By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Cooper and Covington Catholic, two boys basketball teams that owe much of their success this season to playing good defense, met in the semifinals of the 9th Region tournament on Tuesday at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena.
Cooper did a much better job in that aspect of the game and came away with a 59-54 win over CovCath before a large crowd to reach the region finals for the third consecutive year.
The Jaguars (22-5) will play Lloyd (26-6) in the title game at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The most glaring numbers in the final stats were CovCath shooting 38.6 percent (22 of 57) from the field compared to Cooper’s 50 percent (20 of 40).
The Jaguars also finished with scoring advantages of 14-7 at the free throw line and 15-9 from behind the 3-point arc.
“Our No. 1 key for every game is all five guard as one,” Cooper coach Tim Sullivan said after his team knocked off CovCath in the the region semifinals for the third straight year. “If you’re not connected and not engaged on the defensive end, you can’t beat teams like that.”
CovCath junior guard Athens McGillis scored a game-high 29 points, hitting 11 of 20 shots, but his teammates went 11 of 37 against Cooper’s defense.
“It was hard for us to get (points) in transition because we weren’t getting any live ball stops,” said CovCath coach Jake Thelen. “That’s what we work on every day in practice, but we didn’t get live ball stops and that’s where we’re great. (Cooper) did a nice job obviously defending us, getting back in transition, and they did a nice job of making us score shots over the top.”
Late in the first quarter, the Jaguars made three consecutive 3-point shots to take a 13-7 lead and led the rest of the game. CovCath pulled to within two points several times during the second quarter, but Cooper was ahead, 26-22, at halftime.
Senior guard Andy Johnson gave Cooper its biggest lead, 45-32, early in the fourth quarter when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made three free throws. CovCath pulled to within five points, 55-50, with 40 seconds remaining, but the Jaguars prevailed.
Johnson finished with a team-high totals of 18 points and 10 rebounds, all coming on the defensive glass. Senior guards Chris Rodriguez and Jaiden Combs scored 15 and 13 points. Rodriguez came into the game with a 4.0 scoring average, but he seemed happier with the job he did on defense.
For most of the game, Rodriguez guarded CovCath’s explosive junior guard Cash Harney, who finished with nine points, six below his average.
“I loved that,” Rodriguez said of his defensive effort. “I just tried to keep him in front of me. I know he’s not a good shooter, so I just gave him a step and keep my distance from him because he is real quick and could beat me on the dribble.”
Johnson was a starter on the last two Cooper teams that lost in the region final. He said the outcome will be different in next Tuesday’s title game because the Jaguars “have way more to play for than just us.”
He’s was referring to coach Sullivan, who said school officials have asked him to resign after this season. But he’s trying to downplay that during his team’s playoff run.
“It’s always going to be about the kids,” Sullivan said. “I understand that my situation is what it is right now and we’ll handle that later on. What I want our guys to do is just continue living in the moment and continue being selfless and playing for one another.”
COOPER 13 13 16 17 — 59
COVCATH 7 15 10 22 — 54
COOPER (22-5): R. Combs 3-5 2-3 8, Brown 2-6 0-2 4, J. Combs 6-13 1-1 13, Rodriguez 4-5 5-7 15, Johnson 5-9 5-7 18, Knuckles 0-2 1 -2. Totals: 20 14 59.
COVCATH (24-9): McGillis 11-20 6-6 29, Gaiser 3-4 0-0 6, Harney 4-15 0-0 9, Bradshaw 2-7 0-0 4, Stava 0-5 1-2 1, Ruthsatz 2-5 0-0 5. Totals: 22-57 7-8 54.
Three-point goals: COOP — Johnson 3, Rodriguez 2. COV — McGillis, Harney, Ruthsatz.