article Inside the 9th Region (1/23)

Despite the uncertainty of where teams should be ranked on a week to week basis, we found out this past week what we already knew...the top 2 teams are VERY GOOD. Here are this week's rankings.

1. Covington Catholic (17-4)

The Colonels solidified themselves as the #1 team in the region with a 55-52 win over Cooper and followed that up with a 77-46 blow out win over Ryle, to extend their win streak to 5 games. Aiden Ruthsatz led Covcath with 22 points in the win over Cooper, while Cole Vonhandorf finished with 12 points. It was AJ Mayer (10 pts, 10 rbs) that ended up being the hero, however, as he had a game winning 3 point play with 5 seconds left to give Covcath the win. In the win over Ryle, Cole Vonhandorf scored 27 points to become the school's all time leading scorer. Jake Walter (15 pts), Aiden Ruthsatz (13 pts), and AJ Mayer (11 pts, 10 rbs) also scored in double figures in the win.

Up Next: 1/23 v Campbell County, 1/27 v Holmes

2. Cooper (15-4)

The Jags suffered their first 9th region loss this season to Covcath (55-52) but rebounded with a 55-43 district win over Boone County. Dante Hendrix led Cooper with 15 points, followed by Brayden Runion and Adam Kunkel with 13 and 11 points, in the loss to the Blue Colonels. Kunkel ended up with 23 points in the win over Boone County, to lead Cooper. Even though Cooper lost to Covcath, there is still very little separation between #1 and #2.

Up Next: 1/24 at Conner; 1/28 v Ryle

3. Dixie Heights (18-3)

The Colonels remained unbeaten in the 9th region and extended their win streak to 6 games with wins over Conner (65-48), Highlands (60-41), and West Jessamine (60-46). Hunter Meyer led a balanced Dixie attack in the win over Conner with 15 points, while Reed Bradfield scored 12, followed by Cam Thornberry and Tyler Schreck with 10 each. Meyer and Schreck led the Colonels with double figures in the win over Highlands as well.

Up Next: 1/24 at Lloyd; 1/27 at Simon Kenton

4. Newport Central Catholic (10-7)

The Breds are once again All A Classic Champions as they defeated Dayton (86-60), Newport (59-45), and Lloyd (55-52) to get back to the All A state tournament for the fifth consecutive year. Brennan Hall was named tournament MVP after averaging 12 ppg during the 3 games. Patrick Henschen was a key contributor with 12 and 11 points in the first two games of the tournament. Trey Wurtz also had a solid tournament, averaging 11 ppg and scoring in double figures all 3 games.

Up Next: 1/24 at Highlands; 1/26 v Cordia at Frankfort Civic Center (All A State Tournament)

5. Highlands (9-11)

After winning 4 straight, the Birds dropped to under .500 with losses to Campbell County (83-60) and Dixie Heights (60-41). Braden Posey led Highlands with 11 points in the loss to Campbell, while Kyle Finfrock finished with 8 points, 10 rebounds to lead the Birds against Dixie.

Up Next: 1/24 v Newport Central Catholic; 1/27 v Bellevue

6. Ryle (11-10)

The Raiders picked up a win over Pendleton County (68-58) and a key district win over Conner (64-62) before falling to #1 Covcath (77-46). Braden Cheesman led the Raiders in all three games with 19, 20, and 13 points, while Vince Rankin continued to show why he's one of the top sophomores in the area with 13, 15, and 11 points. Ryle currently holds the #2 seed in the 33rd district standing after sweeping Conner.

Up Next: 1/25 at Carroll County; 1/28 at Cooper

7. Conner (8-10)

With losses to Dixie Heights (65-48) and Ryle (64-62), the Cougars have now lost 5 of their previous 6. Spencer Hemmerich had 24 and 19 points in the Cougars two games this week, while Travis Connelly had 13 and 15 points.

Up Next: 1/24 v Cooper; 1/27 v Boone County; 1/28 v Beechwood

8. Lloyd (13-7)

For the first time since 2001/2002, the Juggernauts advanced to the All A 9th Region Championship with wins over Beechwood (52-51), St Henry (73-56), and Ludlow (62-43). The only problem is they ran in to a Newcath team that has dominated the tournament. Derrick Cipollone finished with 16 points, but it wasn't enough as Lloyd fell to Newcath 55-52. Sterling Hamilton had 28 pts, 9 rbs in the win over Beechwood and 21 in the win over St Henry.

Up Next: 1/24 v Dixie Heights; 1/27 v Ludlow; 1/28 at Gallatin County

9. Newport (11-10)

The Wildcats advanced to the 9th region All A Classic semi finals with a 76-71 overtime win over Holy Cross, but couldn't get back to the championship game as they fell to Newcath, 59-45. Donnie Miller led Newport with 17 against Holy Cross, as Tahj Harding and MeKell Burries went for 16 each. Burries had 23 points in the Wildcats lowest scoring output of the year against Newcath.

Up Next: 1/24 v Bellevue; 1/26 at St Henry

10. Holmes (10-10)

This is a team that has been tough to figure out and that continued this past week as they lost to North College Hill, OH (48-38) and then barely beat Bellevue, 58-54. Jaiden Greene led Holmes with 16 points, 11 rebounds in the loss to North College Hill, and followed that up with 14 points in the win over Bellevue. Mike Commodore had 12 and LJ Miller had 10 after missing the North College Hill game due to an illness.

Up Next: 1/24 v Beechwood; 1/27 at Covington Catholic

11. Beechwood (9-8)

In their only game of the week, the Tigers lost to Lloyd (52-52) in overtime in the opening game of the All A Classic. Beechwood was once again led by the trio of Ben Toebbe (18 pts, 8 rbs), Owen Alcorn (13 pts, 9 rbs), and Scotty Draud (11 pts).

Up Next: 1/24 at Holmes, 1/27 at Villa Madonna; 1/28 at Conner

12. Boone County (5-15)

With losses to Walton Verona (59-39) and Cooper (55-43), the Rebels have now lost 9 of their past 10, and three straight. Ethan Nyman led Boone with 12 points against Walton Verona, while Justin Bowman (16 points) and Raymond Rodgers (12 points) led the Rebels in the loss to Cooper.

Up Next: 1/24 at Simon Kenton; 1/27 at Ryle

13. Holy Cross (3-14)

Holy Cross fell to Newport, 76-71, in over time in the quarterfinals of the All A Classic. Nolan Schrand led Holy Cross with 22 points, while Parker Zimmerman had 14 and Jaylin Williams had 11.

Up Next: 1/27 v Bishop Brossart

14. St Henry (4-13)

St Henry's losing streak is now at 10 games after losing to Lloyd (73-56) in the All A Classic. Stephen Maley had a game high 26 points and 10 of his team's 20 field goals in the loss.

Up Next: 1/24 v Pendleton County; 1/26 v Newport

15. Ludlow (6-10)

With wins over Bellevue (44-41) and Villa Madonna (58-51), the Panthers advanced to the All A Classic semi finals, before falling to Lloyd (62-43). TC Eads and Chandler Booker led the Panthers with 18 each in the win over Villa Madonna while Booker and Jacob Bridges had 12 each in the loss to Lloyd.

Up Next: 1/23 v Dayton; 1/26 at Villa Madonna; 1/27 at Lloyd

16. Villa Madonna (8-8)

Will Martin had 19 points and Sean McIntyre had 15 points as the Blue Lightning lost their first game against a Division III conference opponent, as Ludlow beat them 58-51 in the All A Classic.

Up Next: 1/24 at Silver Grove; 1/26 v Ludlow; 1/27 v Beechwood

17. Dayton (5-15)

Tough week for the Devils as they opened the All A Classic with an 86-60 loss to Newport Central Catholic then followed that up with a 70-58 loss to Washington County.

Up Next: 1/23 at Ludlow; 1/27 v Silver Grove

18. Bellevue (5-12)

The Tigers lost both of their games this week but had nice showings in a 44-41 loss to Ludlow and 58-54 loss to Holmes. Brett Maehren led Bellevue with 20 points in the loss to Ludlow and 15 against Holmes, while Tommy Ratterman had 19 in the loss to Holmes.

Up Next: 1/23 at Heritage Academy; 1/24 at Newport; 1/27 at Highlands

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

Nice job. Ryle has performed better than i thought they would and deserve the 6 ranking.

Agree.

My biggest question (to be seen) - Is Dixie a realistic Top-3 contender, or are they #3, just better than NCC, et al?

Thanks for the hard work Walter. Nice to read the updates, no arguments from me although I think 1&2 are mighty close.

Agree.

 

My biggest question (to be seen) - Is Dixie a realistic Top-3 contender, or are they #3, just better than NCC, et al?

Two of Dixie's 3 losses are to top 5 teams in the state...Bowling Green by 3 and Fern Creek by 14. Dixie was without leading scorer, Hunter Meyer, against Bowling Green and in the Fern Creek game he had 9 points in a little over a qtr before sitting out the rest of the game with an injury. It wasn't until late that FC pulled away.

Dixie might not have the same level of talent as Covcath and Cooper but they are definitely a team that is capable of winning the region for the simple fact that they are so good and long defensively.

Agree.

 

My biggest question (to be seen) - Is Dixie a realistic Top-3 contender, or are they #3, just better than NCC, et al?

What is the definition of a contender? - beating the team? or playing them and losing by a few?

Two of Dixie's 3 losses are to top 5 teams in the state...Bowling Green by 3 and Fern Creek by 14. Dixie was without leading scorer, Hunter Meyer, against Bowling Green and in the Fern Creek game he had 9 points in a little over a qtr before sitting out the rest of the game with an injury. It wasn't until late that FC pulled away.

 

Dixie might not have the same level of talent as Covcath and Cooper but they are definitely a team that is capable of winning the region for the simple fact that they are so good and long defensively.

I agree with this totally!! Dixie is very hard nosed team and can beat anyone in the 9th.

Agree.

 

My biggest question (to be seen) - Is Dixie a realistic Top-3 contender, or are they #3, just better than NCC, et al?

We soon will sorta have an answer to this.

Sometimes the measuring stick of like opponents can be helpful as they are misleading, yet Dixie travels to Lloyd Tuesday night for a district battle, and the outcome of this game could be very telling as to just how much above the Red Colonels are to the rest of the top 10 and/or how close they are to the top 2.

If it's a close game then you could reason that they're presently also on a similar level as say NewCath, but if they blow out the Juggs then it helps the argument that they're not very far off from being on the same level as CovCath and Cooper.

I could be way wrong, but my hunch is telling me that they deserve as much attention as CovCath and Cooper have been getting, but they're probably content with keeping quiet and sneaking up to play spoiler.