Final for this 36th district 4/5 Game. Highlands gets the opportunity to move on and Play Wednesday at 6pm against the #1 seed Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds made sure their season did not end Monday.

Highlands (8-16 overall) took out the Dayton Greendevils, 59-30 in the first round of the 36th District Tournament at Newport. The Bluebirds also beat the Greendevils in the regular season meeting, 55-47 on Jan. 17.

The scoring leader came in the form of freshman guard Braden Posey with 18. Parker Harris followed with 11 and Mitch Cain scored 10 for the victors.

“The whole group has been playing much better lately,” said Kevin Listerman, Highlands Head Coach. “Braden got the minutes and played well.”

The win sets Highlands up for a rematch with district favorite Newport Central Catholic (26-3) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Newport. NewCath beat Highlands, 83-43 on Jan. 27 in Fort Thomas.

“We know the things we have to take away from them and do things to help us rebound better,” Listerman said. “They’ve hurt us rebounding the basketball the last couple times we played them. We also need to control the tempo and get it in our favor.”

Listerman knows anything can happen in the postseason. The Thoroughbreds have won 10 in a row against the Bluebirds.

“We just have to go play,” Listerman said. “You can have a great season and get upset in the tournament, then you feel hollow. We have an opportunity to rewrite our season in the postseason. That’s our focus right now.”

NewCath has beaten Highlands 10 straight times. The Thoroughbreds have won six straight district championships. The Bluebirds won their last district crown in 2008.

 

Fort Thomas Matters Sports: Highlands keeps postseason alive

Good to see the Birds come out of the locker room and punch Dayton in the mouth right from the start. Amazing what happens when you speed the tempo on someone rather than letting them dictate the terms to you. Think for the first time all year it looked like the kids and coaches were really enjoying themselves. Very similar to what I witnessed during the summer months.

 

Now a tough task in front of them to knock of the Breds. Kids need to go out and have fun and let the chips fall where they may. Play hard, physical and talk some trash along the way (just kidding on parts of this obviously) and leave it all on the floor. Stranger things have happened in the post-season.

HHS pressured Dayton from the opening tip, and after a very ugly first quarter ( 6-0 ), the game quickly got out of hand. It was 18-0 before Dayton hit a three pointer. At 24-3 midway through the second quarter, already 11 different players had seen action for Highlands. The halftime score was 40-11.

 

The starters played 3 minutes into the second half and then watched for the balance of the game. It was a running clock with 4 minutes to go in the third quarter. Thirteen players saw action in the game for HHS.

 

The fact that the Birds were able to put DHS away early in the second quarter allowed Coach L to give significant minutes to the JV players. This group did not get an opportunity to play their final 2 games (Scott-snow, Beechwood- senior night boy/girl DH). A nice move to get them the minutes that they missed out on last week.

Congrats to the Birds and nice scoring output by Frosh Braden Posey.

 

Good Luck vs the Breds. David did slay Goliath.

Good to see the Birds come out of the locker room and punch Dayton in the mouth right from the start. Amazing what happens when you speed the tempo on someone rather than letting them dictate the terms to you. Think for the first time all year it looked like the kids and coaches were really enjoying themselves. Very similar to what I witnessed during the summer months.

 

Now a tough task in front of them to knock of the Breds. Kids need to go out and have fun and let the chips fall where they may. Play hard, physical and talk some trash along the way (just kidding on parts of this obviously) and leave it all on the floor. Stranger things have happened in the post-season.

 

You forgot, no "fist bumps". :lol2: