By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
You play Highlands, especially at Highlands, you’re in for a shootout.
“We know we’ve gotta’ score,” says Highlands’ Coach Kevin Listerman of his Bluebirds, the state’s No. 3 scoring team at 78.2 points a game.
But if the near-capacity crowd that generated a pregame buzz in the Highlands’ gym Friday was expecting a shootout in this matchup of two of Northern Kentucky’s hottest teams, they weren’t expecting what they got.
Because in typical Western movie fashion, the Bluebirds, winners of seven straight and nine of their last 10, showed up with six-shooters.
Problem was, a Conner team that had won five straight and 10 of their last 12, showed up with howitzers. Four of them. With precise targeting.
Final score: 86-52. But it wasn’t that close. The hot-shooting Hebron guys jumped out to 33-17 first-quarter edge – and then they put it into high gear, going on a 23-4 run that had the lead at 62-27 by halftime.
So what did Listerman tell his Bluebirds down 35 after just 16 minutes? “I told them we didn’t play very good,” Listerman deadpanned.
And Conner? The Cougars, who improved to 17-6 with recent wins over Newport and Mason County after an earlier takedown of Covington Catholic, were very, very, very good.
This good. They shot 75.7 percent (25 of 33) from the field in the first half. And even more impressively, they hit 66.7 percent (12 of 18) from three-point range.
“You couldn’t script it any better,” said Conner Coach Matt Otte.
Senior guard Dalton Kramer’s career-high 32 points came on nine-of-12 shooting (five of eight from three-point distance) while guard-mate Landen Hamilton’s 27 points came on seven-of-11 shooting (five of seven on three’s).
They weren’t alone. Daniel Campbell, who finished with 16 points, and Ayden Lohr, who had 10, missed just one shot between them of the 10 they took in the first half.
But don’t talk offense to the Cougars. That’s not what this was about.
“Our defense leads us to our offense,” Kramer said, echoing Otte. Both he and Hamilton often started the offense by picking Bluebird dribblers’ pockets.
“When we get stops, our offense gets going,” Hamilton said. “Our defense played great.”
So no, Otte said, Conner didn’t come into Ft. Thomas to beat the offensive-minded Bluebirds at the Birds’ own game.
“We came in thinking we gotta’ play the way we play,” Otte said of his team that scores at 66.5 points a game, not in the state’s top 50.
“Once you get those stops on defense, the offense will take care of itself,” Otte said, “that’s how it always works.”
“All credit goes to Conner,” Listerman said. “They were the more physical team.”
Highlands, which dropped to 21-7 on the season, has to do more than play fast and get shots up, Listerman said. “We have to finish plays.”
Only Conner wouldn’t let them. “They’re like us,” Listerman said, “they’ve got guys who can shoot.” But they rebounded and played defense to set up their shooters.
It wasn’t “about preparation,” Listerman said, “it was about execution.”
And the Cougars were the executioners.
With Kramer, who is really coming into his own in recent games, pulling the switch.
“The good part about him is he’s all over the place,” Otte said of Kramer, “he’s been very disciplined with his chaos, if that makes any sense. That’s his game. For lack of a better word, he’s a pest. When he’s good, we’re good.”
And when the Cougars are good, they can be very, very good with seven seniors who have been playing together for four years.
The Conner fans could not have loved it more than they did. The students did not sit down after the first field goal, as they sometimes do, or even after the 32nd and final field goal in the fourth quarter.
“I think it depends on how we play,” Kramer said of how long the students stay standing. Not a surprise here they didn’t sit down the entire game. “It really helps,” he said of the fan support.
With the postseason coming up in two weeks, they’ll get their chance.
“Everybody up here is going to be good,” Otte said of the handful of teams with a chance in the Ninth Region.
“It’s going to be a coin-flip,” as Newport Coach Rod Spann said this week.
The way the Cougars were shooting Friday, you probably wouldn’t want to get into a coin-flipping contest with them right now.
BOX SCORE
CONNER 33 29 14 10–86
HIGHLANDS 17 10 11 14–52
CONNER (17-6): Hamilton 27, Kramer 32, Campbell 16, Lohr 10, Reece 0, Fay 0, Henson 0, Louden 1, TOTAL 86.
HIGHLANDS (21-7): Ryan 11, Listerman 3, Class 6, DeSylva 3, Herald 8, Vinson 15, Benke 6, TOTAL: 52.