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Posted (edited)

On Wednesday March 5th, the 9th region tournament will kick off once again at Northern Kentucky University's Bank of Kentucky Center. Let's take a look at how each district tournament played out and how each team got here.

 

33rd District

In the 33rd district, it was the Ryle Raiders who came out victorious. Led by first year head coach Dave McFarland, the Raiders knocked off Boone County 66-62 in the semi finals and then beat Conner in the finals, 60-55. In the district championship, Tanner White led the Raiders with 17 points, followed by 16 from tournament MVP Will Stuhr, and 11 from Jake Puthoff. Conner got 17 points from Will Ruholt and 13 apiece from Landon Lamblez and Sam Hemmerich but it wasn't enough as missed free throws for Conner and key defensive stops for Ryle helped the Raiders prevail.

 

33rd District All Tournament Team:

Ryle – Will Stuhr (MVP), Jake Puthoff, Tanner White. Conner – Sam Hemmerich, Will Ruholt. Boone County – Brenden Stanley. Cooper – Zach McNeil. Heritage – Dan Varga

 

 

34th District

As expected, the two best teams in the district met up in the finals. And as expected, it was the Dixie Heights Colonels who came away with yet another district championship, defeating Lloyd 66-36 in the semi finals and the St Henry Crusaders 50-45 at St Henry in the finals. St Henry made a late push to give Dixie a scare, but the Colonels made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 90 seconds to hold on for the win. Dixie was led by Brandon Hatton and Austin Schreck, who had 17 and 14 points, respectively. Nick Rechtin led St Henry with 15 points, followed by 9 from sophomore guard Adam Goetz.

 

34th District All Tournament Team:

Dixie- Austin Schreck (MVP), Brandon Hatton, Adam Daria. St Henry- Nick Rechtin, Jake Plummer. Villa Madonna- Scott McQueen/ Lloyd-Lashunn Patterson. Ludlow- Jerad Howard.

 

35th District

In a match up between two top 10 teams in the state, it was the Holmes Bulldogs who came away with yet another 35th district championship with a 72-62 double overtime thriller over the Covington Catholic Colonels. Holmes defeated Beechwood 62-37 to get to the championship, while Covcath defeated Holy Cross 79-57. Covcath had defeated Holmes 87-77 during the regular season but Holmes was able to get revenge by winning when it mattered. Tournament MVP James Bolden led Holmes with 25 pts, 10 rbs, 5 ast, followed by 15 points, 7 rebounds from Quinton Chames. Marcus Hill made a strong case for tournament MVP by posting 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Markel McClendon also finished in double figures with 13 points, 5 rebounds. Nick Ruthsatz led Covcath with 26 points, while Bo Schuh had a double double (16 pts, 11 rbs), and freshman Cole VonHandorf also got to double figures with 13 points.

 

35th District All Tournament Team:

Holmes – James Bolden (MVP), Marcus Hill, Quinton Chames. CovCath – Nick Ruthsatz, Cole Von Handorf. Beechwood – Jacob Huff. Holy Cross – Jared Seibert. Covington Latin – Devin Davis

 

36th District

It was all Newcath in the 36th district tournament as they rolled past Bellevue 70-24 then took care of business against HIghlands as well, winning 65-36 in the district championship. Highlands advanced to the district championship by knocking off Newport, 75-64. In the district championship, it was a dominating performance by the Newcath front court. Drew McDonald finished with 16 pts, 7 rbs, followed by Ben Weyer with 15 points, and tournament MVP Jake Schulte finished with just 7 points, but pulled down 13 rebounds. Tanner Moeves also reached double figures, finishing with 13 points.

 

36th District All Tournament Team:

Austin Brockman (Dayton), Zack Poinsett (Bellevue), Ethan Snapp (Newport), Brendan Buten (Highlands), Parker Harris (Highlands), Ben Weyer (NewCath), Tanner Moeves (NewCath). Most Valuable Player: Jake Schulte (NewCath).

 

Now that we know how each team got here, let's take a look at the match ups:

 

Wednesday 3/5 6:30

Ryle (14-11) v Covcath (26-2)

 

Wednesday 3/5 8:00

Newcath (28-3) v St Henry (14-10)

 

Thursday 3/7 6:30

Dixie Heights (23-7) v Conner (11-14)

 

Thursday 3/7 8:00

Holmes (26-5) v Highlands (9-14)

 

Sunday 3/10 12:00

Ryle/Covcath winner v Newcath/St Henry winner

 

Sunday 3/10 1:30

Dixie Heights/Conner winner v Holmes/Highlands winner

 

Monday 3/11 7:00

9th Region Championship

 

Predictions:

 

Ryle v Covcath

The Raiders come in having won 6 consecutive games and were right there with Covcath in the first meeting, trailing by just 3 at the start of the 4th quarter. Covcath was able to pull away for a 73-57 win. While Covcath is favored to win this game and will be very focused after the Holmes loss, Ryle has the pieces to give the Colonels problems again. Tanner White is one of the better scoring guards in the region and Will Stuhr has the potential to dominate games when he is aggressive down low on the offensive end. Still, the Colonels will have the best player on the floor in Nick Ruthsatz and should come away with the win.

 

Newcath v St Henry

Newcath has rolled through 9th region competition this year, winning by an average of 33 ppg, with their closest game being a 72-57 win over Holmes. The Breds beat St Henry 83-67 the first time these two met and come in with a 21 game win streak. Don't expect that streak to end Wednesday night. St Henry should keep it close for a quarter or two, but Newcath's size and guard play wear the Cru down as the game progresses. Newcath comes in as the favorite to get to Rupp for a reason.

 

Dixie Heights v Conner

On paper this is the best first round match up, even though Dixie beat Conner 81-62 back on January 18th. That was a long time ago though and Conner seems to have found some consistency. Dixie will be favored but Conner's pressure could give them problems. Still, Brandon Hatton will be the best player on the floor and the Cougars will have nobody to defend him. Hatton enters the region tournament just 6 points shy of 3,000 for his career and should get to that and have an extra game to build on the milestone.

 

Holmes v Highlands

The Bulldogs defeated Highlands 63-52 exactly one month before they will meet again in the region tournament. While the Birds played a tough, hard fought game, Holmes did just enough to pull out a double digit win. WIth the game being on a neutral court this time and the Holmes' coaching staff reminding their team all week that they can't overlook anyone now that the post season is here, I'd expect a much more motivated Holmes team to show up and take care of business in convincing fashion.

 

Overall

Newcath is the tournament favorite with Holmes and Covcath right behind the Breds. Dixie has a shot at getting to the region championship, having already played Holmes tough early in the season (67-59 loss at Holmes) but the Bulldogs are still favored to come out of the lower bracket to set up Newcath v Holmes Round II. Those two were the top 2 teams in the preseason polls and seem to be on a collision course to settle the argument for good on Monday March 11th in the Region Championship.

 

With that said, Covcath held a 5 point lead on the Breds at the half when they met during the regular season and shouldn't be automatically written off because of the loss to Holmes that put them in the upper bracket with Newcath. Holmes won the region tournament as a district runner up last year and Covcath is just as capable this year.

 

Three top 10 teams in the state competing in the same region tournament for the right to go to Rupp Arena. Let the fun begin!

Edited by Walter
Posted
Very nice write up Walter! It should be an interesting and competitive regional tournament.

 

PS- Austin Schreck was the MVP of the 34th District.

 

Fixed in the article.

 

Agree that it should be a very interesting and competitive tournament with the top 4 teams during the regular season being favored to meet in the semi finals. Rarely does this happen.

Posted
Fixed in the article.

 

Agree that it should be a very interesting and competitive tournament with the top 4 teams during the regular season being favored to meet in the semi finals. Rarely does this happen.

 

It'll be interesting to see what each of those four teams learned from their previous matchups with each other (if indeed they do meet in the semis). I know NCC and CCH only played a half on an ice rink but both coaches probably learned a lot in those 16 minutes. And while Dixie faced a Holmes team that benched their stars for the first quarter, the other three quarters provided both Booher and Chevy with some good looks at what they must do in a rematch.

 

Whoever wins the 9th will have definitely earned it (not saying they normally don't) with the way the brackets are.

Posted

Not much write up on Highlands anywhere. About what I expected though since they did no video to thank you for the open gym invites. Maybe your boys will be more "motivated" this time or maybe Highlands just played them a little tougher than you or anyone gave them credit for. After all it could be Newport in this game, but they were defeated soundly by the Birds who received no writeup in any of your summaries. Good luck to both teams or for that matter all 8 teams that are still playing at this time of year.

Posted

Overall

Newcath is the tournament favorite with Holmes and Covcath right behind the Breds. Dixie has a shot at getting to the region championship, having already played Holmes tough early in the season (67-59 loss at Holmes) but the Bulldogs are still favored to come out of the lower bracket to set up Newcath v Holmes Round II. Those two were the top 2 teams in the preseason polls and seem to be on a collision course to settle the argument for good on Monday March 11th in the Region Championship.

 

With that said, Covcath held a 5 point lead on the Breds at the half when they met during the regular season and shouldn't be automatically written off because of the loss to Holmes that put them in the upper bracket with Newcath. Holmes won the region tournament as a district runner up last year and Covcath is just as capable this year.

 

Three top 10 teams in the state competing in the same region tournament for the right to go to Rupp Arena. Let the fun begin!

 

Monday, March 10th

Posted
Not much write up on Highlands anywhere. About what I expected though since they did no video to thank you for the open gym invites. Maybe your boys will be more "motivated" this time or maybe Highlands just played them a little tougher than you or anyone gave them credit for. After all it could be Newport in this game, but they were defeated soundly by the Birds who received no writeup in any of your summaries. Good luck to both teams or for that matter all 8 teams that are still playing at this time of year.

 

I don't see much of a writeup on any of the district runner ups in this article so I fail to see why you are singling out Highlands. To the victors go the spoils. Walter has done a terrific job all season long, not sure why he constantly gets bashed.

Posted
I don't see much of a writeup on any of the district runner ups in this article so I fail to see why you are singling out Highlands. To the victors go the spoils. Walter has done a terrific job all season long, not sure why he constantly gets bashed.

 

Me either. Guy does a good job and obviously works hard.

Posted
I don't see much of a writeup on any of the district runner ups in this article so I fail to see why you are singling out Highlands. To the victors go the spoils. Walter has done a terrific job all season long, not sure why he constantly gets bashed.

 

Do you see a mention about the other runner ups in the write-up? Yes you do except for the 36th district. As I have said several times, I am aware that none of the Highlands kids go to his "open" gyms or make videos, but there is zero mention of any Highlands kid in any of his posts. Sure they are a big underdog, but they have taken down two of these teams already and stranger things have happened.

Posted
Do you see a mention about the other runner ups in the write-up? Yes you do except for the 36th district. As I have said several times, I am aware that none of the Highlands kids go to his "open" gyms or make videos, but there is zero mention of any Highlands kid in any of his posts. Sure they are a big underdog, but they have taken down two of these teams already and stranger things have happened.

 

Why take the attention away from the tournament with something like this??

Posted
Not much write up on Highlands anywhere. About what I expected though since they did no video to thank you for the open gym invites. Maybe your boys will be more "motivated" this time or maybe Highlands just played them a little tougher than you or anyone gave them credit for. After all it could be Newport in this game, but they were defeated soundly by the Birds who received no writeup in any of your summaries. Good luck to both teams or for that matter all 8 teams that are still playing at this time of year.

 

Do you see a mention about the other runner ups in the write-up? Yes you do except for the 36th district. As I have said several times, I am aware that none of the Highlands kids go to his "open" gyms or make videos, but there is zero mention of any Highlands kid in any of his posts. Sure they are a big underdog, but they have taken down two of these teams already and stranger things have happened.

 

My open gyms are open to all NKY kids...not just Holmes, Newcath, Ryle, Dixie, Covcath, and Newport kids. Check my twitter account from the summer. I post the following "Open gym today 4:30-6. If you want to get some extra work in, let me know." Highlands kids are more than welcome to attend. They, instead, choose to prepare for a football state championship run. I have no problem with that.

 

Newcath doing a "thank you" video has nothing to do with my preview. They are the favorite and I called it how I seen it. What is so wrong with that?

 

I have said nothing but good things about the Highlands kids all summer and throughout the season when I've seen them play. In fact, I was one of the few people touting Ryan Greene after seeing Highlands over the summer, as well as Buten. Notice in the article I gave Highlands credit for playing a tough, hard fought game against Holmes the first time around.

 

i was also one of the few (if not the only) who did a video interview with Coach L over the summer to talk about him getting the Highlands job.

 

I have also been called a "Highlands homer" during football season because of how much I promoted Hope, Houliston, and Feggins as well as the team in general.

 

Not sure why so much hostility over one little piece of an article?

 

Come find me Friday night befiore the game. Would love to meet you.

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