By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
When Holy Cross boys’ basketball coach Ryan Schrand found out how long it had been since the Indians won a 9th Region post-season playoff game, he decided not to tell his players as they prepared for this week’s tournament.
The coach was glad he made that decision after Holy Cross defeated Dixie Heights, 58-46, on Friday at BB&T Arena to notch the program’s first regional victory since 1994.
“I wanted to make sure we won one and then I’d tell them,” Schrand said. “They were all really excited about it.”
The win moves Holy Cross (23-8) into the regional semifinals on Sunday when they’ll play Newport Central Catholic (26-4) at 2:30 p.m. The teams split the two games they played during the regular season. Holy Cross won the first one, 65-60, on its home court and NewCath won the second one, 70-52, in the championship final of the 9th Region All “A” Classic at Lloyd.
Schrand said the second game with NewCath should have an asterick by it because Holy Cross senior forward Tyler Bezold sprained his ankle in the first quarter and wasn’t able to return. That injury put Bezold out of action for a couple of weeks, but he looked fully recovered in Friday’s game.
In the third quarter, Bezold scored seven points during a 23-6 spurt that put the Indians ahead, 44-31, and they maintained a double-digit lead through the final period.
Holy Cross made four 3-point shots during that game-changing run and the coach’s two sons, Leighton and Nolan Schrand, got three of them. Leighton finished with a team-high 13 points.
“I told our guys at halftime, ‘We’re not going to panic,'” coach Schrand said. “‘We’re going to continue to play our game and eventually we’re going to make shots.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”
Holy Cross was able to run off 16 straight points in the third quarter because Dixie Heights failed to score on nine consecutive possessions. The Colonels didn’t even get off a shot on five trips down the court because they committed turnovers.
“We had way too many empty possessions in the third quarter when we turned the ball over and (Holy Cross) started getting the momentum,” said Dixie Heights coach Ken Chevalier. “We were way too loose with the basketball and they started doing what they do well, hitting threes.”
Dixie Heights made four 3-point shots in the first half and had a 25-21 lead at the break. Sophomore guard Tyler Schreck hit the first two treys for the Colonels and went on to score a game-high 14 points.
Schreck was one of four underclassmen in the Dixie Heights lineup for Friday’s game. Holy Cross had five senior starters and all of them scored.
“I’m just proud of our whole team,” Bezold said. “I wasn’t sure how our guys would shoot in a big arena like this, but I thought we knocked down our shots really well.”
DIXIE HEIGHTS 13 12 6 15 — 46
HOLY CROSS 14 7 23 14 — 58
DIXIE HEIGHTS (19-11): Brolley 1 2 5, Meyer 3 4 10, Plitzuweit 2 4 10, Schreck 4 4 14, Bradford 2 3 7. Totals: 12 17 26.
HOLY CROSS (23-8): N. Schrand 2 0 6, Hacker 2 0 6, Jacobowski 4 0 8, Scott 2 0 4, L. Schrand 4 4 13, Volpenhein 2 0 4, Bezold 3 4 11, Barnes 3 0 6. Totals: 22 8 58.
3-pointers: DH — Schreck 2, Plitzuweit 2, Brolley. HC — N. Schrand 2, Hacker 2, L. Schrand, Bezold.