The first of three days of basketball at the Scott Winter Classic at Scott High School in Taylor Mill took place on Wednesday. Originally slated to be a tournament, a late cancellation has caused it to be a three-day classic. Four games will take place each day.
Thursday’s schedule is: 3 p.m. – Dixie Heights vs Oldham County, 4:30 p.m. – Aiken (Ohio) vs Cooper, 6 p.m. – Conner vs Simon Kenton, 7:30 p.m. – Scott vs Collins
Friday’s schedule is: 3 p.m. – Oldham County vs Conner, 4:30 p.m. Scott vs Aiken (Ohio), 6 p.m. Dixie Heights vs Cooper, 7:30 p.m. Simon Kenton vs Fern Creek
Here’s a rundown of Wednesday’s games and how they played out:
Dixie Heights 61, Scott 56
The Colonels execution down the stretch was precise as a 10-0 run helped them prevail over the Scott Winter Classic hosts.
Trailing 43-40 with less than five minutes to play, Dixie Heights went on a 10-0 run for a 50-43 lead. Despite Scott’s Jonathan Evans hitting three 3-pointers in the last 65 seconds of the game, Dixie Heights hit 9-of-10 from the free throw line in the last minute to preserve the victory.
“Little bit of determination and grit on our part,” Colonels coach Chad Fields said. “Part of the maturation of trying to learn how to win you have to be able to do that and kudos to our guys for having that grit and determination to pull through.”
It was a balanced scoring game for Dixie, six guys scoring at least five points in the contest led by Griffin Derry’s 18 points and Hudson Blank with 14. The fifth win of the season is creeping up on last year’s total, when they won just seven.
“Significant difference from last year. People kept asking how we’d be this year and our answer was ‘we’ll see’. Guys are learning from their mistakes and we’re getting there,” Fields said.
Scott was led by Evans’ 15 points, all of them coming from the 3-point line as he drained five triples. Dylan Giffen added 14 points, Xarek Sarakatsannis with 11. The Eagles drained nine 3-pointers in the contest and hit all seven of their free throw attempts.
Dixie Heights will take on Oldham County on Thursday at 3 p.m., Scott facing Collins at 7:30 p.m.
COLONELS 61, EAGLES 56
DIXIE HEIGHTS – 9-16-10-26 — 61
SCOTT — 9-13-14-20 — 56
Scoring
Dixie (61) – Derry 18, Blank 14, Gray 8, Rubemeyer 7, Niehues 6, Johnson 5, Parker 3 Scott (56) – Evans 15, Giffen 14, Sarakastsannis 11, Griffen 6, Coleman 4, Lowe 4, Eten 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Dixie Heights 6, Scott 9
Free Throws: Dixie Heights 11/15, Scott 7/7
Fouls: Dixie Heights 12, Scott 12
Records: Dixie Heights 5-2, Scott 5-4
Cooper 63, Oldham County 53
Shaun Pouncy made his season debut and made his presence felt with 10 points and dominating the glass at times for Cooper. Pouncy injured his knee in the 9th Region Tournament quarterfinals in March.
“Biggest thing is just seeing him on the floor,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said. “It’s been nine months and a long nine months and just seeing him out there smiling and being able to play. You could tell early on he was nervous, missing layups and padding stats getting those rebounds, too. The guys are excited about it. He’s a leader in the locker room and the guys care so much for him. He brings that physicality.”
The Jaguars also showed their depth with nine players entering the scoring column as they got solid spurts from Jaidan Combs, who led them with 16 points, Chris Rodriguez with eight while Isaac Brown and Yamil Rondon chipped in seven apiece.
“In these type of events you kind of try and play it like you’re in a region or state tournament where you’re playing back-to-back days,” Sullivan said. “You got to figure out how to get guys in on and off the floor when you have depth like that and trust guys.”
A 9-0 run gave Cooper a 17-8 lead and they never looked back from there, Oldham County unable to get any closer than six the rest of the way. Max Green came in averaging a shade over 30 points per game for the Colonels and finished with 25 on Wednesday.
“He’s really good. Really, really good. At 6-foot-6, he’s shooting over everybody and he’s a mismatch,” Sullivan said. “He got going a little bit there in the second half, but overall felt like we continued to grind and did a really good job on him.”
Leading 43-36 near the end of the third, Brown ignited a 10-2 Jaguars run with seven points into the fourth to virtually put the game out of reach.
Cooper returns on Thursday to face Aiken at 4:30 p.m.
JAGUARS 63, COLONELS 53
OLDHAM COUNTY — 8-16-12-17 — 53
COOPER — 17-16-15-15 — 63
Scoring
Oldham County (53) – Green 25, Stinebruner 9, Hinkle 8, Nava 6, Marcum 5
Cooper (63) – Combs 16, Pouncy 10, Rodriguez 8, Brown 7, Rondon 7, I. Johnson 5, Blackburn 5, Alexander 3, Murphy 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Oldham County 6, Cooper 2
Free Throws: Oldham County 5/8, Cooper 11/20
Records: Oldham County 4-4, Cooper 5-3
Moore 56, Simon Kenton 50
Simon Kenton failed to deliver the knockout blow and once Moore took the lead late, they clamped down on the Pioneers for the victory in the final game of the day.
Simon Kenton took leads of 14-7 after one, 29-25 going into the half and 44-42 after three, but were only able to register six points in the final frame.
Dayvone Harrison hit two free throws to give the Mustangs a 50-48 lead with less than two minutes to play and the Pioneers struggled down the stretch with execution on the offensive end.
“Just seemed like they answered everything we did. Missed the knockout punch, they got the lead and we couldn’t answer back,” Pioneers coach Trent Steiner said.
Moore’s ball pressure bothered Simon Kenton all evening.
“We got inside of our own head and couldn’t make plays,” Steiner said. “We got press releases on offense and we didn’t make it. Give them credit, they pressured us up and we made mistakes. Tonight we got too focused on the pressure.”
Harrison finished with 28 points to pace the Mustangs, who outscored the Pioneers 14-6 in the fourth.
Jay Bilton and Travis Krohman led Simon Kenton with 11 points apiece, Bode Stone chipping in 10 and Jordan Bach with eight. It was Krohman’s third game back after missing the first five with injury.
“Travis got back on Thursday and then we played Friday and Saturday. Got to practice Monday and Tuesday and now we’ve got three games in three days. Three practices and five games is not a good mix,” Steiner said. “We’re just trying to get caught up and having him back is obviously good for us.”
Simon Kenton will face Conner on Thursday at 6 p.m.
MUSTANGS 56, PIONEERS 50
MOORE — 7-18-17-14 — 56
SIMON KENTON — 14-15-15-6 — 50
Scoring
Moore (56) – Harrison 28, Forney 8, Thomas 8, Sweeney 4, Leslie 3, Bartlett 3, Hambric 2
Simon Kenton (50) – Krohman 11, Bilton 11, Stone 10, Bach 8, Brown 6, Royer 2, Taylor 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Moore 5, Simon Kenton 6
Free Throws: Moore 7/9, Simon Kenton 4/4
Fouls: Moore 7, Simon Kenton 14
Records: Moore 5-5, Simon Kenton 2-6
Aiken (Ohio) 66, Conner 53
A second quarter run put Aiken up for good in the first game of the day.
Tied at 7-7, the Falcons went on a 12-3 run, never letting go of the lead from there. They went into halftime up 29-17 and stretched their lead to as big as 16 in the third.
Conner came fighting back within seven in the fourth with less than three minutes to play, but a couple of empty possessions could inch them no further.
The Cougars struggled to finish in the paint all game long.
“We counted 13 missed shots from the volleyball line (in the paint) and in,” Cougars coach Matthew Otte said. “They’re going to affect some of them with their length, but for the most part we went up pretty soft. Not really expecting to make it, just kind of a hurry up and get this thing off with hopes they don’t block it.”
Conner packed in a zone and it had the Falcons out of sorts at first, but once Jaiden Arnold and James Burnett got going from the outside, it opened things up for them as they scored 59 points after the first quarter. Both poured in 17 points to lead the Falcons.
“Turnovers and bad missed shots helped them get out in transition and as soon as somebody sees one or two go through the basket, they got in rhythm and we didn’t do a good enough job of getting out on them,” Otte said. “Don’t get a rebound, miss a layup and there they go again.”
Finn Louden scored a game-high 21 points for the Cougars, 18 of them coming in the second half. Brady Bushman added 15, knocking down three 3-pointers.
Conner takes on Simon Kenton back at Scott at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
FALCONS 66, COUGARS 53
AIKEN — 7-22-19-18 — 66
CONNER — 7-10-18-18 — 53
Scoring
Aiken (66) – Arnold 17, Burnett 17, Hutcherson 10, Glass 7, Smith 7, Hawkins 3, Sacko 3, Richardson 2
Conner (53) – Louden 21, Bushman 15, Huff 8, L. Warner 5, T. Warner 2, Romero 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Aiken 7, Conner 4
Free Throws: Aiken 7/9, Conner 17/20
Fouls: Aiken 16, Conner 9
Records: Aiken 4-1, Conner 1-5