It could have been easy for Cooper to look ahead.
Having seen 9th Region title contenders Newport and Covington Catholic do it the last 48 hours in the region quarterfinals, the Jaguars could have easily been looking forward to a Sunday semifinal matinee with the Colonels.
That certainly wasn’t the case Wednesday night as they pummeled Highlands 81-46 at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena.
“Really proud of the kids and how they stay focused. We talk about winning the day and going 1-0 every day,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said. “You can’t worry about what everyone else is doing, you have to win the day and go 1-0 on the day and stay focused on who is that day.”
The Jaguars looked the part of one of the region title contenders, shooting nearly 60% from the field and dishing out 18 assists.
“There it is. If you have 18 assists on however many field goals we had, that’s pretty special, “Sullivan said. “That’s just sharing the ball.”
Whether if it was Andy Johnson’s dunks off Yamil Rondon alley-oops or Jaidan Combs or Shaun Pouncy dominating the interior, Cooper controlled this one from the tip.
The Jaguars also flexed their depth, 11 different players entering the scoring column led by Johnson’s 22 points, five rebound, three blocked shot night. Johnson has posted 47 points and 13 rebounds in his last two games in his sixth game back from injury that sidelined him since the second game of the season.
“Back in the groove, finally,” Johnson said. “Good time to be back in the groove. I knew I was hot, knew they were going to start running at me so had to get everyone else involved too.”
Rondon’s two of his nine assists on the night went to Johnson for alley-oop dunks, the duo certainly catching the crowd’s attention.
“Had to give up layups for dunks, they want the highlights,” Rondon said. “We’ve done that in practice, but not in a game yet.”
Rondon added 12 points with his nine dishes and collected four steals. Combs had 11 points and six rebounds, five of them coming on the offensive end while Pouncy tallied nine points and eight rebounds. Tanner Murphy came off the bench and knocked down three of the Jags nine triples on the night for nine points as well.
Cooper jumped out to a 16-4 lead and took a 31-17 advantage into the break. A 13-3 third quarter run put things out of reach.
“Maturity. I think we’re growing as a group and we’re figuring it out,” Sullivan said.
As Cooper goes deep with nine guys playing at least seven minutes on Wednesday, Highlands was undermanned and outmatched in this one. They did well in getting into the paint, but struggled to finish as they shot just 35% and hit 8-of-17 free throws. They had to earn everything they got with the Jaguars swatting nine shots on the night.
“We got downhill, but we didn’t finish. We had a hard time getting clean looks, when you’re struggling like that you got to knock down free throws and we didn’t in the first half especially,” Bluebirds coach Kevin Listerman said. “They’re really good. When you have a high quality point guard that controls the game and a big time scoring threat on the wing and a big time body in the post, you’re set for postseason success.”
Nathan Vinson led the Bluebirds with 15 points, the senior closing out his high school career in a season that landed him KABC co-Player of the Year honors. Hank Shick finished with 12 points despite battling first half foul trouble that limited him to 16 minutes of action.
Along with Vinson set to graduate, so are three other seniors that includes second leading scorer Brayden Moeves.
“Love those guys. They give everything that they have and our program over the last five or six years has really elevated itself,” Listerman said. “It’s important kids care enough about the program to be successful and put the work in. Life is much bigger than basketball games, but this is special, you only get to do this once in your life.”
The Bluebirds do have a promising future, the freshman and JV teams winning Northern Kentucky regional titles this year.
Cooper faces Covington Catholic on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The Jaguars beat the Colonels on Jan. 23, 65-55. They’ll be facing a CovCath team not only looking to avenge the regular season loss, but coming off a subpar performance in Wednesday’s first quarterfinal where they squeaked out a 49-47 victory over Dixie Heights.
The Jaguars also took down the Colonels in last season’s semifinals.
“It’s what people wanted to see,” Sullivan said. “You have your four top teams in the region competing and it’s going to be an electric atmosphere. Scott’s (Ruthsatz) going to have his kids ready, fired up and ready to play us.”
Newport takes on Lloyd Memorial in Sunday’s first game at 2 p.m., which is also a semifinal rematch from last year’s region tourney.
JAGUARS 81, BLUEBIRDS 46
HIGHLANDS — 4-13-19-10 — 46
COOPER — 16-15-27-23 — 81
Scoring
Highlands (46) — Vinson 15, Shick 12, Hicks 6, Listerman 4, Yelton 3, Carnohan 2, Moeves 2, Rickard 2
Cooper (81) — A. Johnson 22, Rondon 12, Combs 11, Murphy 9, Pouncy 9, I. Johnson 5, J. Pouncy 4, Blackburn 3, Brown 2, Alexander 2, R. Combs 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Highlands 17/48, Cooper 31/52
3-Pointers: Highlands 4/13, Cooper 9/16
Free Throws: Highlands 8/17, Cooper 10/11
Rebounds: Highlands 23, Cooper 33
Assists: Highlands 5, Cooper 18
Turnovers: Highlands 11, Cooper 10
Steals: Highlands 3, Cooper 8
Blocked Shots: Highlands 3, Cooper 9
Fouls: Highlands 10, Cooper 14
Records: Highlands 17-6, Cooper 23-8