It was a few minutes after Walton-Verona’s 66-55 win over Simon Kenton on Friday, but the Bearcats’ Julian Dixon was concerned about coach Mike Hester’s choice of beverages.
“We’ve been telling him to drink water,” Dixon said. “He (needs) to stop drinking that soda and get in better shape.”
Hester is not changing.
“They all give me a hard time,” Hester said. “I call it flavored water ‘cause it’s zero calories. To be honest with you, I’ve never looked at the caffeine.”
Walton-Verona’s win was tasty for reasons other than it was the Bearcats’ fifth straight and sixth of the last seven.
Landon Bach’s 19 points led a quartet of double-figure scoring. Dixon was next with 15 points, Aaron Gutman had 14, and Zach Smith added 10.
“It was collectively, obviously,” Hester said. “It wasn’t going to be one guy getting the job done.”
Nice numbers and all, but Hester praised the defense Max Montgomery unleashed on Simon Kenton leading scorer Travis Krohman, who averaged over 16 points a game but managed only four Friday.
“We locked and chased,” Hester said. “(Montgomery’s) job was to crawl up into him and … be velcro-ed to him the whole night.”
Simon Kenton (5-10, 0-1), meanwhile, continues to struggle. The Pioneers lost their third straight and fourth in the last five.
“We made shots, they made some shots, and we were chasing them,” Simon Kenton coach Trent Steiner said. “We’ve gone through some scoring droughts this season a lot. It is what it is.”
About the time Steiner yelled “Run it, run it, run it, run it” to the Pioneers early in the first quarter, the Pioneers listened – buckets from Miles Brown and Brayden Polly meant a 4-3 lead.
Walton-Verona (13-4, 1-0) ran, too. Dixon started with a three from the right wing and his two put the Bearcats ahead, 11-9. Gutman’s field goal with 31 seconds gave Walton-Verona a 13-11 lead after one quarter.
Simon Kenton reeled off a scoring streak in the second quarter – Jay Bilton’s five points and Polly’s four led an 11-6 run (Bolton led the Pioneers with 19 points) for a 22-19 advantage with a little more than four minutes remaining.
Which was maybe neutralized because of what Walton-Verona did in the next 1:35. In order: Montgomery’s layup, buckets from Bach and Gutman and Bach’s steal and layup.
“(Bilton) showed us something we didn’t think that he could do,” Hester said. “He was able to get to the bucket, but he was able to knock down outside shots.”
The result: a 10-2 run and a 29-24 lead.
The Bearcats took a 42-31 lead midway through the third quarter in part on Gutman’s six points. The Pioneers, however, closed to 48-42 on Jordan Bach’s two free throws.
Krohman’s field goal 75 seconds into the fourth quarter pulled Simon Kenton to within 50-46. The problem for the Pioneers was, not another bucket until the final minute.
Walton-Verona’s offense was diverse – Landon Bach had five points, Gutman had four, Montgomery added three, and Smith and Dixon chipped in two apiece.
Dixon eventually relented on criticizing Hester’s going with carbonated beverages – at least for a night.
“If it gets us some Dubs (wins), I guess we’ve got to let him live with it,” Dixon said.
BEARCATS 66, PIONEERS 55
SIMON KENTON 11-15-16-13 – 55
WALTON-VERONA 13-16-19-18 – 66
Simon Kenton (55) — Krohman 4, Polly 10, Bilton 19, Brown 5, Bach 2, Weaver 2, Taylor 4, Stone 6, Munoz 3. 3-Pt. FG: 4 (Bilton 2, Brown, Munoz). FT: 7-7. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.
Walton-Verona (66) — Montgomery 8, Smith 10, Bach 19, Dixon 15, Gutman 14. 3-Pt. FG: 8 (Dixon 3, Montgomery 2, Bach 2, Gutman,). FT: .12-13. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. Records: Simon Kenton 5-11 (0-1 in 32nd District), Walton-Verona 13-4 (1-0).