By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Simon Kenton boys basketball team is off to a 6-0 start using a different style of play than last season when the Pioneers posted a 19-10 record.
With mostly guards on this year’s roster, Simon Kenton has been turning up the tempo and beating teams with full-court defensive pressure and a fast-paced offense. In their first six victories, the Pioneers averaged 79 points per game and allowed 62.
“We used to be a sit down and grind it out in the half-court kind of team,” said coach Trent Steiner. “We don’t want that so much now. We’re flowing with it.”
The graduation of 6-foot-9 center Zach Kelch, a three-year starter who scored more than 1,000 points for the Pioneers, had a lot to do with the team adopting a new scheme.
Another factor was having a talented floor leader in sophomore point guard Kelly Niece, who was voted one of the top players in Northern Kentucky by local coaches after an impressive freshman year.
Niece averaged a team-high 16.8 points for the Pioneers last season and that pales by comparison to what he’s done lately. During the team’s 6-0 start, he averaged 26 points per game and he was shooting 62 percent from the field after the first four games.
“He’s just scores so efficiently, that’s probably his biggest thing,” Steiner said. “He’s not a high volume shooter in order to get his buckets.”
Opponents can’t key on Niece because the team’s other four starters – forward Colton Lair and guards Robbie Krohman, Logan Schwartz and Jeremy Davis – have also been putting the ball in the basket.
In wins over 8th Region rivals Shelby County and South Oldham last weekend, Davis netted 44 points to raise his season average to 14.8. He hit nine 3-pointers and finished with 29 points in the home game against Shelby County.
“We’ve got a lot of gifted offensive players, but we’ve got to be able to defend and we’ve got to be able to rebound,” Steiner said. “Our kids understand that and they’ve gone out and done it. I’ve been coaching here a long time and I’ve been very blessed with the type of kids who bust their tails to be better.”
The Pioneers will play their next three games at home in the Simon Kenton Invitational Tournament that runs Thursday through Saturday. The eight-team field also includes Dixie Heights, Scott, Newport Central Catholic, Russell, North Oldham, South Laurel and Sparkman, a team from Alabama that made it to the semifinals in the Class 7A state playoffs last season.
Coach Steiner said Sparkman was supposed to play in a holiday tournament in Destin, Florida this week, but the host school cancelled it because of damage sustained in the recent hurricane there.
Simon Kenton will close out the month of December playing in the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic. On Jan. 4, the Pioneers have a home game against district rival Walton-Verona that’s sure to draw a big crowd.
SIMON KENTON INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Thursday
Dixie Heights vs. South Laurel, 2:30 p.m.
Simon Kenton vs. Newport Central Catholic, 4:15 p.m.
Russell vs. North Oldham, 6 p.m.
Scott vs. Sparkman (Alabama), 7:45 p.m.
Friday
Consolation semifinals, 2:30 and 4:15 p.m.
Championship semifinals, 6 and 7:45 p.m.
Saturday
Seventh-place game, 1:45 p.m.
Fifth-place game, 3:30 p.m.
Third-place game, 5:15 p.m.
Championship game, 7 p.m.