By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
There is a way to survive losing your newest underclass big man of the season to a knee injury in the first game of the Ninth Region Tournament . . . but Cooper Coach Tim Sullivan probably wouldn’t advise it.
“We have a bunch of scars from this season,” Sullivan said as his Jaguars improved to 16-12 with a heart-stopping, come-from-behind 68-62 overtime victory against a never-say-die Highlands team Wednesday at NKU’s Truist Arena. “That’s why we’re strong.”
It’s not the only reason. How about senior Nmandi Ajaezu, who was cut his junior year but refused to give up on himself or the game, and came back better and stronger.
So when 6-foot-6 Shaun Pouncy went down after 17:26 in the Highlands game Wednesday with a knee injury in just his third game this season, on came Ajaezu. He scored seven big points and grabbed three rebounds in a game where every play, every point, mattered.
“When we saw our big go down,” Nmandi said, “we have a chip on our shoulder.”
So when the Jaguars fell behind 29-21 at halftime, after getting blitzed by Highlands’ senior Seth Ryan’s 21 first-half points, and by as much as 10 points in the third quarter, “We knew we had to stick together,” said Cooper’s 6-5 senior Trevor Ollier.
It was Ollier’s three-pointer that tied it at 51 in the final minute as part of a 7-0 Cooper run that gave the Jags their first lead in nearly three full quarters.
“We talk a lot about playing 32 minutes,” Sullivan said, but he puts “32-plus” on the board just in case it takes extra time as it did in the district championship against Conner and again in the first Ninth Region game against Highlands.
“Over the year with our ups and downs, it prepared us for this moment,” Sullivan said. “We’re built for this.”
Their scars have made them strong. Caleb Brooks, their 6-8 junior, went down with a season-ending knee injury after just six games. And then Pouncy, just able to play in the postseason, injured his right knee in a collision with Highlands’ Nathan Vinson as Vinson went in for the dunk and Pouncy went for the block.
Vinson got the better of it that time, earning his only two free throws of the game against a Cooper team that challenged every drive at the rim.
“Nathan Vinson shot 23 free throws in a game last week, he shot two tonight,” Highlands Coach Kevin Listerman said.
That was the difference for a Highlands’ team that takes it to the hoop, as Ryan did for many of his game-high 28 points.
“That’s tournament basketball,” Listerman said. “Got to give credit to Cooper.”
But he also gave it to his own players, especially the two seniors in Ryan and all-time Ninth Region three-point scorer Will Herald, who finished with 19 points.
“No. 1, I told them I loved them,” Listerman said of his words to his seniors. “They won 103 games in four years . . . a state championship . . . a record-holder for three-pointers . . . district championships.”
The Cooper players were proud as well. “We think we have one of the best coaches,” 6-3 sophomore guard Andy Johnson said after his 13-point game. With fellow guard Yamil Rondon, also a sophomore, scoring 23 points with four of six from three-point range.
That’s beating Highlands at the Birds’ own game, with Cooper firing in nine of 23 from long range while limiting Highlands to just four of 13 from deep.
“You’ve got to guard the three-point line when you play Highlands,” Sullivan said. His team did.
The stat sheet tells the story of a close, close game. Cooper had 15 assists to Highlands’ nine. But Highlands had 12 steals to Cooper’s seven to balance that out with freshman Vincent Listerman, the coach’s son, recording six of those.
Each team finished with 23 field goals but Cooper hit on 13 of its 15 free throws while Highlands hit on 12 of its 15, still an exceptional 80.0 percent.
These teams could not have been closer — to each other and to themselves.
Cooper, for example, has FAMILY across the back of its warmups.
“That’s the way we live,” Sullivan said, “it’s not fake.”
And it’s not just the team.
It’s the community, the students, the fans, Sullivan said of the Cooper rooting section.
And now they’ll be back Sunday for the second semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. against a Covington Catholic team that beat them, 78-69, in overtime Jan. 24.
Sullivan said he knew one thing for sure: “They’ll have the best player on the floor,” he said of CovCath guard Evan Ipsaro, who scored 28 points in Wednesday’s first quarterfinal game, a 66-55 win over St. Henry.
But with a front line of 6-6, 6-5 and 6-4 against a CovCath team that often looks like it’s lining up with four or even five guards and no one bigger than 6-3, Cooper has some serious length to throw at the defending regional champion Colonels.
“Yes we do,” Sullivan said, promising some new looks in this second matchup although he’s not certain what to expect when Pouncy sees the doctor Thursday.
BOX SCORE
HIGHLANDS 7 22 13 11 9—62
COOPER 12 9 16 18 15—68
HIGHLANDS (23-9): Benke 5, Ryan 28, Listerman 2, Herald 19, Vinson 8, Class 0, Hicks 0, Kirst 0, Rickard 0, DeSylva 0, Messmer 0, Yelton 0, Gregory 0, TOTAL: 62.
COOPER (16-12): Ollier 9, Pouncy 6, Johnson 13, Rondon 23, Lutz 8, Ajaezu 7, Brown 2, Schilling 0, Murphy 0, Oates 0, TOTAL: 68.