By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Unfortunately for Lloyd Memorial coach Mike Walker, his Juggernauts blew their cover Monday night.
‘We like to stay under the radar,” Walker said after Lloyd’s thrilling 69-68 win at Highlands, beating the 21-win Bluebirds with 7.3 seconds left in a game that ended the way it was played.
And it wasn’t hard to stay out of sight a bit “because we lost so much,” Walker says, especially his 6-foot-8 son, EJ Walker, who has moved from a redshirt freshman year at South Carolina to a starter’s role his first season in the SEC.
But even for a Lloyd team that’s beaten Ryle once in two games, beaten Simon Kenton, Holy Cross and Beechwood, winning at Highlands seemed a big ask. After all, the Bluebirds, with one of the three best records in the state and the No. 4 scoring team in Kentucky at 81.1 points a game, are especially tough at home in Fort Thomas.
“Enjoy the game,” Walker told his kids, after all “This is one of the toughest places to play in the region.” Even tougher place to play in and win.
“They make you play really fast,” Walker said of the Birds, who, if they were a college program playing 40-minute games, would be averaging more than 100 points a game. If this were the 48-minute NBA, that would be more than 120 points a game.
“Pace,” Walker says. You have to find a way to control it, although that didn’t happen in a first quarter that had the deep and balanced Birds jumping out, 23-15.
But after getting it together in the second quarter, this became a case of “Who is going to win this thing?” Who the heck knew.
That’s because the visiting Juggs, now 17-4 with a shot to take the No. 1 seed in the 34th District Thursday in their showdown with Dixie Heights, settled things down behind senior guards Isiah Golsby, who hit the two game-winning free throws with 7.3 seconds left, and Anthony Blaackar, whose speed, athleticism and body control with an ability to score all over the floor, earned him a game-high 23 points despite Highlands’ defenders knowing where he was at all times.
Not a surprise since the 6-2 Blaackar scored a school-record 51 points Saturday against Mason County and with his 24.6 points-a-game average is No. 15 in the state.
He’s also living with his coach’s family, a younger brother you might say, to EJ Walker. “It’s good,” Blaackar says of his home the last two years. And not just for him.
“He’s been doing this a long time,” Walker says of his senior star. “I trust him with the ball in his hands.”
And down the stretch, when Blaackar had the ball in his hands, he often got it to the right teammate. “It doesn’t make sense when you see four guys” Blaackar says of trying to make a hero play. Let his teammates do it – after he gets it to them.
“I’m proud of the rest of our guys – Billy Lewis, Colten Barger, Isaiah Coleman and Jason Kabeya,” Walker said of Blaackar’s supporting cast. Sophomore Kabeya hit a pair of free throws with 14.6 seconds left to pull Lloyd to within one—68-67. And then it was “Zay” Golsby who calmly drained his two free throws for the win.
He got the chance after Lloyd got the ball back after what was ruled a flagrant foul when a closely guarded football guy Tayden Lorenzen swung his elbows – almost certainly inadvertently — and caught Kabeya’s chin, flattening him.
After the inbounds pass, Golsby drove the lane and picked up the foul. And that was it in a gym that might still be buzzing over a finish that was impossible to see was coming.
“At practice, we have to run when we miss our free throws,” Golsby said. “I didn’t want to run.” Nor put any pressure on himself. “You can’t,” he said. “Enjoy the moment. You don’t get that many of them.”
And while Highlands was slowed up a bit, scoring just 68 points, it’s easy to see how Kevin Listerman’s Birds have won 21 and score the way they do. Players have a great deal of freedom to fire it up when they can see the basket. And they get open in a hurry.
Listerman’s son, point guard Vince, led Highlands with 17 points while assuming the defensive chores on Blaackar most of the night. He was one of five Highlands’ players in double figures along with Nathan Rickard scoring 11 and Lorenzen, Finn Bouldin and Owen Ebert each scoring 10 for the attack, attack, attack Bluebirds.
Highlands has a quick turnaround with a date Tuesday night at another high-scoring team, Conner, in Hebron.
SCORING SUMMARY
LLOYD MEMORIAL 15 19 15 20—69
HIGHLANDS 23 11 15 19—68
Lloyd Memorial (17-4): Golsby 3-2-3/3-15, Kabeya 3-1-3/3-12, Blaackar 10-1-0-123, Coleman 2-0-1/2-5, N. Golsby 0-0-0/0-0, Barger 0-0-2/2-2, Lewis 5-0-2/2-12; TOTALS: 23-4-11/13—69.
Highlands (21-3): Wimzie 1-0-3/4-5, Bouldin 5-0-0/0-10, Rickard 5-0-1/3-11, Listerman 6-1-2/3-17, Messmer 0-1-0/0-3, Ebert 2-2-0/1-10, Harris 1-0-0/0-2, Lorenzen 3-0-4/5-10: TOTALS: 23-4-10/16-68.