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9th Region - District Tourney Wrap Up & 9th Region Tournament Preview

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B-Ball-fan

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9th Region - District Tourney Wrap Up & Regional Tourney Preview

AND THEN THERE WERE EIGHT…

The 33rd, 34th, 35th, & 36th District Tournaments have all completed, and while some of the district champs are who most might’ve expected, there were also a couple of dramatic close calls and shake ups to remind us how unpredictable post season play can be, and sometimes it’s these surprises that make it all the more exciting. 

Let’s take a look at the tourneys district by district… 

The 33rd District Tournament, played at Boone County High School, pitted top seed Conner Cougars (15-6) against the hosts the Boone County Rebels (8-11), and in the other semi-final game the 2nd seed, the Cooper Jaguars (5-11) faced off with the 3rd seeded Ryle Raiders (9-12).  

Boone County had a challenging season plagued by 13 COVID cancellations that took them out of their rhythm, and while they struggled with a 3-10 start to the season, they ended their regular season strong with a 5 game winning streak which included a signature win against Newport Central Catholic, but their season sadly came to a close in a nail biter against the top seeded Conner Cougars 57-55, which came within an inch of going into overtime with a layup that held on the rim, but just didn’t quite fall. 

The Rebels were heartbroken to have come so close to being giants killers, and the Conner Cougars, wiping their brow, were awarded to move on to the finals to face the winner of the Cooper/Ryle game where Cooper had won in the regular season between the two in low scoring affair that didn’t get out of the 30’s. 

Both Cooper & Ryle were also riddled by cancellations this season due to COVID with 7, and 8 cancellations respectively, but thankfully both were eligible to compete in the district tourney, and this time the Raiders avenged their regular season loss the Jaguars in convincing form 55-41.

The finals were no obstacle for the Conner Cougars as they easily got past the Raiders 73-47 in a game that was never in question, and the Conner Cougars are your 2021 33rd District Champs for the 2nd season in a row. 

The All Tournament Team included Leon Cleary from Boone County, Jacob Deere from Cooper, Donovan Robinson, and Graves Fryman from Ryle, and Spencer Couzins, and Cole Skiles for Conner with Riley Osterbur as the tournament MVP.

The 34th District Tournament played at Lloyd Memorial High School firstly had the Ludlow Panthers (18-10) vs. the Villa Madonna Vikings (7-19) in the play-in game where the Panthers advanced to the semi-finals after beating the Vikings 68-57. 

The semi’s were all set to have the Ludlow Panthers vs. the top seed St. Henry Crusaders (17-3), and the 3rd seeded hosts, the Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts (7-11) vs. the 2nd seeded Dixie Heights Colonels (20-5). 

The Crusaders easily took care of business beating the Panthers 95-51 ending Ludlow’s productive 18 win season. 

In the 2nd semi-final game the Colonels erased any doubts about whether or not the Juggs had improved well enough this season to be a threat, and the answer was emphatically NO as they took care of business there winning convincingly 72-49 setting up the championship game between them and St. Henry where the Crusaders were the slight favorites. 

This fast paced game was chock full of excitement with both teams having nice runs with multiple lead changes, but when the final horn sounded, your 2021 34th District Tournament Champs were the Dixie Height Colonels while also reaching their 20th victory of the season. 

There were big implications in this victory for Dixie for now they’d either face Ryle, Newport, or Holy Cross in the first round rather than CovCath, Highlands, or Conner, and that’s a big deal if you’re hoping to make it into the semi-finals. In the 9th Region draw, which we’ll discuss further later in this article,  Dixie was selected to face the Newport Wildcats.

The All Tournament Team included Noah Hoffmeister from Ludlow, Colin Chillo from Villa Madonna, Dameion Mitchell from Lloyd, Wyatt Vieth and Cody Teeten from St. Henry, Ian Snelling and Kiernan Geraci from Dixie with Billy Wogenstahl as the tournament MVP.  

The 35th District Tournament played at the Holmes High School Fieldhouse with a field of 4 where the top seeded Covington Catholic Colonels (24-3) faced off with the hosts the Holmes Bulldogs (5-16), and the 2-3 seed game matched the Holy Cross Indians (14-9) with the Beechwood Tigers (23-6). 

The 9th Region favorites, the Colonels didn’t have any trouble with the Bulldogs ending their season with a 75-44 win. 

The next semi was a game where the Beechwood Tigers were hoping to avenge their regular season 18 point loss to the Holy Cross Indians, and in a very heated battle again the Indians prevailed winning 67-60 setting up the 35th District Championship game between them, and the Covington Catholic Colonels. 

The Indians surely came to play, and gave the Colonels a nice battle for the better part of 3 quarters until the wheels began to fall off, and the stronger CovCath Colonels prevailed 84-62 and adding another 35th District Championship trophy to their case along with the many other district champions pieces of hardware from their very productive and historic past. 

The 36th District Tournament played at Dayton High School in the Stan Steidel gymnasium firstly had the Dayton Greendevils (9-15) vs. the Bellevue Tigers (5-20) go at it in their 4th battle of the season where the Greendevils had won the previous 3, but for the Tigers the 4th time was the charm as they took this one 63-59 setting up the semis where they had to face the top seed Highlands Bluebirds (24-4), and in the other semi-final game the Newport Central Catholic (9-10) Thoroughbreds played the Newport Wildcats (7-16) hoping to avenge their 77-44 loss to the Breds earlier in the season. 

As expected the Bluebirds had no trouble with the Tigers winning that one 89-25, but in the other semi-final game most everyone expected NewCath to move on into the regional tourney, but the Newport Wildcats had other plans, and really made an impressive showing over the Breds considering their previous 33 points loss, and taking down their neighborhood rivals 46-39, and advancing to the finals to face the Highlands Bluebirds where they lost that one 86-55, making the Highlands Bluebirds your 2021 36th District Champions.

9th Region Tournament Preview

So with the district tournaments all wrapped up, the biggest thing on everyone’s mind was the 9th Region Tournament Draw, and how things would go now that Dixie had beaten St. Henry, and the possibility that the Number 1, and Number 2 teams in the region (Covington Catholic, and St. Henry) could theoretically be pitted against each other in the first round. Well just as people wondered, that theory became a law, and sure enough they indeed are scheduled to go at it in the first round. 

All of the first round games will be played at the home of the 4 District winners on Monday, March 22nd at 7:00. 

Covington Catholc has opted to surrender their home court advantage, and hold their first round game with St. Henry at the Holmes fieldhouse which is 2 ½ times larger than CovCath’s gym which will allow for more people as Holmes is allowing 25% capacity because of COVID precautions, which equates to 750 spectators. 

 

In the top bracket:

Highlands vs. Ryle

Covington Catholic vs. St. Henry 

In the lower bracket:

Dixie vs. Newport

Conner vs. Holy Cross

 

Whereas in the district tourney games there were upsets that very few expected, I’ll be hesitant to do any predicting for the 9th Region Tournament for fear of eating my words. Sometimes things go as planned, but we all know that in tournament time anything can happen, and oftentimes the unexpected does.  

The Semi-Finals and the Finals will be held at the Holmes Fieldhouse:

The Semi’s will be played Wednesday, March 24th at 6:00 & 8:30

The Finals will be played Friday, March 26th at 7:00

In the Highland/Ryle game most expect a certain outcome, but nonetheless, Ryle, a team that sat in the final rankings before the district tournament in the 15th spot, but now we see that 7 teams ahead of them have been sent packing. They knew what the stakes were in the district tournament, and they did what they had to do to get to the regional tournament, so you gotta hand it to them for that. The Raiders are led by Donovan Robinson, Graves Fryman, and Tyler Bush, and they intend come prepared to do whatever they can to get past the high flying Bluebirds led by invincible Sam Vinson, and his supporting cast of sharp shooters Luke Muller, and William Herald, along with the dependable play of Oliver Harris, Zac Barth, and Leyton Read.  

The Covington Catholic/St. Henry game is by far the matchup that has everybody talking. The Crusaders narrowly won their first meeting by the score of 61-60 when many didn’t think that the Colonels could be beaten by anybody in the 9th Region. The two are the top ranked teams in the region where most would’ve guessed that we would have seen them either in the semi’s or finals, but here they are ready to go at it in the first round. 

Will the senior heavy experience led by Wyatt Vieth, and Jude Bessler help the Cru prove that their first encounter was no fluke, or will the Colonels, who will certainly be in tournament time form avenge their loss to move on to the semi-finals with their talented and loaded starting 5 of Evan Ipsaro, Mitchell Rylee, Donovan Stocks, Chandler Starks, and Colin McHale, and a healthy long bench that includes the dependable play of Reece Murphy and James Wilson. 

The Dixie Colonels, Oh My have done themselves a terrific favor in getting to the 9th Region Tournament as 34th District winners, because firstly they get to play their first round game at home, and more importantly they had the privilege to avoid other district winners CovCath, Highlands, or Conner. The options for them for winning was either Ryle, Newport, or Holy Cross, and I’d say that if they had a choice they’d like to avoid Holy Cross because they’d certain matchup better with Ryle and Newport, and sure enough they got Newport. 

The Wildcats weren’t expected to be here, and just like Ryle, they ended ranked 14th, but guess what...they’re still alive. Kudos to them because they did what they needed to do to be here. They have a tough road ahead of them in the Dixie Colonels, but win or lose, they can still feel mighty proud for still being in the thick of things when nobody expected them to be. The Wildcats are led by Alex Greene, and KeAndre Nelson, and Dixie is loaded with a starting 5 all capable of scoring the ball, along with a couple of very dependable bench players. Ian Snelling, Kiernan Gerachi, Jason Summe, Jay Flynn, Billy Wogenstahl, Logan Landers can really get at it with dynamic ball movement, and reliable explosive scoring. The Wildcats have their hands full. 

Conner vs. Holy Cross is a particularly interesting matchup, and probably the other more intriguing game outside of the CovCath St. Henry game because while arguments could be made for either team, I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who could predict this one with any certainty. 

Holy Cross really likes to get up and down with a fast paced attack led by two 20 ppg scorers in Jacob Meyer, and Brandon McClendon along with the mighty Jeramiah Hicks who is a beast on the boards, and Blake Robinson who is lights out from the 3. The Cougars have strong abilities themselves with the strong all around play and great 3 point shooter Spencer Couzins, good leadership of Riley Ostebur, and Cole Skiles, and another dynamic sharp shooter in Ayden Lohr. 

It’s certainly going to be an exciting 9th Region Tournament to cap off an exciting season in the 9th where the Top 5 teams at one point or another all made it into the State’s Top 20 with 2 in the Top 5, not to mention a repeat for St. Henry as All ‘A’ Classic State Champs, and Scotty Draud of Beechwood becoming the All-time Leading Scorer of the 9th Region. 

Good luck to all of the teams!

As far as the broadcasting of the games go, I can give you a bit of what I know, and a little of what I’m assuming. 

The Semi’s and Finals will be videod by the Colonel Athletic Network for a fee, as well as the first round CovCath/St. Henry game.  

https://www.covcath.org/athletics/can

Mark Wehry will also being doing free audio of the semi’s and finals as well as the first round Highlands/Ryle game. 

https://www.859sportsradio.com/

The 33rd District tournament was on the NFHS network for a subscription fee if that is any indication how Conner might handle hosting their first round game. 

https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/

Dixie has been broadcasting their home games free all season long on their Dixie Heights Athletics Youtube channel, so as of now I can only assume that that’s where their first round game vs. Newport will be aired. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVCx6p8zLauhGYVx7JecKiw/videos

Aside from Mark Wehry doing audio of the first round Highlands/Ryle game there are two sites possible for video, first in Highlands youtube channel where they’ve been broadcasting their home games for free all season. 

https://www.youtube.com/user/HHSFilmAndBroadcast/videos

Or at the Highlands Athletic site where I assume they can charge a fee if they go that route. 

https://www.highlandsathletics.com/

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throwback32

throwback32

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I have been around NKY basketball for about 10 years now, there have been some loaded regions.  The Holmes, Cov Cath, New Cath years come to mind, Cov Cath and Cooper rivalry; but has there been a deeper one?  Legitimately 4-5 teams could make noise at the state level.  I know there have been years where the top team in the region may have been more dominant, but man, this is a deep year.

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B-Ball-fan

B-Ball-fan

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2 hours ago, Bluesport said:

Dixie is average.

Dixie took Highlands to 2 overtimes before losing. Would you also consider Highlands to be average? 

Dixie is 20-5 on the season, would you consider that average?

Dixie as won 17 of their last 20 games, would you consider that average?

Dixie beat St. Henry, would you consider The Crusaders to be average?

Dixie at one point this season was rated in the top 20 of the state, would you consider that to be average?

Dixie has dynamic ball movement that is just as good as any team in the region, would you consider that to be average. 

Dixie has 5 players who have all scored 20 points in a game this season, would you consider that to be average?

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throwback32

throwback32

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6 minutes ago, B-Ball-fan said:

Dixie took Highlands to 2 overtimes before losing. Would you also consider Highlands to be average? 

Dixie has is 20-5 on the season, would you consider that average?

Dixie as won 17 of their last 20 games, would you consider that average?

Dixie beat St. Henry, would you consider The Crusaders to be average?

Dixie at one point this season was rated in the top 20 of the state, would you consider that to be average?

Dixie has dynamic ball movement that is just as good as any team in the region, would you consider that to be average. 

Dixie has 5 players who have all scored 20 points in a game this season, would you consider that to be average?

You said this much better than I did. 😂 

I didn’t have the energy.  Thank you.

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Runcible Owl

Runcible Owl

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8 minutes ago, B-Ball-fan said:

Dixie took Highlands to 2 overtimes before losing. Would you also consider Highlands to be average? 

Dixie is 20-5 on the season, would you consider that average?

Dixie as won 17 of their last 20 games, would you consider that average?

Dixie beat St. Henry, would you consider The Crusaders to be average?

Dixie at one point this season was rated in the top 20 of the state, would you consider that to be average?

Dixie has dynamic ball movement that is just as good as any team in the region, would you consider that to be average. 

Dixie has 5 players who have all scored 20 points in a game this season, would you consider that to be average?

 

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