The Holy Cross and Newport boys basketball teams will meet for the All “A” 9th Region championship for the second straight year on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Bellevue. Here is how they beat district rivals to get there:
Holy Cross 48, Beechwood 44
The Indians escaped a tight battle with the Tigers forcing 15 turnovers while giving the ball up just seven times to their 35th District rivals.
William McElheney led Holy Cross (11-4) with 17 points and Nate Rominger scored 14. McElheney also grabbed six rebounds and dished off four assists.
Carson Blackburn made three three-pointers on his way to 17 points for Beechwood and Jack Sullivan scored 10 with Rett Dawson scoring nine.
Beechwood (8-7) hosts Dixie Heights on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Newport 75, Newport Central Catholic 55
The Wildcats turned away nine shots in taking care of their 36th District rivals.
James Turner led the way with three rejections and Griffin Starks turned away two as six Wildcats recorded a blocked shot. Starks also led Newport with eight rebounds.
Sophomore Taylen Kinney entered Friday’s game needing 16 points for 1,000 in his career and eclipsed the mark with 17 points in the contest. Jabari Covington scored 20 points to lead the Wildcats, who shot 47% from the field and made 14-of-15 free throws. Amontae Lowe added 10 off the bench.
Newport (14-3) won the rebounding battle, 32-27, including a 15-10 advantage on the offensive glass. The Wildcats outscored the Thoroughbreds, 15-8 in second chance points.
Caleb Eaglin scored 14 points to lead NewCath and Ian Mann scored 12.
NewCath (5-11) hosts Ryle on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Campbell County 79, Harrison County 68
The Camels ended a tough week at 1-2 with a road 10th Region win.
“You want to go through the battles,” Campbell County head coach Brent Sowder said. “I told them after the Lloyd game the season wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows and there were going to be moments where we were tested. This was one. We had a great practice (Thursday) and they came out ready so I was really proud of them.”
Garyn Jackson led Campbell County with 21 points and Connor Weinel added 20 points to go with eight rebounds. Broc Sorgenfrei and Cole Johnson followed with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
“A lot of it was coming off two losses and the last one against Lloyd just sucked the energy out of us,” Johnson said. “When you lose like that, it just makes you mad. I think it is just where you find the source to fight through it and you just have to stop that losing streak. We all connected (Friday). It couldn’t have gone better for us in every way.”
The Thorobreds also had saw four players score in double digits, but Campbell County held senior point guard Kaydon Custard to 21 after he torched Scott for 31 three days earlier making a return from an injury.
“(Custard) is such a physical guy, but if you play him for the drive, he can shoot the three, too,” Sowder said. “He’s a three-level scorer. Anytime that you have to guard a guy that’s a three-level scorer, it’s difficult to do so.”
Campbell County (12-4) hosts Holy Cross on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Lloyd Memorial 77, Scott 62
The Juggernauts won their seventh straight with the non-region home win.
EJ Walker posted another big game with 23 points and Carter Bresser scored 20. Anthony Blaackar and Isaiah Sebastian scored 17 and 11, respectively.
Dylan Giffen led Scott with 13 points as the Eagles put five players in double figures. Jon Evans and AJ Lowe scored 12 each with Xarek Sarakatsannis and Connor Griffin scored 10 each.
Lloyd Memorial (12-4) plays Preble Shawnee (Ohio) on Sunday at Trent Arena at Kettering (Ohio) High School at 11:30 a.m. as part of the Beacon Orthopaedics Flyin’ to the Hoop Invitational.
Scott (8-9) travels down the road to play Calvary Christian on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in a 37th District seed game.
Other Boys Basketball Score
Ludlow 62, Bishop Brossart 60
Girls Basketball
Notre Dame 76, Great Crossing 44
The Pandas dominated the visitors from Georgetown recording 20 steals on 26 Warhawk turnovers.
Maya Lawrie led Notre Dame with five steals to go with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. Kendra Collins, Kate Resing and Ryan Burden had three thefts each.
Junior 6-foot-4 center Sophia Gibson dominated the middle scoring a career-high 28 points and nabbing eight rebounds for the Pandas. Collins and Emma Holtzapfel followed with eight each.
The Pandas (14-2) take on Frederick Douglass in the MLK Jr. Classic at George Rogers Clark at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday.
Ludlow 62, Lloyd Memorial 55
Addy Garrett put up a career-high 32 points in the victory over Lloyd.
The Panthers (10-7) won their second straight in the process. They travel to Holmes on Tuesday for their next contest.
The Juggernauts dropped to 6-9 in the loss. They play at Campbell County on Wednesday.
Other Girls Basketball Scores
Dayton 63, Villa Madonna 42