Ryle can add another check mark for what’s shaping up to be a special season.
The Raiders already have their most wins in a regular season in program history and just claimed their first district title since 2014 with a 70-58 victory over Conner on Friday night in Union.
Ryle (21-8) took control of the game from the midway point of the second quarter and methodically pulled away from the Cougars.
“Just staying the course,” Raiders coach Nick Dorning said. “Just stay solid, stay mentally tough and play the game. I thought our guys did a great job of even in the locker room at halftime, that run we had at the end of the half didn’t phase them at all. They knew that they had to continue working and keep fighting and they came out in the second half and that’s what they did.”
Holden Smith was named tournament MVP and finished the night with 17 points while constantly attacking the rim. It’s a far cry when Smith, now a junior was a sophomore who camped out at the 3-point line a season ago. Now he’s consistently getting into the paint and finishing.
“Shot wasn’t falling this year, so I just really started attacking,” Smith said. “I’m trying to be a three-level scorer and just keep attacking this year.”
It’s a mentality the Raiders team takes on. They’re going to try and out physical and outwork teams night in, night out.
“We talk about it all the time about being the hardest working, toughest team on the floor,” Dorning said.
It’s got them where they are to this point and a legitimate threat to make some noise at NKU next week for the 9th Region tournament.
At 24-23 with Conner’s Finn Louden getting pretty much what he wanted with 17 points in the game’s first 12 minutes, Ryle turned things on from that moment.
They went on a 12-6 run to end the half to build a 36-29 cushion which could have been worse if weren’t for a Brady Bushman 35-footer at the halftime horn.
“We knew we were gonna have to get after them and not let them be the aggressor,” Cougars coach Nathan Browning said. “It’s hard to do with them. We didn’t execute very well. Struggled to get things going offensively because we didn’t execute very well.”
The run continued into the third as the Raider built the advantage to as much as 16 in the frame before the Cougars closed with the final four points to make it 54-42.
Ryle pushed the lead back out to 17 in the fourth before a final push from the Cougars, an 8-0 run to get them within nine at 63-54 with 4:32 to play. That would be all though as Ryle played keep away and picked their spots to attack when they needed to pull back away and claim their first district title in 12 years.
“We’ve been in this game the last two years and felt like we had a great opportunity,” Dorning said. “The kids were confident and knew that they had worked extremely hard for this moment, starting back in the spring when we were in the weight room and they put that on display tonight.”
Their starting five contributed to all the scoring on the evening as four hit double figures led by Grace Nsuti with 18 points, Smith’s 17, Blake Broz with 15 and AJ Davis adding 13 while Anthony Coppola chipped in seven.
The Raiders will get either Dixie Heights, Holy Cross or Newport in the 9th Region quarterfinals with the draw set for Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
Louden led all scorers on the night with 26, Cougars Brady Bushman following him with 16 points while no other Cougar scored more than four. Conner will face either Lloyd Memorial, Covington Catholic or Highlands in the quarterfinals.
“Outside of Finn, they’ve never been in this situation before where they have lost in the district championship and are going to play at Northern,” Browning said. “So learning how to deal with that and being able to come back on Monday and be ready to go is something that we’re going to have to figure out all together, because I’m in the same boat.”
RAIDERS 70, COUGARS 58
CONNER — 16-13-13-16 — 58
RYLE — 19-17-18-16 — 70
Scoring
Conner (58) — Louden 26, Bushman 16, Back 4, Rondon 4, Webb 3, Raider 2, Bloom 2, Warner 1
Ryle (70) — Nsuti 18, Smith 17, Broz 15, Davis 13, Coppola 7
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Conner 5, Ryle 5
Free Throws: Conner 9/13, Ryle 9/16
Fouls: Conner 17, Ryle 13
Records: Conner 14-12, Ryle 21-8