It was a special night in Edgewood.
Not only did the Dixie Heights boys basketball team defeat Scott 68-53, but senior Hudson Blank recorded his 1,000th career point, becoming only the 14th player in school history to do so.
“It means everything,” Blank said. “I’ve had a lot of people with me on this journey
that have helped me get to this spectacular achievement. I can’t say thank you
enough to all my peers. It’s more than just me performing. It’s my manager, my
coaches, my family. Everyone has been there for me.”
Blank came in averaging 16.3 points a game and finished with 21 points. An
amazing night for Blank, who’s much more than a basketball player.
“It goes beyond the program,” Dixie Heights head coach Chad Fields said. “I don’t
know if there is a better representative of the Dixie Heights community. He’s been
here a long time with the basketball program, but he is the ultimate student
ambassador for everything we do here and not just basketball. Basketball is just the
vehicle that he used tonight. He’s a million-dollar student athlete.”
The game started off lopsided as Dixie hit nearly everything and led 31-8 after the first quarter. Dixie’s offense is clicking, fresh off a 97-point output on Saturday at Augusta.
The Eagles did come in shorthanded. Xarek Sarakatsannis, who came in leading the team in scoring at 13.3 points a game, didn’t play due to an injury.
“We knew not having Xarek was going to be tough, but we had to find a way to create
some energy in the first quarter.” Scott head coach, Steve Froemeyer said. “We
didn’t and they had it all. With Hudson going for 1,000 points, you could just tell there
was a different energy they had, and it was the difference. Down 31-8 in the first
quarter, you can’t win basketball games that way.”
The lead stretched to 38-8 before the Eagles were able to gain their bearings. Scott trimmed the lead to 44-20 by halftime and got within 15 after three at 59-44.
“We were able to find some ball pressure in the first quarter, but we started sagging
back and allowing them to go downhill. The entire second half we were closing that
off and picking them up more in the backcourt,” Fromeyer said.
Even with a momentum swinging quarter, the hole Scott dug was too deep. Dixie
held off the Eagles for their fourth straight win, improving to 14-9.
“One of our pillars that we talk about all the time is faith,” Fields said “We define it as
a belief in something you can’t necessarily see and I thought our guys showed some
determination and belief, even when things got rough. I hope this solidifies their
faith that we can be a basketball team worthy of winning.”
Also with large contributions to the Colonels win were Griffin Derry with 15 points,
Max Rubemeyer with 11, Owen Niehues with nine and eight points from Jaxson Gray.
Dixie Heights will stay in Edgewood for a home game on Saturday against Holy
Cross at 6 p.m.
Scott falls to 11-14. The Eagles were led by Carter Eten with 17 points and Dylan
Giffen with 13.
They will continue a stretch of road games as they take on Simon Kenton next on
Friday at 7:30 p.m.
COLONELS 68, EAGLES 53
DIXIE HEIGHTS — 31-13-15-9 — 68
SCOTT — 8-12-24-9 — 53
Scoring
DIXIE HEIGHTS (68) — Blank 21, Derry 15, Rubemeyer 11, Niehues 9, Gray 8, Parker 4
SCOTT (53) — Eten 17, Giffen 13, Evans 8, Coleman 6, Griffin 4, Lowe 4, Huelsman 1
Game Stats
3-Pointers: Dixie Heights 5, Scott 2
Free Throws: Dixie Heights 7/9, Scott 9/15
Fouls: Dixie Heights 14, Scott 13
Records: Dixie Heights 14-9, Scott 11-14