By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Winning a holiday tournament is an ideal way for a basketball team to end the December portion of its schedule. When you do it with two starters out of the lineup, it’s even better.
The Cooper boys’ basketball team won the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic in Lexington last week even though senior forward Sean McNeil sat out three of the four games with an injured left knee and his younger brother, junior point guard Chris McNeil, missed the last two games with a broken bone in his right wrist.
“It was great to see some of our younger guys get to play and different guys step up and play key roles for us in those games,” said coach Tim Sullivan. “It was all pretty cool to see.”
The revised starting lineup Cooper used in the last two games of the tournament included senior Dante Hendrix, juniors Adam Kunkel, Brayden Runion and Tyler Ollier and sophomore Blaine Walters.
Hendrix stepped into the vacant point guard position and Kunkel stepped up his scoring to offset the loss of Sean McNeil, who was averaging a team-high 17.6 points when he went down.
Kunkel scored 18 points against Lexington Lafayette in the semifinals and 20 points against Lexington Catholic in the championship game to raise his season average to 17.1.
“For him to do what he did those two nights, with us being shorthanded and knowing the other team was going to focus on him, was pretty special to watch,” Sullivan said.
“Adam has got an amazing ability to score, and he’s not just a jump shooter any more,” the coach added. “He’s a kid who can score off the dribble now. The fact that he’s grown to 6-2 or 6-3 really helps him.”
The Jaguars also played good defense in the last two tournament games, holding both teams to 45 points. Hendrix guarded the opponent’s best player each night in addition to handling the point guard duties.
“What’s amazing about Dante is we threw him into the point guard position and he proceeded to play 62 out of 64 minutes in those two games,” Sullivan said. “Both teams were just pressing the heck out of us and he played 62 out of 64 minutes, while guarding the other team’s best player, and only had two turnovers in those 62 minutes.”
Hendrix will probably be playing the point guard position for another three or four weeks while Chris McNeil recovers from his wrist injury. Sean McNeil had an MRI on his knee Monday and it looks like he’ll be out for two weeks to recover from a strained tendon.
Cooper defeated Highlands, 55-45, on Tuesday with the two brothers still on the bench. The Jaguars have a 10-3 record and six-game winning streak going into Friday’s game at Boone County and Saturday’s game at Harrison County.
All “A” Classic playoffs begin Friday for two local schools
The All “A” Classic small-school basketball playoffs gets off to an early start this season with Silver Grove visiting Brossart in a 10th Region double-header on Friday. The girls’ game will begin at 6 p.m. followed by the boys’ games at 7:30 p.m.
The rest of the 10th Region games will be played at Paris High School with boys-girls double-headers between the same schools each day.
Calvary Christian will take on the winners of the Brossart-Silver Grove games in the quarterfinals at 6 and 7:30 p.m. Monday at Paris. Semifinal games will be played Wednesday and Thursday next week with the championship games on Saturday, Jan. 14.
The 8th Region playoffs are scheduled for next week with the boys’ games at Walton-Verona and the girls’ games at Gallatin County. The 9th Region girls’ tournament will also be played next week and the 9th Region boys’ tournament is scheduled for Jan. 16-21.
Brackets for each regional tournament are on the All “A” Classic website.
Campbell County coach surpasses 300 mark in career wins
Campbell County boys’ basketball coach Aric Russell topped the 300 mark in career wins during his team’s 12-1 start in December.
Russell now has a 305-214 head coaching record in 19 seasons at two schools. In seven seasons at Campbell County, his teams have posted a 130-62 mark. Before he took that job, he compiled a 175-152 record in 12 seasons coaching boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball teams at Newport.
Russell has taken three teams to the boys’ state tournament – Newport in 2010 and Campbell County in 2014 and 2015. He also coached the Newport girls’ basketball team that played in the 2000 Kentucky All “A” Classic small-school state tournament.
Conner to honor former wrestling coach Wayne Badida
Conner will name the school’s wrestling workout room for Wayne Badida, who started the program in 1971 and retired as head coach last year after 45 seasons. The ceremony will take place Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. when Conner’s hosts the Boone County Championships.
“We’re hoping to get as many former Conner wrestlers as we can to come and be a part of this,” said Conner athletic directer Jim Hicks.
Conner won its only state wrestling championship in 1983 under Badida and his wrestlers claimed 19 individual state titles while he was head coach. He was inducted into the Kentucky High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012.