Dixie closes strong on Conner for Code’s 100th win

Getting Hunter Seng involved early and often helped open things up on Tuesday night for the Dixie Heights Colonels.

In search of their fifth straight win, the Colonels closed the game on a 18-4 run over the final four-plus minutes for a 65-54 victory over Conner in Edgewood.

It improves Dixie to 5-1 on the season while Conner (2-3), still without the services of leading scorer Finn Louden, dropped their third straight game without the senior standout.

Seng led the Colonels with 15 points, 12 of them coming in the first half as Dixie wanted to assert Seng’s post presence to help open things up elsewhere. When Conner decided they were going to double Seng, Max Rubemeyer and Tyson Metzger made them pay as they combined for 20 second half points in the victory.

“Hunter’s presence helped change the complexion of the game later on,” Colonels coach Scott Code said. “By him getting so many in foul trouble, by people doubling down, as the game went on it left our shooters open.”

Seng’s six point first helped guide the Colonels to a 17-11 lead after eight minutes of play.

“From the start, we all knew the most disciplined team wins, so we thought if we play through the post it would help with kick out threes,” Seng said. “It’s how we play and that’s how we got this dub today.”

PHOTOS: Conner vs Dixie Heights slideshow provided by Charles Bolton

Then Conner got cooking. They poured in 22 points in the second quarter as they hit three triples and knocked down all five of their free throw attempts to take a 33-30 lead into the break.

The two continued to slug it back and forth. Conner took a 38-32 lead on Tyler Warner’s three of his team-high 18 points two minutes into the third and led 45-40 on a Warner steal and dunk with 1:26 to go in the frame.

Then Code called a timeout to see his response from his team after a couple of sloppy offensive possessions.

“How many screens have we set on our last two possessions?,” Code said to his team in the huddle.

Not only did they execute offensively, but defensively was the name of the game from that point as they held the Cougars to just nine points the rest of the way.

After Warner’s layup to make it 50-47 with a little under five minutes remaining, Metzger knocked down back-to-back triples followed by a Parks Vonderhaar layup in transition to make it 52-50. Will Collins followed with a triple and the Conner drought continued until a Warner layup with 1:14 remaining to make it 58-52. The Colonels closed it out from there by going 7-of-8 from the line to seal the victory.

It was Code’s 100th of his career, met with a sign and a photo with his team and the student section after the game.

“I thought for a minute, ‘That’s it?’ But I’ve been an assistant coach for a long time,” Code said. “But it’s a great feeling. I’ve had some wonderful assistants and some wonderful players that have helped me get to this point, and all the credit goes to them. I didn’t put a single ball in the basket.”

Seng’s 15 led the way, followed by Rubemeyer’s 14 and Metzger’s 12. Vonderhaar added 11 points. With just two points at the half, Rubemeyer got more aggressive in the second half with 12 points.

“Early on, I was mainly looking to pass it because I’m so confident in my big man here Hunter Seng,” Rubemeyer said. “When I got the chance to be aggressive I know my teammates will look for me like I look for them.”

Dixie will look to make it six in a row on Friday as they head to Bracken County for the Colby Hause Classic and face Augusta at 5 p.m.

After Warner’s 18, Logan Back had 15 for Conner, Brady Bushman with nine, all of them coming in the second quarter surge for the Cougars.

Conner returns to the court on Thursday at Beechwood, the Tigers playing well and off to a 4-0 start. Louden’s return is near as they look to get their leading scorer back from a calf injury. He went through warmups, but did not enter the game.

COLONELS 65, COUGARS 54

CONNER — 11-22-12-9 — 54

DIXIE HEIGHTS — 17-13-14-21 — 65

Scoring

Conner (54) — Warner 18, Back 15, Bushman 9, Nipper 4, Bloom 3, Rondon 3 Musehenu 2

Dixie (65) — Seng 15, Rubemeyer 14, Metzger 12, Vonderhaar 11, Morris 7, Collins 6

Game Stats