The first game of the boys 9th Region basketball tournament was a doozy, since then the next five games have all been decided by double-digits.
Covington Catholic and Ryle handled business in Sunday night’s semifinals at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena, setting up a championship matchup between the two on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
The Colonels left no doubt early in a 92-41 victory over Conner, one of the most lopsided victories in tournament history. Ryle then disposed of Lloyd Memorial, 64-37 in the nightcap, an impressive victory from start to finish.
Here’s how they played out:
Covington Catholic 92, Conner 41
Covington Catholic has been dominant in region play all year, but what was on display Sunday night at NKU was on a different level.
The Colonels eliminated any bit of doubt early on, jumping out to a 15-2 lead and got the game to a running clock with a 57-21 advantage and 1:02 on the clock in the first half.
“They were locked in from the time we did the scouting report this afternoon to the shoot around,” Colonels coach Jake Thelen said. “They were focused in and they were ready to play. When they’re locked in, it’s fun to coach them.”
The only question left for the second half was how long Thelen would play his starters as they now head to the championship game on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Four quarters
The Colonels haven’t had to have their starters in a game in the fourth quarter since their 70-60 defeat to Madison Central on Feb. 20. Since then, they’ve gone 4-0, winning by an average margin of 42.2 points.
Blitzed them
It just looked as if Covington Catholic was playing in another gear on Sunday night. They forced nine turnovers in the first half, and scored 16 points off them.
“Defense creates offense. If you want to score, you better defend. And if you defend, you can get out and run,” Thelen said. “And I give our guys a lot of freedom to go make plays and take shots.”
The Colonels also racked up on the glass in the game’s first 16 minutes, collecting 24 rebounds in the first half, 11 of them offensive as they had 19 second chance points.
Tremendous trio
Athens McGillis, Cash Harney and Braeden Myrick combined for 48 points in the first half, hitting 21-of-33 shots from the field.
Early on it was Cash Harney with 12 points in the game’s first five minutes. Then McGillis and Myrick got going in the second, the two combining to score 24 points in the frame.
“He trusts me, Braeden, Cash to go make plays,” McGillis said. “That player coach trust. I’m dribbling up the court, coach says get a screen and go make a good play.”
McGillis’ 22 points moved him into a tie for third all-time on the Covington Catholic scoring list with Nick Ruthsatz at 1,980 points. Evan Ipsaro is next up at 1,988 points.
Conner sped up
Conner coach Nathan Browning said the plan was to slow things down, but it just didn’t work that way.
“That was our goal. That was our plan,” Browning said. “We didn’t do a very good job of that. Our plan was to get it across half court and run some stuff and try to make them guard. They sped us up. Our guys fed into that a little bit, unfortunately we didn’t really execute well enough in that aspect of our planning.”
Louden and company leave their mark
Finn Louden, Brady Bushman, Logan Back and Holten Raider are four seniors who played varsity all four years for the Cougars.
They experienced a region tournament game when they were freshman, but lost to Lloyd Memorial in overtime. After a two-year hiatus from the region tournament, they broke through this season with a region tournament victory, their first since 2021.
“That senior group has been instrumental in kind of the way of laying the foundation for the way we want to do things at Conner,” Browning said.
All four have made their mark on the program led by Louden, finishing his high school career with 1,577 career points, second all-time in program history behind Rick Hicks’ 1,934.
Ryle 64, Lloyd Memorial 37
The Raiders took a 12-point lead into halftime and never let it get any closer from that point. They shot 72% in the first half and committed just two turnovers.
The Juggernauts got it to 44-32 with two minutes left in the third, but then went on a nearly six-minute scoring drought as the Raiders extended the lead to 56-32 by the time Jason Kabeya hit a layup near the midway point of the fourth.
Tuesday marks Ryle’s first region championship appearance since 2002 when they won the title. Last night, they won their first region tournament game since 2011.
Complete game
Raiders coach Nick Dorning called it the Raiders most complete game of the season as they shot 65.9% from the field and dominated the interior.
“Offensively, defensively, rebounding, taking care of the basketball, winning the paint,” Dorning said. “Knocking down timely shots. Super proud of them for their execution.”
Smith gets to his spots
Holden Smith dazzled with his moves to the hoop, showing his shifty nature and finishing at the rim. He scored 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, getting where he wanted on a stingy Lloyd defense.
“They were just really putting pressure on the ball. They were up on me, tight,” Smith said. “So my goal was just get downhill and get to the basket.”
The defense will only ramp up from here, but by the looks of Sunday night, Smith will be up for the challenge.
Lloyd’s complimentary players have rough night
While Anthony Blaackar and Isiah Golsby combined for 30 points, Lloyd’s complimentary players struggled. Outside of the Juggernauts top scoring duo, the rest of the team combined to shoot 2-of-12 from the field and score seven points. Golsby scored the Juggernauts first 10 points, Blaackar scoring 16 of their last 27.
“They came to play today and we’d didnt. That’s just how the ball bounces sometimes,” Juggernauts coach Mike Walker said. “We were sluggish, we came out slow. We had no energy. We kind of got some energy in the third quarter, but they brought it.”
Blaackar goes down as one of the greats
Over the past two seasons, Lloyd Memorial has seen two of their best players in program history play their last game. The program itself has had its fair share of talent over its history, Anthony Blaackar and EJ Walker cementing their legacies.
“It’s been a blessing to watch their to develop, to watch their growth, not just on the court, but as young men,” Walker said. “I love the development part of this, just kind of molding them and things of that nature. To have those two type of guys in the locker room, a lot of people would kill for that. Credit to them, they’re grinders, they are always in the gym and never missed a workout.”
Blaackar ends his high school career with 1,711 points. He holds a couple Division I offers and was determined to make his decision on his future after the season.
He’s one of six seniors on the Lloyd roster that went 26-0 in district play, won four district championships and reached at least the region semifinals every year.
Top two teams
Many wondered throughout the season who the second best team was in the region behind CovCath. Ryle has certainly claimed that stake as Sunday night’s rubber match with Lloyd made it clear cut.
The Raiders are now 14-3 in region play, the three losses coming to Holy Cross early in the season, Lloyd on Dec. 28 and CovCath on Feb. 6. They avenged losses to Holy Cross and Lloyd later on in the season, is Covington Catholic next?
As Ryle searches for their first region title in 24 years, Covington Catholic is going for their seventh title in 12 years and first since 2022.