By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
It looked like a great matchup. The No. 2 boys’ basketball team in the Ninth Region against No. 2 in the 10th Region.
A 17-5 Covington Catholic, with 11 wins in its last 12 games hosting a 14-4 Campbell County team that’s won six of its last eight and three straight.
CovCath’s Colonels were coming off wins over Walton-Verona, Louisville DeSales, Highlands and Ashland Blazer, with two of those on the road. Campbell County’s Camels with wins over Holy Cross and Scott.
Should be fun.
Turns out all the fun was running in direction on Senior Night (and Toga Night) Tuesday in Park Hills as the Colonels, still hurting from that lone streak-breaking loss last week to Cooper, were playing faster, more physical and with their perimeter people rebounding like they’re big guys.
The result: a 34-11 first-half CovCath kill shot and the Colonels didn’t look back, leading by as much as 27 points, 40-13, right after halftime before cruising to a 73-50 romp.
“You can’t wait 2½ quarters,” said Campbell County Coach Brent Sowder, whose guys closed down that 27-point lead to 17 before CovCath got it up to the final 23-point margin.
“You run into a buzzsaw like that and it takes away your gameplan,” Sowder said.
Which was exactly CovCath’s gameplan. The Camels were trying to “deny the post” and “not give up transition points,” Sowder said. They did neither.
Denying the post would always seem like a good plan against CovCath’s 6-foot-9 senior center Caden Miller, who double-doubled his way to 19 points on nine-of-12 shooting, 11 rebounds and a half-dozen dunks.
But he wasn’t alone. CovCath’s other senior regular, Brady Hussey (the Colonels started all four seniors including Noah Johnson and Chris Kennedy on this night), also fired in 19 while hitting all five of his three-point attempts.
“Just confidence,” Hussey said the region’s top tennis player after admitting he’d been in “a bit of a slump.”
But these new-look Colonel rebounders who spent a full hour-and-a-half last week the day after getting pushed around by Cooper figured out how “to definitely get better looks,” Hussey said. Whether pushing the ball quickly up the floor to find the open shooter or slowing things down to run the half-court offense through Miller, CovCath got what it wanted.
“Not a lot of people in the Ninth Region can guard me because of my height,” Miller said in agreeing that the offense goes through him now. Should he get doubled, “I like getting my teammates involved.”
Miller – and the Colonel Crazies in their bedsheet togas – like something else: blocked shots. “It helps the guards and even if I don’t get the block, I can change a lot of shots.”
But as if taking his cue from his two fellow seniors, backup 6-4 senior forward Kennedy pulled off what maybe could have been credited as a blocked shot right in front of the Crazies and then came back to knock down the first three in his high school career as the Crazies went, well, crazy.
No wonder Kennedy lists in the CovCath media guide that “his favorite thing” at CovCath, is, well, “the Crazies.” “They always shout my name, or the name his aunt gave him during freshman baseball that they’ve never forgotten: “C-Lo,” they screamed. “C-Lo.”
Of Senior Night, speaking for all Colonels everywhere, “I don’t know how to describe it,” Kennedy said, “it’s a fun experience.”
It is when your team shoots 53.6 percent (30 of 56) from the field and an even-better 55.0 percent (11 of 20) from three-point range. Add a 35-23 edge in rebounding and a 20-9 advantage in assists and a 5-2 edge in blocked shots and it was smiles all around for the Colonels.
Not that the Camels gave up. They rallied around Connor Weinel’s 14 points and nine rebounds with 10 points each from Broc Sorgenfrei and William Cole Johnson. But it was too little, too late.
All you can do, Sowder said, is learn from this game and go back to practice. And if you’re going to get schooled in a game like this, far better to learn it from a team in another region. “Exactly,” Sowder said.
For CovCath, sophomore guards Athens McGillis and Cash Harney crashed Senior Night with seven assists each while McGillis added 14 points.
But CovCath Coach Scott Ruthsatz wasn’t satisfied. “We’ve got to get much more physical,” Ruthsatz said, with a nod back to that Cooper game. “We’ve got to get it into Caden, then get our perimeter guys some open looks.”
Done and done.
SCORING SUMMARY
CAMPBELL COUNTY 4 7 22 17—50
COVINGTON CATHOLIC 18 16 16 23—73
Campbell County (14-5): Augsback 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Franzen 2-4 0-2 2-3 6, Dowds 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Sorgenfrei 3-10 2-7 2-4 10, Fancher 2-7 1-5 0-0 10, Jackson 2-3 1-1 0-0 5, Cole Johnson 3-7 2-3 2-2 10, Crowley 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Weinel 6-15 2-6 0-0 14; TOTALS: 18-47 8-24 6-9 50.
COVINGTON CATHOLIC (18-5): McGillis 5-13 3-8 1-1 14, Harney 2-6 1-2 0-0 5, Miller 9-12 0-0 1-2 19, Stewart 1-1 0-1 0-0-0 3, Johnson 1-3 0-1 0-0 2, Wermuth 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Bradshaw 2-2 0-0 0-0 4, Kennedy 1-2 1-2 0-0 3, Hussey 7-12 5-5 0-0 19, N. Ruthsatz 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Kruer 1-2 0-1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 30-56 11-20 2-3 73.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.