As the month of January starts to close, the 9th region picture is becoming a lot clearer as to who the favorites are, who could potentially upset a favorite, and how the bottom of the top 10 shakes out. Let's get right to this week's top 10 and more:

 

1. Covington Catholic (17-4)

 

Why: There isn't a hotter team in Northern Kentucky and possibly the state right now. The Colonels have now won 6 straight against a very tough stretch of games.

 

Covcath 77 Conner 63

Bo Scuh led the Colonels with a career high 28 points, to go along with 11 rebounds. Cole VonHandorf and Cooper Theobald also reached double figures with 19 and 14 points.

 

Covcath 54 Holmes 42

Cole VonHandorf led the Colonels with 16 points, followed be 10 points each from Andy Floor and Cooper Theobald. Bo Schuh pulled down 9 rebounds to lead the Colonels on the glass.

 

Covcath 80 Hughes, OH 46

14 Colonels got their name in the boxscore, led by Vonhandorf's 17 points.

 

Covcath 68 Wilmington, OH 65

Cooper Theobald and Andy Flood both scored 19 points in the win to lead the Colonels. VonHandorf followed that up with 16 points, and Bo Schuh also had a nice game with 10 points, 12 rebounds against the previous unbeaten #1 team in Cincinnati's Division I rankings.

 

Overall: The Colonels are starting to peak and continue to be one of the hottest teams in the state after the win over Newcath. There isn't one thing that Covcath isn't doing well right now. Outside of a bad offensive game against Holmes, this team has been very impressive at both ends of the floor as Andy Flood is starting to emerge as a legit scorer to compliment the big 3 of Vonhandorf, Schuh, and Theobald. Defense wins championships and this team is playing at a high level on that end of the court.

 

Up Next: 1/30 v Pleasure Ridge Park at Fairdale

 

2. Newport Central Catholic (15-3)

 

Why: The Breds won another 9th region All "A" region tournament this past week and have now won 4 straight after the loss to Covcath.

 

Newcath 84 Villa Madonna 29

In what was expected to be a blow out, 14 Breds players scored led by Drew McDonald's 11 points, 7 rebounds.

 

Newcath 82 Heritage 25

7 Newcath players scored 7 or more points, led by Eric Anderson with 11 and Drew McDonald with 10. Seth Freppon tallied 8 points, 7 rebounds in the win.

 

Newcath 72 Beechwood 41

Zack Pangallo led Newcath with 21 points, followed by Grant Moeves with 12 points and Ben Weyer with 10 points, 7 rebounds.

 

Newcath 85 St Henry 44

Drew McDonald, who was solid all tournament, saved his best performance for last as he scored 22 points and pulled down 14 boards in the win. Zack Pangallo followed up with 16 points, followed by Ben Weyer with 12 points, 8 rebounds and Grant Moeves with 10 points.

 

Overall: Nothing new to report here. The Breds were expected to dominate the 9th region All A, and they did just that as they look for their third consecutive All A state championship. The one thing I will mention is that regardless of competition, when Zack Pangallo is scoring at a high level, as seen in the semi's and finals, there aren't too many teams around the state that are going to beat them.

 

Up Next: 1/29 v Hancock County, 1/30-2/1 v TBA

 

3. Holmes (15-5)

 

Why: It was a rough week for the Bulldogs as they dropped both of their games and fell out of the statewide top 20 poll.

 

Mason County 70 Holmes 46

James Bolden and Marcus Mullins led Holmes with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Rod Avery was just short of a double double with 8 points, 10 rebounds.

 

Covcath 54 Holmes 42

Holmes was led by Rod Avery with 15 points, Markel McClendon with 9 points, and James Bolden with 8 points, 8 rebounds.

 

Overall:

This was one of those weeks that a coaching staff simply tells their kids to put it in the past and get ready for the February grind. Holmes simply didn't shoot the ball well and missed a lot of point blank shots in both games. Going forward, there will have to be more focus and execution if they are going to seriously challenge one of the above two teams to get out of the region. Right now, not many people think they are a legit contender. James Bolden will need to get out of his slump for Holmes to get back to where they were during an 11 game win streak prior to this past week.

 

Up Next: 1/27 at Ryle, 1/30 v Beechwood, 1/31 v Simon Kenton

 

4. Dixie Heights (14-5)

 

Why: The Colonels went 1-1 this past week at the Toyota Classic in Scott County.

 

Lafayette 61 Dixie Heights 53

The Red Colonels were led by Liam Rabe and sophomore Hunter Meyer with 11 points each in the loss.

 

Dixie Heights 49 Franklin County 42

Austin Schreck led Dixie with 14 points.

 

Overall:

It's tough to judge just how good Dixie is. The Lafayette game they blew a double digit lead and the Franklin County game was closer than expected. Nick Niehaus was shelved for a week with an injury so this team is still meshing together as they have rarely had their full compliment of players at 100% this season. The next 2 weeks should tell us a lot about Coach Chevalier's bunch.

 

Up Next: 1/27 at Lloyd, 1/30 at Simon Kenton, 1/31 v Grant County

 

5. Cooper (10-6)

 

Why: Tim Sullivan's team picked up a key district win in their only game of the week.

 

Cooper 61 Boone County 51

After a 20 points blow out loss to Boone early in the season, the Jags got revenge as they knocked off the Rebels by 10, led by Sean McNeil's 30 point, 7 rebound performance. Freshman Adam Kunkel reached double figures at 12 points, and fellow sophomore Dante Hendrix tallied 7 points in the win.

 

Overall:

Cooper is a scary team to think about come tournament time for the simple fact that they a kid in Sean McNeil that can go off for 30 on any given night. Guard play continues to improve and has been pretty consistent for the most part. Blake Dickerson stepped up big on the glass for Cooper as he also pulled down 7 rebounds with Colin Hathorn out of the lineup.

 

Up Next: 1/27 at Conner, 1/30 at Ryle (NKYSports.com Live Broadcast)

 

6. Boone County (13-7)

 

Why: The Rebels went 1-1 this week and fell one spot in the rankings.

 

Cooper 61 Boone County 51

Junior Stockwell led Boone with 26 points, 10 rebounds in the loss. Haven Borkowski also reached double figures with 10 points.

 

Boone County 61 Highlands 42

Brenden Stanley led Boone with 15 points, 9 rebounds followed by Elijah Monhollen with 12 points. Dylon Bishop also reached double figures with 10 points in the win.

 

Overall: Not much of a surprise this week from either of the Boone scores. When they beat Cooper the first time, I still felt like Cooper was the better team and it was just "one of those nights" for the Jags. The Rebels biggest issue is they aren't a very good shooting team so unless Stockwell is having a big night inside, it's going to be tough for them to beat the teams ranked ahead of them. The bright side is they are currently tied for 1st in the 33rd district at 3-1 and can improve upon that this week with another win.

 

Up Next: 1/27 at Simon Kenton, 1/30 at Conner

 

7. Conner (9-8)

 

Why: The Cougars went 1-1 this week to maintain their spot at #7 in the rankings.

 

Covcath 77 Conner 63

The Cougars had the lead at the half but a tough 3rd quarter put them away. Conner was led by Jacob Barnes with a career high 29 points and Michael Scott with 15 points in the loss.

 

Conner 71 Ryle 59

This score is a bit misleading as the Cougars held a 20 plus point lead for the majority of the second half before the Raiders made a late comeback. Jacob Barnes once again led the Cougars with 21 points, followed by Michael Scott with 20 points, and Kyler Padgett with 19 points. Alec Garnett had a team high 8 rebounds in the win.

 

Overall: Much like the rest of the report so far, nothing really surprising with either result this week. Conner, when shooting well, can compete with anyone as shown in the Covcath game and have the overall balance to overwhelm teams like Ryle. The Cougars will still be a tough out come district time and have a chance to improve upon their seed this week in a key stretch of homes games.

 

Up Next: 1/27 v Cooper, 1/30 v Boone County, 1/31 v Beechwood

 

8. St Henry (12-9)

 

Why: The Crusaders made it to the finals of the All A.

 

St Henry 63 Holy Cross 56

Paul Wallenhorst led St. Henry with 12 points, with Adam Goetz annd Logan Kenney tallying 11 points each. Connor Kunstek was just shy of a double double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

 

St Henry 64 Newport 57

Adam Goetz led the Cru with a 17-point performance. Connor Kunstek added a 16-point, 10-rebound night to help the Crusaders rally from a one-point deficit at halftime.

 

Newcath 85 St Henry 44

Connor Kunstek led the Crusaders with 14 points, 7 rebounds in the finals loss.

 

Overall:

Despite a blowout loss in the finals, it was still a productive week for the Crusaders as they picked up two top 10 wins en route to the All A Finals. The one constant for the Crusaders during the All A tournament was the solid play of Connor Kunstek.

 

Up Next: 1/28 at Villa Madonna, 1/30 v Lloyd

 

9. Newport (10-11)

 

Why: The Wildcats went 2-1 this week, falling in the semi finals of 9th Region All A tournament.

 

Newport 76 Dayton 39

Newport was led by junior Kedan Davis with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and sophomore Najee Williams with 14 points. Freshman Rico Hollis had a career high 13 points, while Paul Price chipped in 12 points and Kam Covington tallied 10 points in the blowout win.

 

Newport 59 Lloyd 54

Ethan Snapp led the Wildcats with 25 points, followed by Kam Covington with 10 points, 10 rebounds.

 

St Henry 64 Newport 57

Ethan Snapp had another big night with 20 points in the loss. Paul Price was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 14 points, but junior Kedan Davis continued his strong play with 8 points, 7 rebounds, while Kam Covington pulled down 9 rebounds to go with 7 points.

 

Overall: Newport can compete with and beat teams 7-10 but will struggle with teams ranked above that for the simple fact that they don't have the size in the front court or enough consistent scoring outside of Snapp. I know it's said every year, but I still think the Wildcats are a year away from being a factor in the 9th region.

 

Up Next: 1/28 v Bellevue, 1/30 at Fairdale

 

10. Holy Cross (9-10)

 

Why: The Indians went 1-1 last week at the All A.

 

Holy Cross 65 Ludlow 52

Four of Holy Cross' players reached double-digits led by Tyler Bezold with a game-high 20 points. Jared Seibert hit four threes to finish with 12 points.

 

St Henry 63 Holy Cross 56

Jared Seibert led all scorers with 18 points, followed by Erich Jakubowski with 10 points.

 

Overall: Holy Cross has seemed to hit a wall after coming out hot and picked up a few big wins to start the season. The Indians have now lost 7 of their previous 9.

 

Up Next: 1/31 v Ryle

 

Players of the Week

 

We will go with 2 players of the week as Jacob Barnes averaged 25 points per game last week with a career high 29 points against the number 1 team in the region and followed that up with 21 points in a win over Ryle.

 

Bo Schuh also earned player of the week honors as he also had a career high 28 points against Conner and followed that up with a double double against one of the top teams in Ohio, Wilmington. When he plays at that level, Covcath can beat anyone in the state.

Edited January 28, 201511 yr by hoops5

Nice job!

Agree overall.

 

I'm really curious to see Dixie go up against CCH , Holmes, and Cooper. We'll get a good read then.

Good report. Hard to argue too much with the rankings.

Agree overall.

 

I'm really curious to see Dixie go up against CCH , Holmes, and Cooper. We'll get a good read then.

 

They close out the season with:

 

Holmes 2/4

Bullitt East 2/10

Covcath 2/13

Scott 2/14

Cooper 2/17

Boone Co 2/20

Nice job, Walter.

:thumb:

Walter, always learn a little more about the 9th from your reviews. Well done.

From the Up Next department......

 

#2 NCC plays tonight 1/27 at Highlands. Didn't see that listed above.

From the Up Next department......

 

#2 NCC plays tonight 1/27 at Highlands. Didn't see that listed above.

 

You're right...honest mistake.

 

Newcath usually plays Highlands every year the week that the All A state tournament starts...atleast that's the way it has been the past 2 years, right?

Yep, HHS is glad to again serve as the tune-up game for the Breds as they get ready to defend the All A championship

Also @Simon Kenton 1/30

No love for Beechwood...geez!!

No love for Beechwood...geez!!

 

With Holmes, CovCath and NewCath on tap, for 3 out of the next 4, the opportunity is there to make some noise

Nice job Walter.