By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
St. Henry outscored Dixie Heights 27-6 from behind the 3-point line and came away with a 69-57 victory in a 34th District boys basketball seeding game on Thursday night at St. Henry.
It was a much-needed victory for the Crusaders (8-2) following an 83-76 loss to Beechwood on Tuesday that snapped their six-game winning streak. They let a 17-point lead slip away in the second half of that disappointing loss.
On Thursday, St. Henry made four of its nine 3-point goals during a 24-13 scoring run in the third quarter when they opened up a 51-40 lead.
Dixie Heights scored the first basket in the fourth quarter, but the home team put the game away with a 12-4 run that pushed the margin to 63-46 with less than five minutes remaining.
St. Henry senior guard Wyatt Vieth scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter. His senior teammate Jude Bessler finished with 16 points and surpassed the 1,000 mark in career scoring.
Dixie Heights (9-3) had won six straight games before falling to St. Henry. The Colonels opened the game with a 6-0 spurt and maintained a lead until the final two minutes of the first quarter.
That’s when Bessler made back-to-back 3-pointers and senior guard Ryan Butler hit another trey to give the Crusaders an 18-12 lead going into the second quarter.
After a couple of lead changes, Vieth dropped in a pair of free throws with four seconds left to make the score 27-27 at halftime. Those were his only two points in the second quarter, but he came on strong with 18 points after the break.
The leading scorer for Dixie Heights was junior guard Kiernan Geraci with 16 points. Junior forward Billy Wogenstahl got into foul trouble and finished with eight points, six below his season average.
St. Henry made seven free throws in each half and ended up outscoring Dixie Heights, 14-5, at the foul line. It was the Crusaders’ fifth straight win against the Colonels over three seasons, including victories in the 34th District final the last two years.
DIXIE HEIGHTS 12 15 13 17 — 57
ST. HENRY 18 9 24 18 — 69
DIXIE HEIGHTS (9-3): Snelling 3 1 7, Landers 3 0 6, Flynn 1 0 3, Geraci 6 4 16, Blank 2 0 5, Wogenstahl 4 0 8, Summe 5 0 10, Rohlman 1 0 2. Totals: 25 5 57.
ST. HENRY (8-2): Shea 3 5 13, Vieth 8 4 22, Bessler 6 1 16, Butler 4 0 9, Teten 0 4 4, McNamara 2 0 5. Totals: 23 14 69.
Three-pointers: DH — Flynn, Blank. SH — Bessler 3, Vieth 2, Shea 2, Butler, McNamara.
