By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Walton-Verona’s height advantage was a major factor during the team’s 60-50 win over Owen County in the championship game of the 8th Region All “A” Classic boys basketball tournament on Friday at Owen County.
With the senior trio of 6-foot-4 Jonathan Strunk, 6-foot-3 Aiden Kerns and 6-foot-7 Aaron Gutman patrolling the paint, the Bearcats dominated the boards, 29-15, and limited Owen County to very few second-chance points.
“We did an amazing job on the glass,” said Walton-Verona coach Mike Hester. “(Owen County) shot a lot of threes because of us playing a zone defense and we were able to get a lot of backside rebounds. Jon, Aiden and Aaron collectively did a great job.”
This is the second consecutive year and seventh time in nine years that Walton-Verona has won the region title. The Bearcats (10-6) will return to the Kentucky All “A” Classic state tournament that will be played at two new sites — Owensboro SportsCenter and Brescia University — next week.
Walton-Verona’s first-round opponent at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Brescia will be the winner of the 1st Region championship game between Ballard and Mayfield to be played Saturday.
“Once we find out who it is, we’ll start preparing for them,” Hester said of the first-round opponent. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like playing in Owensboro. We’re going to have to provide our own energy because there’s not going to be a lot of people there, but I guarantee we’ll be ready to play.”
Free throw shooting is one thing the the Bearcats need to work on in practice. They were 13-of-31 at the foul line against Owen County, but they shot 54.2 percent (19 of 35) from the field with nine 3-point goals to offset that.
Gutman scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and was named most valuable player on the region all-tournament team.
“He was 0-for-3 in the first half, so we came out and ran a play for him the first play of the second half,” Hester said of Gutman. “He got a layup right out of the gate and that kind of jump started him.”
Walton-Verona’s other double-figure scorers were Strunk and sophomore guard Adam Gutman with 11 each. The leading rebounders were Strunk and Aaron Gutman with eight and Kerns with six.
Kerns was out of action the last five weeks due to a broken wrist. His return was one reason the Bearcats went with a zone defense in the region final, according to coach Hester.
It was a close game through the first three quarters. Walton-Verona needed a 5-0 run at the end of the third period to open up a 41-33 lead and extended it to 50-37 on a pair of free throws by Aaron Gutman with 3:17 left on the clock.
The Bearcats maintained a double-digit lead until a 3-point goal by Owen County made it 58-50 in the final seconds. Two free throws by Walton-Verona sophomore Wyatt Shearer made the final margin 10 points.
After the game, coach Hester found out it was his 100th victory since taking charge of the Bearcats’ program six years ago.
“I won’t lie, I didn’t even know about that until after the game, but that made it more sweet,” Hester said.
The other Bearcats named to the region all-tournament team were Shearer, Strunk, Adam Gutman and senior Justin Hester, who is not related to the head coach.