Mark Cornelison with some outstanding pictures of the game tonight:

 

Barn burner in Park Hills. CovCath vs Cooper had it all. March madness atmosphere and some REALLY good basketball.

Glad to see a high school reporter hitting the road to see two "out of town" teams play.

 

 

 

Josh Moore is one of the best. I love how he promotes our student athletes and not just the Lexington area.

Fun night. Great atmosphere. Two teams battling like they always do. Coaches will find plenty to work on and adjustments to make. Both teams will look forward to getting two key contributors back.

 

We should all be so lucky to get a rematch at BB&T.

Hendrix was a problem defensively as always but just as much off the dribble going to the rim.

 

CCH did a nice job on Kunkel - talented kid.

 

If you let Runion set his feet on a 3 it's probably going in.

Josh Moore posted video of the dunk on his twitter page:

 

Jake Walter brought the thunder! Covington Catholic leads 48-47 with 2 minutes left.

 

Brought the Thunder???? That makes me chuckle. He got the ball right underneath the basket and dunked it just like any 7 footer should.

I called a 5pt win for the Colonels I figured it would be close. Congrats to the Blueboys.

 

A rematch in the Region will be one for the ages.

 

All hail Qryche11 ... all hail ... LOL

Kudos to Coach Jim Wolfe and the CCH Chamber Choir boys for "My Old Kentucky Home" and the National Anthem.

 

Kudos to Coach Jim Wolfe and the CCH Chamber Choir boys for "My Old Kentucky Home" and the National Anthem.

 

 

Sheesh, this game and pre-game had it all. Any jugglers or sword swallowers?

Unofficially:

 

Aiden R 22

CVH 12

AJ Mayer 10 (10 boards)

Jake Walter 7

 

Aiden had 9 in the 4th qtr and AJ had 7 in the 4th qtr.

 

CCH shot 51% from the field including 5/11 from 3. Aiden was 4/6 from 3. Now 22/36 from 3 in his last 6 games.

 

 

Hendrix had 15

Runion had 13

Kunkel had 11

 

Cooper only had 7 turnovers.

Shot 49% from the field.

Sheesh, this game and pre-game had it all. Any jugglers or sword swallowers?

 

Had 2 huge student sections standing for over an hour before tipoff going at it.

From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

 

Covington Catholic tops Cooper in matchup of Northern Kentucky boys’ basketball powers

BY JOSH MOORE

[email protected]

 

PARK HILLS - The sellout crowd at Covington Catholic got its money’s worth as the home team overcame Cooper 55-52 in a potential 9th Region finals preview Wednesday night.

 

AJ Mayer scored an and-one layup and made the free throw with 5.2 seconds left to send Covington Catholic to its fifth straight win. His shot answered a game-tying three-pointer by Cooper’s Tyler Ollier about 12 seconds prior. Another tying three-point attempt by Cooper’s Brayden Runion hit the front of the rim as time expired.

 

Covington Catholic improved its all-time record against Cooper to 7-2. The programs have played each season since Cooper opened for the 2008-09 school year but have never met in the postseason. The Colonels were ranked fourth in both the Cantrall Ratings and the Associated Press poll this week; Cooper was 13th in the ratings but ranked ninth by the media.

 

Aiden Ruthsatz led the Colonels with 22 points, 15 coming in the second quarter. Cole VonHandorf scored 12 for CovCath, and Mayer had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Dante Hendrix scored 15 to lead Cooper.

Does that include the defensive choice on the winning/losing score?

It means if you asked me before the season started that Cooper would lose by only 3 points with their top scorer out due to injury and their starting PG also out due to injury I would have said CCH would win by double digits.

Someone needs to pull some strings and make sure these two meet in the finals and not the semi finals. Could be a very different game and out come on a bigger court, with both teams healthy, and not have fans right on top of you. Unfortunately, in my lifetime it seems like Cov Cath often loses the rematch when it matters most, although it was usually always to Holmes.

 

I guess you've forgotten about 2014.

Love that cat. He knows his stuff. Grateful to call him a friend.

 

Word.

It means if you asked me before the season started that Cooper would lose by only 3 points with their top scorer out due to injury and their starting PG also out due to injury I would have said CCH would win by double digits.

 

It looks like we agree Cooper has depth.