Cooper didn’t give an inch.
The Jaguars opened up their UK Healthcare boys’ basketball Sweet 16 journey with a 50-35 victory over Henderson County on Thursday in Lexington at Rupp Arena.
Cooper did it with their signature defense, locking down the Colonels.
For those that like high-scoring affairs, this wasn’t your game. But to Cooper, it doesn’t matter. They suffocated Henderson into just 13 made field goals and didn’t allow a 3-pointer while forcing 16 turnovers.
“To win championships and to win tough games in the Sweet 16 playing against high-level teams, there’s no gimmicks,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said. “You’ve got to be able to sit down and guard and trust one another and trust what we’ve been doing all year. Our kids know they have to hang their hat on the defensive end and continue to guard for the entire 32 minutes.”
Defense is the name of Cooper’s game and as the saying goes, “Defense wins championships.”
RELATED: Cooper goes for state title — and having fun
“What he (Sullivan) preaches is, you want to play for this man, you got to play defense,” Jaguars senior Jaidan Combs said. “No matter what, defense is going to win games. If you score 20 points and you hold them to 17, it might be a boring game, but defense is going to win games.”
The Jags are now one step closer to that goal, moving on to Friday’s quarterfinals to take on Great Crossing, the now tournament favorite as St. Xavier was upset in the opening round on the other side of the bracket by Jeffersontown.
Jaidan Combs led the way with 14 points and also pulled down six rebounds.
Andy Johnson finished with 13 points as he was unable to get going from the perimeter in an 0-for-5 evening from deep, but got it done on the defensive end with four steals and helping hold Colonels leading scorer Cooper Davenport scoreless on the evening.
Isaac Brown added 12 points and four rebounds while Roman Combs chipped in eight points to go with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a ferocious one-handed slam in the first half.
Henderson County was held to four points in the first and had just 12 by halftime. By the end of three? Still below 20 points as Cooper led 32-19.
“We saw it on film, we knew they were really good,” Colonels coach Tyler Smithhart said. “We didn’t get to see them live this year so obviously the physicality and athleticism in person, the way they blow up screens and the way they fight through things, they did a great job. To give Coach Sullivan and his program credit, I haven’t seen anybody, we haven’t seen anybody that guards quite at that level.”
The Colonels defense ramped up their pressure a bit in the fourth and were able to force some turnovers and get the game to single-digits for the first time since the first half, but were unable to get any closer than eight. Their season ends at 25-7.
Cooper’s challenge come Friday night, will be a tall one. They’ll be tasked with going up against 7-footer Malachi Moreno, a University of Kentucky signee.
“Us coaches will be up late trying to figure out how to tame the big fella,” Sullivan said. “It’s not just him, they’ve got some players, they got length and they got guys that can really score it. We’ve got to figure out a way to limit his touches and limit what he does. We can’t change who we are and we’ve always talked about, it’s not what about other other teams are doing, or what other people are doing. It’s about how we react to it.”
It will be another 8:30 p.m. tip for the Jaguars.
The two have never faced one another as both are still fairly new schools, Great Crossing opening in 2019, Cooper in 2008.
PHOTOS: Cooper-Henderson County first round (provided by Charles Bolton)
JAGUARS 50, COLONELS 35
COOPER — 10-12-10-18 — 50
HENDERSON COUNTY — 4-8-7-16 — 35
Scoring
Cooper (50) — J. Combs 14, Johnson 13, Brown 12, R. Combs 8, Lutz 3
Henderson (35) — McKinney 11, Johnson 9, Suggs 8, Moss 4, Stewart 3
Game Stats
Field Goals: Cooper 18/40, Henderson 13/31
3-Pointers: Cooper 2/12, Henderson 0/7
Free Throws: Cooper 12/17, Henderson 9/12
Rebounds: Cooper 25, Henderson 20
Assists: Cooper 10, Henderson 8
Turnovers: Cooper 10, Henderson 16
Steals: Cooper 11, Henderson 4
Blocks: Cooper 2, Henderson 3
Fouls: Cooper 11, Henderson 14
Records: Cooper 24-5, Henderson County 25-7