9th Region - Week 9 Review

[B-Ball-fan]

Let the Madness begin!!!

Here we are in that treasured month of March for all basketball fans. Typically by now the district tournaments would be in full swing, but thanks to COVID, this season things have been pushed back for a couple of weeks. 

Week 9 in the 9th Region was an exciting one!!! 

Scotty Draud for the Beechwood Tigers became The 9th Region’s All-Time Leading Scorer this past Friday night with 3047 career points at Dixie Heights’ gym in the beginning of the 4th quarter surpassing Dixie Heights’ own Brandon Hatton who had broken the record in 2014 surpassing Scotty Draud’s dad Scott Draud who played at Highlands, who had held onto that record for 28 years. Scotty isn’t done yet, so that final tally is still TBD.

If that wasn’t exciting enough the St Henry Crusaders REPEATED as the All ‘A’ Classic State Champs Saturday afternoon by merit of taking down 4th Region’s Clinton County Bulldogs in commanding fashion 74-57. In the 4 games of the tournament they won by an average of 25.25 points as they beat Walton Verona by 44, West Carter by 17, Lexington Christian by 23, and finally Clinton County by 17 en route to hoisting up the treasured State Champs trophy. Wyatt Vieth was named the MVP of the tournament, and Jude Bessler, Ryan Butler, and Cody Teeten all joined him on the All-Tournament team. This now makes for the 3rd All ‘A’ State Championship win for the Coach Dave Faust led Crusaders as St. Henry also won this tournament back in 2003. 

 

Rankings:

 

1. St. Henry (16-2)

(3-0) 

W- West Carter 65-48

W- Lexington Christian 72-49

W- Clinton County 74-57

The Crusaders stay at Number 1 for the second week in a row as they went 3-0 this week en route to winning the All ‘A’ Classic State Championship. 

St. Henry gets a bit of a breather this coming week as the finish out their regular season schedule with a game against Villa Madonna. 

 

2. Covington Catholic (21-3)

(3-0)

W- Holmes 72-53

W- Clay County 52-41

W- Elizabethtown 79-62

The Colonels secured their top seed in the 35th District going 3-0 in district play beating the Holmes Bulldogs. Because the Bulldogs went 0-3 in district play CovCath will see Holmes again in the first round of the 35th District Tournament.

They also took care of business with the visiting Tigers of Clay County from the 13th Region on Friday night, then turned around and got a real nice win in on Saturday afternoon by taking down the visiting Top 5 in the state Elizabethtown Panthers from Region 5, handing them their 2nd loss of the season. 

The Colonels will finish up their regular season schedule this week when they host the 11th Region Indians of Madison Central. 

 

       3.Highlands (18-4)

(2-0)

W- Holy Cross 86-82

W- Campbell County 100-79

The Bluebirds continue to fly high with a 9 game winning streak with consistent dynamite perimeter shooting. When Vinson and his boys are on, they’re unstoppable. 

According to the schedule Highlands has games this coming week with Holmes, and The Cincinnati Trailblazers Home School and this will round out their regular season schedule. 

 

4. Beechwood (22-5)

(4-0)

W- Pendleton County 76-31

W- Bracken County 65-47

W- Dixie Heights 73-59

W- Walton Verona 55-51

The Tigers went 4-0 this week, and as aforementioned Scotty Draud became the 9th Region All-Time Leading Scorer with 3047 career points and counting. 

To round out their regular schedule Beechwood will face Campbell County and Lloyd this coming week. 

 

5. Dixie Heights (17-5)

(0-2)

L- Mason County 65-82

L- Beechwood 59-73

The Red Colonels suffered two losses this week to quality teams, putting an end to their 8 game winning streak. Considering their full body of work we’ll keep them in the Number 5 spot this week. 

Dixie will finish out their regular season schedule this week with games with Walton Verona and Campbell County. 

 

6. Holy Cross (13-8)

(1-2)

L- Highlands 82-86

L- Bishop Brossart 77-86

W- Holmes 67-56

The Indians had a rough week with back-to-back losses to Highlands, and Bishop Brossart, but won an important 35th District seeding game against the Holmes Bulldogs allowing them to avoid Covington Catholic in the 1st round of district play, but will have to face Beechwood who they beat at home by 18, but most will guess that the next time around will be a much closer game. 

Holy Cross has no games scheduled this week and will not play again until the aforementioned matchup with the Beechwood Tigers in the 1st round of the 35th District tournament. 

 

        7.Conner (13-6)

(1-0)

W- Simon Kenton 72-68

The Cougars only played one game this week with a win over the 8th Region Simon Kenton Pioneers. 

This was the last game on their regular season schedule, so they won’t play again until they face the Boone County Rebels in 33rd District tournament play. 

 

8. Lloyd Memorial (7-8)

(1-0)

W- Newport Central Catholic 46-36

It’s time that the Juggernauts get some respect as they’re presently on a 5 game winning streak with quality wins against Holmes, Bishop Brossart, Conner, and now Newport Central Catholic. For a team that began the season 2-8, we are now seeing them hit their stride, and their hard work is paying off. This may come as a surprise to some, but even in their past losses this team was showing a determination that couldn’t be denied. 

Lloyd will be put to the test as they finish out their regular season schedule this coming week with games against Scott and Beechwood. 

 

9. Boone County (8-10)

(3-0)

W- Newport Central Catholic 64-61

W- Pendleton County 76-69

W- Owen County 74-69

Another team deserving of recognition are the Boone County Rebels who are presently on a 5 game winning streak after beginning their season with a 3-10 record. Anyone who had a chance to see their win over NewCath on the Hill will tell you that this win was no fluke. These guys got at it from start to finish with a determination that spoke loudly that they would not be denied. I’d just bet that the Bred’s coach Ronnie Dawn, if being honest, would tell you the same. This team is really beginning to hit their stride, and when they face the Conner Cougars in the 1st round of the 33rd District tournament I’m going to be watching that one closely. 

The Rebels finish out their regular season schedule this coming week with a game against Bishop Brossart. 

 

10. Newport Central Catholic (9-9)

(1-2) 

L- Boone County 61-64

L- Lloyd Memorial 36-46

W- Cooper 48-40

For a historic basketball program such as NewCath has had over the years, it’s not exactly a great time to be a Thoroughbreds fan. This past week saw them take hard hits with losses to both Boone County and Lloyd Memorial, two teams who have struggled this season, but were just waiting for the chance to show that they’re worthy of being in the discussion, and they both jumped on that chance with their wins against NewCath. 

The Breds sorta redeemed themselves with a win over Cooper on Saturday night, but still in that game they struggled to find any offense. In their defence they were without the services of their sharp shooter Joel Illes in that game because of back pain. They’re being smart to give him some rest so that he is good and ready by District tournament time. 

NewCath have no games scheduled this week, and won’t play again until they face the Newport Wildcats in the 1st round of the 36th District Tournament. 

 

11. Ludlow (16-7)

(3-0) 

W- Heritage Academy 102-30

W- Villa Madonna 74-44

W- Calvary Christian 59-57

Why not? It’s time that the Ludlow Panthers get some love. They beat big school Ryle last week, they certainly can put up some points, they’ve won 8 of their last 9 games. They deserve some recognition. 

Whereas most teams have either finished their regular season schedule, or only have a game left, these Panthers aren’t shying away from a challenge, and have 3 games scheduled this week to round out their regular season schedule. This coming week they will be facing Bellevue, Owen County, and Gallatin County. 

 

12. Cooper (5-10)

(0-2)

L- Scott 64-70

L- Newport Central Catholic 40-46

The Jags continued to struggle this past week with two losses, and at this point their only hope, and it’s a doable one, is to beat the Ryle Raiders in the 1st round of the 33rd District Tournament to secure them a spot in the 9th Region tournament. They recently beat them in a low scoring affair by 9. The Jags finished out their regular season schedule in their loss to NewCath. 

 

13. Holmes (3-13) 

(0-2)

L- Covington Catholic 53-72

L- Holy Cross 56-67

It might seem a bit illogical to bump the Bulldogs up to the 13th spot considering that they presently are riding a 10 game losing streak, but even still in some of their losses to decent teams they were actually in those games, but just can’t get over the hump to finish. It is my belief that they are better than their record might suggest. 

Congratulations are also in order as senior Quantez Calloway netted his 1000th career point in their game against Covington Catholic 

The Bulldogs will finish out their regular season schedule this week with games against Walton Verona, Highlands, and Newport. I’m sure they’d like to at least get a win in one of these games, and one especially against the Newport Wildcats (The local Cross Town Shoot-out) as a win in this game might be their only saving grace considering they will face CovCath in the 1st round of the 35th District tournament. 

 

14. Newport (6-13)

(0-1)

L- Campbell County 61-67

The Wildcats only played one game this past week in their loss to the Camels of Campbell County. 

They will finish out their regular season schedule with Simon Kenton, and then a Cross Town Shoot-out game with the Holmes Bulldogs. 

 

15. Ryle (8-10)

(0-3)

L- Gallatin County 58-60

L- Simon Kenton 62-83

L- Trimble County 57-78

The Raiders went 0-3 this past week, and will finish out their regular season schedule with a game with Calvary Christain before facing Cooper in the 1st round of the 33rd District Tournament. 

 

16. Dayton (9-12)

(2-1) 

L- Calvary Christian 42-52

W- Bellevue 51-49

W- Villa Madonna 63-57

The Green Devils went 2-1 this past week, and most significantly, they avenged their recent loss to the Villa Madonna Viking beating them 63-57. 

Dayton will finish out their regular season schedule this coming week with games with Owen County and Williamstown. 

 

17. Villa Madonna (9-15)

(1-2)

W- Heritage Academy 77-62

L- Ludlow 44-74

L- Dayton 57-63

The Vikings went (1-2) this past week and slipped a spot due to their loss to the Dayton Greendevils. 

Villa Madonna will finish out their regular season schedule with games against St. Henry, Williamstown, and Covington Latin. 

 

18. Bellevue (3-17)

(1-2)

L- Dayton 49-51

L- Calvary Christian 40-59

W- Heritage Academy 71-70

The Tigers will finish out their regular season schedule this coming week with games against Ludlow, Nicholas County, and St. Patrick. 

 

19. Heritage Academy (2-13)

(0-3)

L- Ludlow 30-102

L- Villa Madonna 62-77

L- Bellevue 70-71

The Eagles will finish out their regular season schedule with a game against St. Patrick

 

20. Covington Latin (0-8)

(0-1)

L- Whitefield Academy 27-64

The Trojans will finish out their season this week with games against Villa Madonna and Whitefield Academy 

 

[Runcible Owl]

This is top shelf work, B. As my owlets like to say, "preciatchya."