By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
With five guards listed as 6-foot-1 or smaller in the starting lineup, the Scott boys’ basketball team doesn’t look very intimidating. But the way the Eagles play defense does make opponents uneasy.
Scott scored 21 points off turnovers caused by its aggressive man-to-man defense and defeated Simon Kenton, 62-50, on Friday before a capacity crowd in Independence.
“That’s what we planned to come out and do,” said Scott senior guard Jake Ohmer. “Run the floor, that’s what the coaches tell us wins games. In practice, that’s all we do – play defense, get the ball up (the court) and score in transition.”
The Eagles did that so well in the first half of Friday’s game that they took a 32-22 lead with 15 points coming off turnovers and they extended the margin to 38-22 in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Simon Kenton battled back and cut it to 49-41 with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter. But Scott ran off six straight points to regain a double-digit lead and maintained it until the final horn.
It was the Eagles’ fifth consecutive win and lifted their record to 12-4. Simon Kenton has now lost three in a row and slipped to 8-5 on the season.
“The chemistry and the comradery on our team is very good,” said Scott coach Steve Fromeyer. “And there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t appreciated it because they do play as one unit.”
The long-standing rivalry between the two Kenton County public schools and the large crowd that turned out for Friday’s game created a high-energy atmosphere. But Simon Kenton coach Trent Steiner said his players didn’t perform as well as he expected.
“We didn’t make very good decisions (on offense) and I don’t think we played very poised,” Steiner said. “For some of our kids, I think the (game) was a little bit bigger than what they were ready for. But that won’t be the last big game we play this year so we’ve got to be ready to play.”
Simon Kenton shot 42.8 percent (15 of 35) from the field on its home floor compared to Scott’s 48.7 percent (19 of 39). The Eagles also made 22 of 25 free throws while the Pioneers connected on 16 of 24.
Ohmer, who entered the game as the leading scorer in Northern Kentucky with a 27.1 average, scored 13 of his game-high 23 points at the free throw line and didn’t make any 3-pointers.
“I wasn’t hitting my shots like I normally do so I was driving and getting everybody else involved and just trying to win the game,” he said.
Tim Jolley scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half while Ohmer was struggling with his shot. The leading scorers for Simon Kenton were junior center Zach Kelch with 12 points and eighth-grade guard Kelly Niece with 10.
In the second quarter, Ohmer was knocked down while attempting a drive to the basket and it took a few minutes before he was able to get up. Fromeyer drew a technical when he yelled at an official for not calling a flagrant foul on the play.
“It didn’t bother him and honestly it ignited the team,” Fromeyer said of the hard foul on Ohmer. “At that moment, we were really coming down off a high note and Trent’s kids were playing well.”
SCOTT 20 12 13 17 — 62
SIMON KENTON 13 9 14 14 — 50
SCOTT (12-4): J. Ohmer 5 13 23, C. Ohmer 4 1 9, Jolley 4 4 12. Perrin 3 2 9, Dumlao 2 2 7, Dixon 1 0 2. Totals: 19 22 62.
SIMON KENTON (8-5): Hawkins 3 1 9, Perry 0 1 1, Kitchen 2 2 6, Kelch 3 6 12, Sergent 3 0 7, Robinson 1 0 2, Mastin 1 0 3, Niece 2 6 10. Totals: 15 16 50.
Three-pointers: S – Perrin, Dumlao. SK – Hawkins 2, Sergent, Mastin.