The latest basketball bites, a weekly column of local happenings in hoops hits on a coaching milestone, a team already matching their win totals from the past two seasons combined, The Todd Houston Memorial Freshman Tournament winner, a Lloyd standout on the brink of breaking the program scoring record, a broadcast milestone, holiday tournament winners and NKU having some tight games.
Here’s what’s happened on the hardwood over the holiday weeks.
Arlinghaus hits 100th win with Holy Cross
In a 51-50 victory over Bishop Brossart on Dec. 29 in the semifinals of the Giovanni’s Berea Holiday Classic, Holy Cross girls basketball coach Ted Arlinghaus earned his 100th win with the program.
Arlinghaus is in his fifth season with the team, compiling a 101-38 record to date, counting the 101st win in the championship game of the Giovanni’s Berea Holiday Classic against Russell County.
Holy Cross is certainly a threat to win a 9th Region title, they enter 2025 with a 12-1 record and on a nine-game winning streak.
Holmes on the rebound
Holmes boys basketball team won five games the past two seasons. They’ve hit that mark before the calendar turns to 2025. The Bulldogs currently sit at 5-5 on the season, going 5-2 in their last seven games.
Their last win came in exciting fashion, Tony Kutcher hitting a 3-pointer as time expired in a 51-48 victory over Harrison County.
Joseph Meyer and Mark McCutchin are leading the Bulldogs in scoring with 14.2 points per game. Dominic Scott and Kutcher are coming in at 9.0 and 8.4 points per game, respectively. McCutchin leads the team in rebounds with 7.8 per game, Scott pulling down 7.5 per game.
Holmes starts off 2025 with a chance to go above .500 when they host Bracken County on Jan. 3.
Covington Catholic wins Todd Houston Freshman Memorial Tournament
The Colonels took down Holy Cross in overtime to claim the title.
Walker watch is on
EJ Walker is on the brink of breaking the Lloyd Memorial boys basketball scoring record. He entered the season with 1,322 points in his high school career, 267 away from program record holder Ryan Wilson, a 2000 graduate with 1,588 career points. Walker has 197 points through the Juggernauts first 11 games of the season, putting him 71 points away from breaking the record.
Lloyd (9-2) plays at Covington Catholic on Jan. 3, hosts Holy Cross on Jan. 7 and hosts Villa Madonna on Jan. 8. If Walker hits his 17.9 points per game average in those three games, he’d then be in line to do it on Jan. 10 at Scott.
(859) Sports Radio hits 400th broadcast
The (859) Sports Radio team started by Mark Wehry will hit its 400th broadcast on Jan. 2 when they broadcast the Conner-Bishop Verot (Florida) boys basketball game.
Wehry and his team of announcers started (859) Sports Radio in 2019 and they’ve been hitting the ground running since. They do football and volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and sometimes baseball in the spring. They livestream the game with their announcing of the game in the background.
Wehry does not charge for broadcasts, and he doesn’t seek advertising. The only regular sponsor is Ken Morgan from Cricket Wireless who provides the internet hotspot free of charge. Wehry’s on-air talent is happy to pitch in and offer expertise at no charge to aid the cause.
Holiday tournament winners
Over the last two weeks of the holidays, tournament basketball was played all over the state (and some out of state).
Those coming home with tournament hardware include:
Cooper girls (Queen of the Commonwealth)
Holy Cross girls (Giovanni’s Berea Holiday Classic)
Simon Kenton boys (Central Bank Jim Rose Classic)
Covington Catholic boys (Ram Jam Tournament)
Holy Cross boys (City of Middletown Holiday Classic)
Dixie Heights boys (Estill County Tournament)
Campbell County boys (City Between The Lakes Christmas Classic)
Beechwood girls (Nell Fookes Classic)
Dixie Heights girls (White, Greer and Maggard Holiday Classic)
Norse working overtime
The Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team has had back-to-back overtime games, one resulting in a triple overtime loss at Robert Morris, the other an overtime win at home over Purdue-Fort Wayne.
It’s Horizon League play, would you expect anything different?
In a conference that is often met with a ton of parity, this season seems no different. The Norse are currently 3-1 in conference, 8-7 overall. They sit in a tie for third in conference, Youngstown State off to a 5-0 start in conference play, Milwaukee 3-0.
Three players are scoring in double figures for the Norse. Trey Robinson leads the way with 16 points per game, adding 6.5 rebounds a contest while shooting 53% from the field. Sam Vinson is at 11.9 points per contest, pulling down 5.3 rebounds with two steals per game. Josh Dilling averages 11.3 points per contest at nearly a 40% clip from the 3-point line.
NKU’s next game is at home against Green Bay on Jan. 4 at 1 p.m.