By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
This is the day every season when Kentucky gets serious about postseason high school basketball. It’s the day that the KHSAA puts out the Sweet 16 matchups.
Not much you can do to avoid looking down the road even if there are a couple of more weeks left in the regular season. It may not be March. But it’s that time of year when you know it’s almost here.
Big men Caden Miller of CovCath and EJ Walker of Lloyd battle over a loose ball. Photo by Bob Jackson/NKyTribune)
As it was Monday night in front of a near-capacity crowd at Lloyd Memorial’s Scheben Gym with Covington Catholic coming to town and the homestanding Juggernauts hoping to join a Ninth Region Final Four with CovCath, Newport and Cooper, two teams that play Tuesday night and both had their top players in attendance here Monday.
“I would include them for sure,” CovCath Coach Scott Ruthsatz said of the Juggernauts (18-7) after guiding his now 21-5 Colonels to a 64-56 win in a game of runs that saw CovCath with the top runner and gunner – 5-foot-11 sophomore Athens McGillis, with a career-high 32 points.
Although that’s not how this game was billed. It was to be a battle of the “bigs” – 6-foot-9 CovCath senior post player Caden Miller, the premier shot-blocker and rebounder in the Ninth Region, against the player getting the most big-time recruiting interest – Lloyd junior EJ Walker, a 6-8 multiple-position player who had Purdue head coach Matt Painter from the nation’s No. 2 Boilermakers, stop by last week.
“I hit that first shot,” McGillis said of the first of his five three-pointers (on nine attempts) and he was off for a night that saw him eclipse his previous career high of 22 by double digits. “They can’t guard me,” he told himself, although meaning no disparagement for Lloyd’s quick, athletic defenders. “They have tough guards,” McGillis said.
CovCath’s Athens McGillis drives the lane on his way to a career-high 32 points. (Photo by Bob Jackson/NKyTribune)
But this was one of those nights when it didn’t matter. Come out and challenge McGillis, who was averaging 13.1 points a game, and he’d drive the lane, going behind his back with a dribble or two, playing through contact and getting his floater to drop.
“Athens got hot,” Lloyd Coach Mike Walker said with a shake of his head summarizing what happened. “That’s the best he’s played all year.”
Or ever. And just an example of his expanded role for which Athens acknowledges how the word “bigger” explains it. And not just for his additional scoring and leadership responsibilities. It’s the normal growth that has put on some 30 pounds to the frame of the 130-pound freshman who saw a great deal of varsity action a year ago. But not like this year.
“Confidence” – and that bigger, stronger body have made the difference, Athens says. “He took over tonight,” Ruthsatz said as CovCath went with a number of different matchups against Walker, who is just as likely to post up on the blocks or take the ball on the perimeter facing the basket.
Lloyd sophomore guard Anthony Blaackar had it going with a team high 19 points. (Photo by Bob Jackson/NKyTribune)
CovCath opened with Miller on him, bringing the CovCath big man outside. Then the Colonels switched things up, going with 6-2 senior Brady Hussey, know for his perimeter shooting now but the Colonels’ defensive stopper two years ago.
Walker still managed 18 points, with a pair of three-pointers, and he did lead Lloyd back to making a game of it on a 32-16 charge in the late third and half of the fourth periods after the Juggs fell behind, 43-22. But 59-54 was as close as this one got.
“We’ve been starting kind of flat,” EJ said, and that has to end. “But I think we showed people we can compete.”
Sophomore guard Anthony Blaackar certainly did, as he scored a team-high 19 points on seven-of-12 shooting, many on drives through the lane. And while Miller had a game-high four blocked shots, he couldn’t block them all. “I told him to keep attacking, he’s grown so much” said Lloyd Coach Mike Walker of said of Blaackar, who’s averaging 10.8 points a game.
Lloyd cheerleader sings National Anthem. (Photo by Bob Jackson/NKyTribune)
No one was disputing that Lloyd can play. But so can Athens. “That’s the way he’s been practicing since the Holy Cross game last week,” Ruthsatz said. And it showed.
With Miller limited to six points on eight shots with three dunks – and six rebounds – CovCath got the offense it needed from Hussey, who scored 12 points with eight rebounds and three assists.
Lloyd hosts Cincinnati Homeschool Trailblazers in Tuesday’s Senior Night game and then after a day off, heads to Newport to meet the region’s top-ranked 24-3 Wildcats. It will mark Lloyd’s fourth game in six days (the CovCath game was a re-scheduled make-up after the original date was snowed out) and it’s becoming a tough time for Mike Walker to figure out how to get practice and prep time in, he says.
SCORING SUMMARY
Covington Catholic 13 21 22 8—64
Lloyd Memorial 13 7 22 14–56
COVCATH (21-5, 10-1 in Ninth Region): McGillis 13/19 5/9 1/1 32, Harney 3/8 1/3 2/3 9, Miller 3/8 0/0 0/0 6, Johnson 0/0 0/0 0/0 0, Wermuth 1/1 1/1 0/0 3, Bradshaw 0/1 0/0 0/0 0, Hussey 5/12 1/5 1/1 12, Ruthsatz 1/4 0/1 0/0 2, Kruer 0/0 0/0 0/0 0; TOTALS 26/53 8/19 4/5 64.
LLOYD MEMORIAL (18-7, 10-2 Ninth Region): Scott 4/9 2/5 1/1 11, Blaackar 7/12 0/1 5/6 19, Sebastian 1/5 0/1 2/2 4, Walker 7/15 2/4 2/3 18, Humphrey 1/2 0/0 0/0 2, Thomas 0/3 0/3 0/0 0, Lewis 0/0 0/0 0/0 0, Copeland 1/1 0/0 0/0 2; TOTALS: 17/33 4/14 10/12 56.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
