On a night where two big men were the big ticket, a couple of guards stole the show.
Covington Catholic’s Athens McGillis and Brady Hussey were vital in the Colonels 64-56 boys basketball victory over Lloyd Memorial. The Juggernauts Anthony Blaackar wasn’t too bad, either.
Whenever Covington Catholic needed a bucket, McGillis was there for the calling. The sophomore posted a career-high 32 points while Hussey answered the bell for the majority of the night in trying to slow down Lloyd Memorial standout EJ Walker.
McGillis got going early and often as the Colonels shot out to a 34-21 halftime lead, McGillis with 16 points by the break. CovCath outscored the Juggs 21-7 in the pivotal second.
“That first shot. It’s like a momentum changer, when I shoot I feel like I’m in a zone and when I keep hitting shots I keep on going,” McGillis said. “Just hitting shots and feeling it. I was in my zone.”
The third quarter is where McGillis showed his full arsenal of offensive weapons. Two layups, a 3-point play, a 3-pointer and two pull-up jumpers later and he was up to 30 points as the Colonels led by as much as 21 and took a 56-42 lead into the fourth.
“Confidence is definitely there. After Evan (Ipsaro) left, I knew I had to step up, me and Cash (Harney),” McGillis said. “They have tough guards, really quick. They can play defense and just had to be tough mentally.”
But Lloyd wasn’t ready to lay down just yet. They opened the fourth on a 12-2 run to get within four after an Elijah Collins 3-point play and suddenly it was a 58-54 game with 3:14 remaining. Blaackar keyed the run with 11 of his 13 second half points during a stretch where the Juggs cut down the 21-point deficit to four.
Cash Harney’s 3-point play stopped the bleeding, Blaackar hitting a layup with less than two minutes to play to make it 61-56, but two costly turnovers and the Juggernauts comeback bid would inch no closer.
The Colonels have now won 14 of their last 15 as they gear up for the postseason.
“Just a matter of keeping everybody healthy,” Colonels coach Scott Ruthsatz said. “Everybody’s confident in their roles, usually after 26 games roles are defined. Not to say an injury here or there, but they know the plays, they know their role and as long as they don’t get out of their role we should be fine.”
CovCath has knocked off Newport and Lloyd, with a loss to Cooper sandwiched in for what many consider the four best teams with a chance to win the 9th Region. Plenty of Newport and Cooper players were on hand to spectate. Those two will go at it on Tuesday in Union.
“I’ll be there to watch with a couple of my teammates,” McGillis said.
Lloyd still gets another shot at showing they can win against the other three, already with a loss to Cooper and CovCath, they’ll play at Newport on Thursday.
“To be honest, none of these games matter. District time is what matters,” Juggernauts coach Michael Walker said. “Everybody has to play districts, too. Everyone said things last year and Beechwood upset Holy Cross. Got to get through the first and second round of districts first.”
As far as the slow start, it could be due to the Juggernauts playing their fifth game in the last 10 days.
“Lot of basketball games,” Michael Walker said. “Game Friday, game Saturday, light practice Sunday, game Monday, game Tuesday, light practice Wednesday, game Thursday, light practice Friday, game Saturday. Took a little while to get their legs under them.”
EJ Walker would finish with 18 points and five rebounds, helping hold CovCath’s Caden Miller to six points and six rebounds. Blaackar led the way for the Juggs with 19 points, 13 of them in the second half while Collins chipped in 11 points.
Where Miller made his presence felt was on the defensive end, swatting four shots and a little strategy to aid the Colonels defense.
After starting the game on Walker, Miller switched off over to Blaackar and virtually clogged the paint. Hussey took on the responsibility of guarding Walker, creating a quicker option to guard the versatile Walker.
“We decided after a while that we’re just going to switch it up a little bit,” Ruthsatz said. “We had that in our back pocket of just putting a smaller guy on him (Walker) and trying to get underneath and make it a little bit more uncomfortable, a little bit more pressure packed. I think that that helped us get up into pressure, which helped us get out and get some easy baskets. That’s really what pushed the lead out.”
Hussey finished with 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Harney added nine points. They’ll return to action on Friday at home against Dixie Heights.
Lloyd’s busy schedule continues on Tuesday with the Cincinnati Trailblazers homeschool team in Erlanger. It’s Senior Night for their one and only senior TJ Jackson, who recently signed with Lindsey Wilson to continue his academic and football career.
COLONELS 64, JUGGERNAUTS 56
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 13-21-22-8 — 64
LLOYD MEMORIAL — 13-7-22-14 — 56
Scoring
CovCath (64) — McGillis 32, Hussey 12, Harney 9, Miller 6, Wermuth 3, Ruthsatz 2
Lloyd (56) — Blaackar 19, Walker 18, Collins 11, Sebastian 4, Humphrey 2, Copeland 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: CovCath 26/53, Lloyd 21/47
3-Pointers: CovCath 8/19, Lloyd 4/14
Free Throws: CovCath 4/5, Lloyd 10/12
Rebounds: CovCath 29, Lloyd 25
Assists: CovCath 11, Lloyd 8
Turnovers: CovCath 11, Lloyd 8
Steals: CovCath 5, Lloyd 7
Blocks: CovCath 4, Lloyd 2
Fouls: CovCath 12, Lloyd 10
Records: Covington Catholic 21-5, Lloyd Memorial 18-7
