By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Holy Cross boys’ basketball team closed out the first month of the regular season with an 8-1 record that includes victories over four teams ranked among the top 10 in the Northern Kentucky pre-season coaches poll.
The Indians, who were ranked No. 10 in the poll, beat No. 2 Cooper, No. 3 Newport Central Catholic, No. 4 Campbell County and No. 6 Scott over the last three weeks. They have the best record among teams in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.
“I knew we were going to be pretty good offensively,” said Holy Cross coach Ryan Schrand. “It all came down to rebounding and our defense. But it’s early, we’ve just got to keep working to get better.”
Senior point guard Leighton Schrand, the coach’s son, is averaging a team-high 15 points per game. The other players with double figure scoring averages are senior forward Tyler Bezold (14.7) and senior guard Erich Jakobowski (12.0).
They’re trying to make their final season together something special after finishing with a 13-14 record as juniors and 7-19 record as sophomores.
Holy Cross is averaging nine 3-point goals per game and shooting 41.1 percent (81 of 197) from behind arc. Jakobowski has hit 36 treys to account for 93 of his 108 points in nine games.
“When he gets hot, he can fill it up,” coach Schrand said of Jakobowski’s long-range shooting.
The Indians shot a blistering 57.9 percent (22 of 38) from the field on their home court in a 65-60 win over NewCath on Tuesday. Leighton Schrand was 10-of-17 from the field and finished with 22 points. Bezold and Jakobowski had a combined total of 27 points.
It was the first loss of the season for NewCath, a team that won All “A” Classic regional and state titles the last three seasons. But that streak could be in jeopardy when the small-school playoffs begin in four weeks. Holy Cross and NewCath are in opposite brackets for the 9th Region All “A” Classic and could meet again in the championship game on Jan. 23 at Lloyd High School.
Before that tournament, Holy Cross will play two important district seeding games against Holmes on Jan. 8 and Covington Catholic on Jan. 12. Both of those teams were also ranked among the top 10 in the pre-season coaches poll.
Australian team will play in holiday basketball tournament at Lloyd
A boys’ high school basketball team from another continent will be playing in the Lloyd Memorial Invitational next week.
A team from Marist College secondary school in Canaberra, Australia, will play Holmes in the first round of the eight-team, double-elimination tournament at 5:30 Monday.
Lloyd coach Mike Key said the Marist players will be staying with host families from Lloyd to help defray costs and make it an educational experience for young people from two different hemispheres.
“This is the first year that we have had an international team,” Key said. “We have had several teams from different states. At one time, we had lined up a Canadian team, but that fell through at the last minute.”
Australian teams have been coming to Northern Kentucky to play games during the holidays for several years. Marist was already scheduled to play Dixie Heights at 6 p.m. on Jan. 2.
Key said the Marist coach contacted him about playing in the Lloyd Memorial Invitational after receiving information about the tournament from Dixie Heights head coach Ken Chevalier.
The tournament’s other first-round games on Monday are Lloyd vs. Boone County at 3:45 p.m., Conner vs. Ludlow at 7 p.m. and Dixie Heights vs. Rowan County at 8:30 p.m.
The semifinals and losers bracket games will be played on Tuesday. The schedule for Wednesday includes a third-place game at 7 p.m. and championship game at 8:30 p.m.
Camels win conference wrestling championship for eighth consecutive year
Campbell County wrestling coach Mike Bankemper was hundreds of miles away when his team won the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Championships for the eight consecutive year on Monday at Conner High School.
Bankemper and his wife traveled to Atlanta to meet their grandson, Jack, who was born on Sunday. So the coach turned the wrestling team over to his long-time assistant, Jim Wilbers, who was sending him texts through out the tournament.
The Camels ended up winning the team title by a slim margin. They finished with 148.5 points and Cooper placed second with 143 in the 11-team standings.
“It’s nice to win it any year you can, but we had a very inexperienced group this time,” Wilbers said. “So I’d say this one was a little more of an accomplishment. We’re a little light in numbers, but these guys have really been putting the time in (during practice).”
Campbell County had eight wrestlers win medals by placing among the top four in their weight class. Five of them reached the championship finals with Brady Wells (120) and Brett Graziani (195) winning gold medals.
One of the Camels’ top wrestlers, Tanner Yenter, did not compete in the 113-pound weight class, but the team still managed to score enough points to extend their streak of conference championships.
Here are the results of 12 conference championship matches. The last two weight classes were decided by the number of wins in round-robin competition.
106 – Aaron Brossart (Ryle) dec. Thomas Ketchen-Carter (Campbell County), 9-2.
113 – Seth Luts (Scott) pinned Chris Collins (Cooper), 5:10.
120 – Brady Wells (Campbell County) pinned Dominic Caggiano (Ryle), 4:45.
126 – Dante Castellano (Simon Kenton) dec. Dakota Lillie (Campbell County), 5-0.
132 – Jordan Monore (Cooper) dec. Salim Mardis (Simon Kenton), injury default.
138 – Logan Erdman (Ryle) dec. Bryan Spahr (Campbell County), injury default.
145 – Cody Huston (Cooper) dec. Drevon Jones (Newport), 16-2.
152 – Jordan Kidwell (Cooper) pinned Kyrie Glover (Holmes), 2:23.
160 – Tristin Badida (Conner) dec. Cody Rolland (Scott), 15-2.
170 – Casey Cornett (Simon Kenton) pinned Matt Munoz (Dixie Heights), 4:45.
182 – Roy Bowers (Dixie Heights) dec. Elijah Jackson (Simon Kenton), 2-1.
195 – Brett Graziani (Campbell County) pinned Seth Keller (Cooper), 2:42.
220 – Karius Washington (Dixie Heights) 5-0, Ben Huth (Ryle) 4-1.
285 – Ahmad Hameidan (Boone County) 5-0, Josh Van Strein (Conner) 4-1.