down before Hamilton put up a shot with just more than six seconds left that missed and the ball went out of bounds to Cooper with 4.6 seconds left. After timeouts from both teams, Cooper turned it over giving the ball back to the Cougars. Hamilton then put up a shot that hit off the back of the rim sending the game to overtime.
The teams exchanged leads in the four-minute overtime session. Tied at 54, Rondon made two fee throws with 38.9 seconds left. Following a miss and foul, Schilling made one of two free throws to make it 57-54 Jaguars.
Cooper elected to foul Hamilton and not allow a potential game-tying three-pointer. He made the first one then missed the second one with 6.9 seconds left. But Cooper grabbed the rebound and Schilling made two free throws with four seconds left to make the final score.
Cooper plays either Highlands, Beechwood or St. Henry in the 9th Region quarterfinals at Truist Arena in Highland Heights. Cooper takes on Newport, Covington Catholic or Lloyd Memorial.
COOPER — 20-4-14-10-11 — 59
CONNER — 15-11-12-10-7 — 55
Cooper (59) — Rondon 17, Pouncy 17, Lutz 17, Johnson 8
Conner (55) — Kramer 22, Hamilton 18, Campbell 13, Fay 2