By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Scott Ruthsatz picked up his 300th win as Covington Catholic boys basketball coach on Friday when his team’s strong defensive performance resulted in a 58-50 victory over North Laurel in the fifth annual Dan Tieman Classic at BB&T Arena.
In this week’s Associated Press media poll, North Laurel (21-5) was No. 5 and CovCath (20-4) was No. 6 in the state rankings. The Colonels pulled off the upset by holding North Laurel to its lowest point total of the season. The Jaguars came into the game with a 79.7 scoring average and 11 consecutive wins.
CovCath junior guard Evan Ipsaro scored a game-high 23 points with five assists, but that wasn’t the only reason he received the game’s most valuable player award. On defense, he guarded North Laurel junior Reed Sheppard and limited him to 18 points, six below his average.
Sheppard, a University of Kentucky recruit, had six field goals and five turnovers during the game. He only made one basket in the third quarter when CovCath went on a 26-12 run to take a 48-32 lead.
The Jaguars opened the fourth quarter with a 12-2 spurt that cut the deficit to 50-44. But the Colonels kept their poise to come way with the milestone victory for their coach, even though they tied their lowest point total of the season.
Ruthsatz has a 300-67 record in 11 seasons as CovCath’s head coach. The program’s winningest coach is Tieman, the namesake of the annual classic, with a 313-146 career record.
CovCath defeated North Laurel, 79-67, in the championship game of the King of the Bluegrass tournament in December, but neither team shot the ball well in the first half of Friday’s rematch in the spacious college arena. The Colonels had a slim 22-20 lead at the break.
During the Colonels’ decisive 26-12 run in the third quarter, Ipsaro had 11 points and 6-foot-8 senior center Mitchell Rylee had nine, including one of his three slam dunks.
Rylee finished with 22 points and a game-high seven rebounds. The Miami University of Ohio recruit was 10 of 12 from the field, raising his season shooting percentage to 71.7 (155 of 216), which ranks among the state’s top five.
CovCath ended up shooting 53.8 percent (21 of 39) with Rylee and Ipsaro getting 17 of the team’s 21 field goals. Ipsaro also made all nine of his free throws to push his season percentage to 89.5 (120 of 134), which ranks among the state’s top six.
After making just 8 of 22 field goals in the first half, North Laurel shot 47.6 percent (20 of 42) for the game. The Jaguars’ other double-figure scorer was senior forward Ryan Davidson with 18 points.
North Laurel finished with a 9-0 scoring advantage from behind the 3-point line, but CovCath countered that with a 16-7 point spread at the free throw line.
This is the 10th consecutive season that CovCath has reached the 20-win mark. The Colonels won 30 or more games three times during that streak with the 2018 state championship team finishing 35-4 and the 2014 state champions finishing 33-2.