Covington Catholic used a white-hot shooting first half paired with a solid defensive effort in the second half to earn a 64-53 road victory at Simon Kenton Tuesday night.
The Colonels (4-1) were paced by the trio of Donovan Bradshaw, Athens McGillis and Cash Harney as they combined for 53 points in the victory.
CovCath was able to turn Simon Kenton (2-3) over 25 times, the Pioneers failing to hit shots at key opportunities in the second half to make it a one-possession game and tighten things up.
“The whole thing was in the second half to just get back on defense,” Colonels coach Jake Thelen said. “Let’s just be solid. Don’t gamble. Let’s just rebound the ball and run. I thought we did that pretty well for the most part.”
How it went down
After the Pioneers led 4-2, CovCath went on a 15-1 run and led for the entirety from there. The run was fueled by McGillis’ 3-point shooting, connecting on two 3-pointers and scoring eight points during the run. They’d take a 19-7 lead into the second.
Bradshaw and Simon Kenton’s Bode Stone traded blows in the second quarter. The two scored 13 points apiece in the frame as CovCath took a 38-30 lead into the break.
Things remained tight in the third, Simon Kenton staying within five or six, but unable to cut it down any further as the two went scoreless in the final 2:16 in the quarter. CovCath took a 49-43 lead into the fourth.
Brayden Polly helped keep the Pioneers in it with their first five points in the final stanza to make it 53-48, but a Teegan Stava steal and layup followed by a Stava triple made it 58-48 with 1:17 to play and fans headed to the exits.
Tremendous trio
Bradshaw finished with 22 points and six rebounds, consistently being in the right spot at the right time against the Pioneers zone. He showed the ability to knock down the mid-range jumper and snagged four offensive rebounds.
“Just doing my role,” Bradshaw said. “It’s all about the team, no matter if I score 20 or two, it’s all about winning.”
McGillis added 17 points, knocking down 4-of-10 from the 3-point line, dishing out four assists and swiping two steals. After hitting 4-of-6 from deep in the first half, he cooled down in the second half, but found ways to stay involved and get others involved.
“Just came out ready to shoot. You come out and see a zone it’s like Christmas morning,” McGillis said. “Shots aren’t always going to fall, but I trust my teammates so if I’m not hitting I try to get them involved and the shots they deserve.”
Harney got others involved early with five assists in the first half and then scored 11 points in the second half. The junior guard finishing with 14 points and eight assists and hitting all six of his free throw attempts down the stretch.
The three are now combining to average 51.4 points per game for the Colonels and doing a variety of other things.
White hot start
The Colonels hit 71% from the field in the first half and knocked down 5-of-7 from the 3-point line. Of their six misses in the first half, three came with an offensive rebound as they averaged 1.31 points per possession in the half. The lone blemish was nine turnovers.
Ball movement
Covington Catholic had 17 assists on their 23 made baskets. Harney had eight of them, McGillis with four and Stava with three. Thelen stressed “move the ball” on plenty of possessions and the Colonels took note.
Nolan Ruthsatz had an active six points and four rebounds, Stava’s five points in the closing minutes his damage to go with two steals.
Bode boards
Bode Stone’s second quarter was something with 13 points. He finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, six of them on the offensive end, including a putback dunk in the third.
“He’s a veteran, last year he started 33 games,” Pioneers coach Trent Steiner said. “That’s what he’s got to be able to do. Hopefully we can get him more than nine shots.”
Defensively, Stone clogged up the middle as he swatted away three shots on Tuesday.
Polly was the other lone Pioneer with double figures, scoring 10 points. Sophomore guard Eddie Marx added seven points.
There’s another Bilton in the pipeline
Everyone knows the name Jay Bilton, a three-year starter with the Pioneers and back-to-back 32nd District MVP, but his brother Braylon has next. The sophomore showed some solid flashes with four points and three rebounds off the bench on Tuesday. He’s lengthy with a quick first step and ability to penetrate the lane.
“He has the potential to be our best offensive player,” Steiner said.
Jay Bilton’s Tuesday stat line consisted of seven points, six assists and only one turnover. He showed the ability to consistently attack the paint, but finished with a 3-of-10 night shooting.
Pioneers still figuring it out
Simon Kenton started 0-5 last season and went 14-15 in the regular season before their run to the 8th Region championship game.
While they’re 2-3 this year, they’ve lost three straight to the likes of Cooper, North Oldham and Covington Catholic. The schedule early sets them up to see a variety of styles so they are well prepared come late February.
“Don’t know anything about rankings, don’t care about rankings. All I care about is strength of schedule. We’ve got the 9th toughest schedule in the state and play seven teams in the top 25,” Steiner said.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
Simon Kenton committed 25 turnovers, 14 of them came in the first half.
“You look at the stats and you see 25 turnovers, 8-for-14 from the free throw line and 13 missed layups, the fact that we didn’t get beat by 30 is probably a testament to our kids,” Steiner said.
They struggled with the Colonels pressure at times, but if there’s a silver lining to it, they were in the game for the entirety despite the miscues.
Up next
Covington Catholic plays in the Queen City Christmas Classic at Archbishop McNicholas in Cincinnati. They’ll take on Lebron James’ alumni St. Vincent-St. Mary out of Akron on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Louisville Ballard on Saturday at 2:15 p.m.
“Things are good, things are fun,” Thelen said. “Just want to make sure we’re getting better everyday in practice and keep our guys healthy and just keep getting better day after day.”
Simon Kenton heads to the Scott Winter Classic down the road in Taylor Mill for three days. They’ll play Holy Cross Covington on Saturday at 5 p.m., Northridge out of Dayton on Sunday 2 p.m. and Holy Cross Louisville on Monday at 3:30 p.m.