Coaches talk about playing hard for 32 minutes for a reason. If it takes longer than that to earn the desired outcome, so be it.
In the final quarterfinal of the Ninth Region boys basketball tournament on Wednesday at Truist Arena, that wound up being the case, Cooper outlasting Highlands 66-62 in overtime.
Highlands led for the majority of the night and held it throughout the second half.
Cooper found a way to tie it and make enough plays down the stretch for the win.
“We challenged our kids at halftime about sitting down and guarding,” said Tim Sullivan, Cooper head coach. “I thought everything that we’d been through all year long, we were always a unit on the floor. I felt the guys to trust. I’m very emotional right now with what we just did out there in coming from behind. The biggest thing is the mental part of it. We use the saying, ‘Never too high. Never too low.’ There are going to be runs. There are going to be mistakes. You just have to continue to play. Everything we’ve been through has prepared us for this stage. They just believe in one another.”
The Jaguars win ends a four-game losing streak to Highlands. The current seniors were in the eighth grade when the Jaguars last beat the Bluebirds, 47-37 in the same round in 2019. That also happened to be the last region tournament win for Cooper.
Cooper has played without 6-foot-9-inch senior center, who tore his Anterior Cruciated Ligament against Simon Kenton on Dec. 13. But the week of the 33rd District Tournament, junior post Shaun Pouncy became eligible filling that void with 39 points helping the Jaguars to their first district tournament championship since 2019.
But with 6:03 left in the third quarter, Pouncy tried to stop Highlands junior guard Nathan Vinson going to the rim on a fast-break after freshman Vinnie Listerman stole the ball. Both went to the floor after Pouncy fouled Vinson in the air. Cooper staff carried Pouncy to the locker room and he later returned with his left knee wrapped, finishing with six points and five rebounds.
But Cooper rallied around him to record the win. Sophomore guard Yamil Rondon made four three-pointers on his way to 23 points and sophomore guard Andy Johnson scored 13 points with senior forward/guard Trevor Ollier scoring nine making three triples including a critcal one in overtime.
“It’s all about toughness. We went through this year with a chip on our shoulders,” Johnson said. “We feel we can do the same with people out. Everyone doing his part is great. We just have to keep trusting each other.”
Highlands senior guard Seth Ryan carved up the Jaguars with 28 points including 21 in the first half attacking the rim hitting 10-of-15 shots and 7-of-10 free throws.
That is where Cooper senior forward/guard Nmandi Ajaezu came in helping defend Ryan in the second half to go with seven points and two blocked shots. Sullivan pointed out Ajaezu did not make the team last year.
“I knew what we had to do and everyone stepped up to the moment,” Ajaezu said. “He is a great player. But I felt like on defense, we just had to come together and I just had to do my best to do whatever it took to stop (Ryan).”
Senior guard Will Herald finished his outstanding career making 7-of-14 shots including 2- of-4 from three-point range for 19 points. Herald holds the Nnth Region record for most 3-pointers made with 344. Herald and Ryan are the two lone Highlands seniors.
“I told the kids in the locker room I’m just really proud of them,” said Kevin Listerman, Highlands head coach. “This group has done that all year long. In the tournament, you have to make a couple plays. Their physicality, especially at the rim, really was the difference in the game. We didn’t finish a lot of plays that we normally do.”
Highlands took four more shots recording 12 steals on 14 Cooper turnovers while yielding seven steals on 10 turnovers. The Bluebirds outscored the Jaguars, 14-12 in points off turnovers and 22-16 in the paint. But even though Highlands outrebounded Cooper, 32-30 including an 8-5 advantage on the offensive glass, Cooper outscored Highlands, 8-5 in second-chance points. Junior post Brody Benke led Highlands with eight rebounds and Ollier had a team-high six. Benke also had two shot blocks.
Cooper also had 15 assists to nine for Highlands. Rondon led the Jaguars with seven and Vinson had five for the Bluebirds. Johnson had four steals and Vinnie Listerman had six for the Bluebirds.
Highlands scored the game’s first four points before Rondon made two three-pointers and Pouncy scored four straight to put Cooper up 10-4. But Ryan hit a jumper and free throw before Pouncy laid one up in the center to put Cooper up 12-7 entering the second quarter.
Highlands scored nine straight to open the second quarter to go up 16-12. The Bluebirds finished the half with five in a row to go up 29-21 after a Herald three and Ryan jumper.
The Bluebirds built their biggest lead to 31-21 when Vinnie Listerman scored just 26 seconds into the game. After another Rondon trey and two Vinson free throws made it 33-24 Highlands, Johnson recorded a steal and score. After a Benke score, Rondon and Johnson made consecutive threes to make it 35-32 Highlands.
Herald made sure Highlands kept the lead in the third quarter with two buckets around a Ajaezu three-point play. The Bluebirds led 42-37 entering the fourth quarter.
“Obviously when you guard Highlands, you have to guard the three-point line,” Sullivan said. “Our goal was to guard that three-point line and understand you have to be on top of every screen on Will Herald. I remember where we lost him in transition and he hit a three. That can’t happen because he’s way too good to let a kid like that get open.”
After Rondon found sophomore Isaac Brown for the score to make it 42-41 Highlands, Herald and Ryan scored to put the Bluebirds back up 46-41. Cooper had a couple chances to tie the game in the next few minutes, finally doing so when senior guard Gavin Lutz made a three with 40 seconds left. Then after a Rondon steal and score put Cooper up 53-51, Vinson scored to the right of the basket to tie the game at 53. Rondon’s long-distance shot did not go sending the game to overtime.
Lutz hit a free throw and Ollier hit a three with 3:15 left in overtime to put Cooper up for good at 57-53. But after two Herald free throws, Rondon scored again and Johnson made two to put Cooper up 61-55 with two minutes left. After another Highlands miss, Cooper rebounded the ball. But Vinson stole the ball and scored.
“We think body language is a big part in our program,” Ollier said. “When we see their shoulders go down a bit, that’s when we push on the gas and just keep attacking. Don’t let up.”
At the other end, Rondon made two free throws and Ajaezu grabbed the offensive rebound. But another Highlands steal led to a Vinson score with 53.5 seconds left. Johnson hit two free throws before Ryan had a three-point play to cut the lead to 64-62 with 41.7 seconds left.
Listerman stole the ball with 23.1 seconds left. But Highlands turned the ball stepping on the half-court line with 22.2 seconds left for an over-and-back call. Rondon and Lutz hit two free throws after that to put the final touches on the win.
“We feel we have two guys that can get to the rim,” coach Listerman said. “The last play was for Seth. We mishandled it. He and Nathan have been the guys. But we had some guys step up and make some plays. We just didn’t make those plays to flip the score.”
Cooper takes on Covington Catholic (27-4) on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. back at Truist Arena. CovCath beat Cooper, 78-69 in overtime in Union on Jan. 24.
“We’ll have a few things. But let’s face it. They’ll have the best player on the court (senior guard Evan Ipsaro),” Sullivan said. “We’ll have to find a way to control him and figure a way to put the ball in the hole. They’re going to take some of the things away. We have a little time to prepare and figure it out.”
CovCath has won six of the last nine region championships and state championships in 2014 and 2018. Cooper won the region championship in 2017 on its way to finishing state runner-up to Bowling Green.
Highlands won three 36th District championships and the 2021 state championship in Herald and Ryan’s four years. Herald came into the season the lone starter left from that state championship team.
HIGHLANDS — 7-22-13-11-9 — 62
COOPER — 12-9-16-16-15 — 68
Highlands (62) – Ryan 28, Herald 19, Vinson 8, Benke 5, Listerman 2
Cooper (68) – Rondon 23, Johnson 13, Ollier 9, Lutz 8, Ajaezu 7, Pouncy 6, Brown 2