By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune contributor
Reigning champion Newport Central Catholic was tested in the opening game of the 9th Region boys’ basketball tournament on Wednesday and came away with a 69-55 win over Ryle at BB&T Arena.
Senior center Trey Wurtz scored a career-high 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Thoroughbreds in the hard-fought victory. His counterpart, Ryle sophomore forward Vince Rankin, scored 24 points to keep the Raiders in the game.
“Every night in a must-win game, a new guy’s stepping up, and tonight was Trey’s night,” NewCath coach Ken Collopy said. “It’s not like we kind of say, ‘OK, tonight’s your night.’ It’s just whoever’s out there, they pick up the slack. Every team has some sort of weakness and Trey exploited that tonight.”
The first four minutes gave a glimpse of what was to come. Wurtz scored NCC’s first nine points and Rankin scored Ryle’s first eight.
“I was feeling alright,” Wurtz said. “My legs were a little sore, but I was alright. I was hitting my shots, so I thought it was going to be a good game.”
The Thoroughbreds took an 18-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Wurtz picked up his second foul and took a seat on the bench shortly after that. Rankin then led a Ryle rally and reduced the margin to four, 25-21, with a field goal and free throw.
NewCath got its lead back up to eight points, 29-21, at halftime. When Wurtz picked up his third foul early in the third quarter and left the game once again, his teammates handled it much better and went on an 11-1 run, taking a commanding 40-22 lead.
The Raiders made a couple charges in the fourth quarter and got as close as eight points, but NewCath continued to answer back in that fast-paced, high-scoring period.
“I was so proud of our guys,” Ryle coach David McFarland said “They never quit fighting. They took some of (NewCath’s) best punches. We had guys step up, make shots. We got down, but we kept crawling, crawling, we just couldn’t get over that hump.”
NewCath will face Covington Catholic in a regional semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. It will be a rematch of last year’s regional final that was won by the Thoroughbreds.
NEWCATH 18 11 12 28 — 69
RYLE 9 12 10 24 — 55
NEWCATH (21-12): Moeves 1 7 9, Pangallo 0 1 1, Wurtz 11 2 25, Hall 3 6 13, McDaniel 6 5 17, Luken 1 1 4. Totals: 22 22 69.
Ryle (15-18): Cheesman 4 4 12, Polk 2 0 5, Puthoff 2 0 6, O’Hara 0 3 3, McDaniel 0 3 3, Rankin 9 4 24, Webster 0 2 2. Totals: 17 16 55.
Three-pointers: NC — Hall, Wurtz, Luken. R — Puthoff 2, Rankin 2, Polk.