By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Newport Central Catholic senior forward Ben Weyer was overcome with emotion after his team upset Covington Catholic, 52-47, in the 9th Region boys’ basketball championship game on Monday at BB&T Arena.
“I’ve never been so happy in my life,” Weyer said. “I was sitting over there trying not to cry, but I did a little bit. I couldn’t ask for anything better than this.”
Weyer played a major role in the Thoroughbreds’ first victory in the regional final since 2000. The 6-foot-8 senior scored 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked seven shots against a CovCath team that had won 17 straight games to climb to the top spot in statewide power ratings.
CovCath started that streak with a 58-43 win over NewCath in a regular season game played on Jan. 15 at BB&T Arena. The Thoroughbreds won Monday’s rematch on that same court before a crowd of more than 4,000.
NewCath coach Ron Dawn, who has been involved with the Thoroughbreds’ basketball program since his playing days in the early 1970s, called it the “biggest win in the history of the school.”
“We beat a hell of a team,” Dawn said. “They’re No 1 in the state for a reason, it’s legit. So I’m really proud of what we did.”
NewCath (28-4) will make its long-awaited return to the state tournament next week. The Throughbreds will play the 7th Region champion in a first-round game at 1:30 p.m. on Wedneday, March 16 at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The 7th Region final between Louisville Trinity and St. Xavier will be played this Tuesday.
CovCath won the 9th Region championship the last two years with mostly seniors in its starting lineup. The Colonels have a less experienced team this year and it showed in Monday’s game.
“We missed layups and jump shots and (NewCath) did a tremendous job on the boards limiting us to one shot a lot of times,” said CovCath coach Scott Ruthsatz said. “We didn’t have an answer for Weyer around the basket and that ultimately hurt us.”
NewCath opened the game with a 7-0 run and took its biggest lead when Luke Moeves hit a 3-point shot to make it 18-7 early in the second quarter. But the Thoroughbreds struggled after sophomore point guard Brennan Hall picked up his second foul and took a seat on the bench. After that, CovCath went on a 19-5 run to take a 26-23 halftime lead.
With Hall back on the court in the third quarter, NewCath outscored CovCath, 20-12, to regain the lead. He had seven points during that run.
“I knew in the second half I was going to have to come out and play hard-nosed basketball,” said Hall, who finished with 15 points. “I wanted to win it for my coach and just play my heart out for our seniors.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Hall hit a 3-point shot that gave NewCath a 50-42 lead with less than two minutes left on the clock. After CovCath ran off five straight point to make it 50-47, Weyer was fouled and hit one of the free throws to give his team a four-point lead with 40 seconds remaining. The Colonels had two possessions after that, but they didn’t connect on four field goal attempts.
After Moeves made a free throw with three seconds left, CovCath missed a meaningless shot as time expired.
CovCath shot 26.6 percent (8 of 30) from the field in the second half and scored only 21 points in the final 16 minutes. Junior guard Cole VonHandorf got 14 of his game-high 25 points during those last two quarters to keep the Colonels in the game.
Weyer was named most valuable player on the region all-tournament team. In all three of his team’s victories, he dominated the paint at both ends of the court. CovCath had four different players guard Weyer during the championship game, but none of them were able to contain him.
“I knew they were just going to be physical,” Weyer said. “I’ve been seeing that all year. It’s getting old, but I’ve just got to play through it.”
NEWCATH 12 11 20 9 — 52
COVCATH 5 21 12 9 — 47
NEWCATH (28-4): Hall 6 1 15, B. Anderson 1 0 3, Moeves 2 1 6, E. Anderson 3 0 6, Weyer 7 6 22. Totals: 19 8 520
COVCATH (28-7): Fredrick 1 0 2, VonHandorf 10 3 25, Flood 2 2 6, Mayer 3 2 8, Ruthsatz 2 0 6. Totals: 18 7 47.
Three-pointers: NC — Weyer 2, Hall 2, B.Anderson, Moeves. CC — VonHandorf 2, Ruthsatz 2.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
NewCath — Ben Weyer (MVP), Brennan Hall, Luke Moeves. CovCath — Cole VonHandorf, Aiden Ruthsatz. Holy Cross — Leighton Schrand, Erich Jacobowski. Conner — Spencer Hemmerich, Michael Scott. Dixie Heights — Tyler Schreck. Cooper — Sean McNeil. Newport — Kendon Davis. St. Henry — Adam Goetz.