By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune contributor

The Holy Cross Indians were playing for more than just themselves in the first round of the 9th Region boys’ basketball tournament on Wednesday night. The Indians donned “Play for Clay” shirts in memory of the school’s former principal, Clay Eifert, and upset Newport, 55-54, in a thrilling victory at BB&T Arena.

“He’s a big part of Holy Cross,” senior guard Parker Zimmerman said of Eifert. “That’s why we made these shirts, so we could play for Clay tonight.”

The former principal and head basketball coach at Holy Cross passed away earlier this month. The team wore the shirts for the first time on Wednesday and Zimmerman gave them a chance to wear them once again in Saturday’s semifinals.

With eight seconds left in Wednesday’s game, Zimmerman was fouled while attempting a 3-point shot. He stepped to the line and knocked down the first two free throws to tie the score.

Newport coach Rod Snapp called a timeout to disrupt Zimmerman’s concentration. But the senior made the final free throw to give Holy Cross the lead and Newport wasn’t able to score on the final possession.

“I just had to come down and hit three big free throws,” Zimmerman said. “I wasn’t (nervous). We practice every day. I knew all three were going in.”

Holy Cross lost to Newport twice during the regular season and fell behind 8-0 early in regional game. The Indians shook off the slow start and took a 30-29 lead late in the second quarter, but Newport ran off four straight points to go on top, 33-30, at halftime.

The back-and-forth affair continued in the third quarter that ended with Holy Cross holding a 44-43 lead.

“I knew it was going to be a nip and tuck game,” said Holy Cross coach Ryan Schrand. “Whoever executed and made free throws down the stretch was going to win the game and that’s exactly what we did.”

Newport took a 53-48 lead with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter, but the the Wildcats weren’t able to put the game away due to a turnover and three missed free throws in the last minute. That kept the Indians’ hopes alive and set the stage for Zimmerman’s winning free throws.

Senior guard Nolan Schrand, the coach’s son, scored a game-high 19 points for Holy Cross, followed by Jordan Niehaus with 12. The leading scorer for Newport was Tahj Harding with 13 points. Senior guard McKell Burries finished with 12 points, nine below his season average.

Burries scored 42 points and 25 points in Newport’s two victories over Holy Cross during the regular season, but the Indians were able to keep him in check during the regional rematch.

“When a guy scores 42 the first time you play and 25 the second time, you have to limit his touches somehow,” said coach Schrand. “We told our guys, ‘We’re going to be physical with him, we’re going to bump him, we’re going to face-guard him.’”

The Indians will continue to “Play for Clay” in Saturday’s 7 p.m. semifinal game against Dixie Heights. The two teams played twice during the regular season and split the series.

Holy Cross won the first game it played against Dixie Heights this season, but Niehaus was out with a broken hand in the second game and the Colonels came away with an 81-68 victory.

“Jordan broke his hand, he was out 10 games,” coach Schrand said. “Both those times we played Newport he wasn’t there. You can tell he’s our senior leader point guard. He means a lot to our team, especially on the offensive end, getting us in our sets. And (with his) dribble penetration, that’s another scorer for us.”

HOLY CROSS  15   15   13   12 — 55
NEWPORT      19    14   11   10 — 54

HOLY CROSS (14-16): Schrand 7 2 18, Zimmerman 2 3 9, J. Niehaus 5 0 12, N. Niehaus 2 0 6, Knochelman 3 2 8, Wood 1 0 2. Totals: 20 7 55.

NEWPORT (23-6): Miller 5 0 12, White 3 0 7, McGuire 3 3 10, Harding 4 5 13, Burries 5 2 12.

3-pointers: HC — Schrand 2, Zimmerman 2, J. Niehaus 2, N. Niehaus 2. N — Miller 2, White McGuire.

Dixie Heights 77, Ryle 51

Dixie Heights guards Jabari Karim and Tyler Shreck combined for 50 points in the their team’s dominating 77-51 victory over Ryle in their opener of the 9th Region tournament at BB&T Arena on Wednesday night.

Karim, who scored 21 points, hit a three-pointer as time expired in the first quarter to give the Colonels a 17-13 lead and they started pulling away after that, upping their lead to 39-27 by halftime.

Dixie Heights put the game away with a 20-10 run in the third quarter. Schreck got 16 of his game-high 29 points in that period.

“(Karim) did well enough in the first half that they felt the need to chase him in the second half,” said Dixie Heights coach Roddy Stainforth. “That opened up things for Tyler Schreck, and he’s pretty good.”

Dixie Heights lost six of the top seven players on last year’s team that lost in the first round of the regional. Schreck was the only returning starter and he led this year’s team to the regional final four.

“We graduated six of our seven, Tyler had varsity experience and he’s been an excellent leader,” Stainforth said. “He’s been a coach on the floor. He’s the perfect senior for this group of kids.”

Up next for the Colonels is a rematch with Holy Cross, a team they split two games with during the season. They meet again in a regional semifinal game at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“You get to the semifinals of the region and you forget what happened in the regular season. You forget records, you forget all of that,” Stainforth said. “Anything can happen. You have 16-year-old, 17-year-old kids playing hard on a big stage. We know this, some guys are not going to handle the pressure and some guys are going to rise up and really handle it well. Anything can happen.”

DIXIE  HEIGHTS  17   22  20  18 — 77
RYLE                     14  13  10  14 — 51

DIXIE HEIGHTS (17-14): Karim 6 5 21, A. Trimpe 0 1 1, Gentry 2 3 7, Schreck 11 7 29, Shumate 2 0 6, Iames 2 0 5, Suedkamp 1 1 4. Totals: 24 17 77.

RYLE (11-20): Rabe 1 2 4, Overkamp 1 2 4, Tarvin 5 2 15, Stuhr 1 0 2, Rankin 5 3 13, Benton 3 1 9. Totals: 16 10 51

3-pointers: DH — Karim 4, Shumate 2, Iames, Suedkamp. R — Tarvin 3, Benton 2.

9TH REGION TOURNAMENT AT BB&T ARENA
Thursday
Cooper (24-5) vs. Newport Central Catholic (13-16), 7 p.m.
Covington Catholic (28-4) vs. St. Henry (12-16), 8:30 p.m.
Saturday
Holy Cross (14-16) vs. Dixie Heights (17-14), 7 p.m.
Winners of Tursday’s game, 8:30 p.m.
Monday
Championship game, 7 p.m.