By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
The loud sounds coming out of the Kentucky locker room at halftime made it clear: This was not your typical All-Star game. This was something else.
What it turned into was a 58-43 second half where the Kentucky Boys just out-physicaled, out-hustled, outshot, outrebounded and outlasted the Ohio All-Stars for the Commonwealth’s 12th win in the 30-year “Battle at the Border” rivalry.
“I hope that had something to do with us winning,” Kentucky Coach Larry Kihnley of Pleasure Ridge Park said with a grin of his halftime heart-to-heart with his players. “We challenged them.”
Challenged them to meet Ohio’s early physicality with their own. Challenge answered as the Kentucky kids came out with a 15-3 run that turned into a 20-7 edge and finally, 31-18, the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Kentucky was getting help from all throughout the lineup. MVP Jaylen Davis, a 6-foot-5 wing from Madison Central who has not picked a school yet, should be able to based on this game with his game-high 19 points scoring both inside and out.
But the best thing that happened for Kentucky was this: They didn’t let the absence of two of the state’s most heralded players — two-time leading scorer Jacob Meyer of Holy Cross and CovCath’s Evan Ipsaro, who averaged 62 points a game between them — slow them down a bit.
“I thought our guards did a really good job,” Kihnley said of the play of late-arriving replacements Rheayse Deboard of Ashland and Jack Edelen of Louisville Male. Add their 10 points (six for Edelen, four for Deboard) to the 13 of PRP’s Greg Cole and six of Garrard County’s Ethan Cooper plus the 10 of Owen County’s Teagen Moore, who often found himself on the perimeter, with the four more from defensive specialist Terrell Henry of Mason County and the position could hardly have been more productive.
“I don’t think we missed a beat at the guard spot,” Kihnley said.
Once Kentucky established its defense and rebounding, the closest Ohio would get was 75-71 before an 18-12 Kentucky run the last 5:45 keyed by Davis and PRP’s Keith Robinson.
But then there were the big guys. Evangel Christian’s 6-11 Cyr Malonga scored 10 points and influenced a number of shots down low as did Simon Kenton’s 7-3 Gabe Dynes, whose two scores came on slam dunks while also defending the paint.
“I think for Gabe, the sky’s the limit . . . literally,” Kihnley said of the Youngstown State signee. “He’s so young. Once he grows into his body . . . and he’s the nicest kid.”
Of the physicality, Dynes said “it wasn’t bad. They doubled me.” But this was a great fore-taste of what awaits him in college, Dynes said. “Obviously I’ve got to put on strength,” he said. “Once I do that, . . . ”
Of the shot clock, something that Kentucky boys basketball does not use, “I like it,” Dynes said. “I like to play fast. I like to run.”
One other thing Dynes liked. Having a teammate like the 6-11 Malonga to play against in practice. “Maybe once a year I get to do that.”
As for Northern Kentucky’s other player, 6-5 Marquez Miller of Newport, “I thought Marquez had a little trouble finding the flow on offense,” Kihnley said. “But he went to the boards really well.”
“I didn’t shoot like I usually do,” Miller said, as Kihnley came up to him after the game with a hug, a handshake and some serious praise: “You’re a great guy,” is how the coach put it.
“Playing hard matters,” Miller said. “Hard work definitely wins . . . and rebounding.”
Ohio, which now leads the series 18-12, was led by Lakota West’s 6-3 long-range shooter Nathan Dudukovich’s 17 points. But overall, Kentucky pretty much put the clamps on Ohio’s top offensive threats.
KENTUCKY 35 58-93
OHIO 40 43-83
KENTUCKY: Davis 19, Cole 13, Robinson 12, Moore 10, Malonga 10, Cooper 6, Edelen 6, Dynes 4, DeBoard 4, McCrear 4, Brooks 3, Henry 2, Miller 0. TOTAL: 93.
OHIO: Dudukovich 17, Rice 13, Callaghan 9, Elmer 7, Lewis 6, Parks 6, Walker 6, Ream 5, D’Augustino 4, Wenger 3, Maxwell 3, Crim 2, Browne 2. TOTAL: 83.