The four teams ranked at the top of the region all year have won their districts and head into Truist Arena at NKU looking to book a trip to Rupp. Let's review what happened in the district tournaments and take a look at the regional tournament ahead.

33rd District

Brady Bushman scored 19 as the Conner Cougars defeated Heritage in the 4/5 game. Conner saw their season come to an end though in the quarterfinals as Yamil Rondon scored 13 and Shaun Pouncy scored 12 as the Cooper Jaguars proceeded to the title game. In the other semifinal matchup Ryle defeated Boone 49 to 47 behind Logan Verax's 17 points. Mason Hall put up 14 for the Rebels in the losing effort.

In the championship game Cooper rode a 25 point performance from Andy Johnson coupled with dual 17 point nights from Yamil Rondon and Shaun Pouncy to defeat the Raiders 69 to 61.

 

34th District

Spencer Brandenburg scored 25 points for the Ludlow Panthers against Villa Madonna in the 4/5 game. Ludlow failed to compete with Lloyd in their semifinal matchup as the Juggernauts won 85 to 47 with EJ Walker leading the way with 25 points. In the other semifinal Dixie took down St. Henry in a thriller, 61 to 59. Griffin Derry had 19 points and Hudson Blank had 16 to lead the Colonels while Andrew Reis had 15 for the Crusaders.

In the title game Lloyd was able to narrowly hold off Dixie in a low-scoring affair in overtime, 37 to 35. EJ Walker had 12 in Lloyd's winning effort.

 

35th District

The first semifinal game witnessed Covington Catholic blowout Holmes by a score of 83 to 33 with Cash Harney scoring 17. The second semifinal game was a much closer game as Beechwood defeated Holy Cross 40 to 36 as Jack Sullivan and Carson Blackburn both scored 11 and Tyler Fryman had 10.

CovCath defeated the Tigers 77 to 57 in the championship game with Caden Miller scoring 18 and adding 9 rebounds.

36th District

The 4/5 game was another iteration of that classic river city rivalry between Bellevue and Dayton. The Bellevue Tigers, behind Jase Iles' 24 points and Noah Frommeyer's 20, were able to bring home the 16 point win. They were unable to replicate that success as they were blown out by the 1 seed Newport Wildcats with Taylen Kinney scoring 20.

The other semifinal was an instant classic as the Highlands Bluebirds defeated the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds 90 to 85 in double overtime. For the Birds Daniel Schick had 23 and Nathan Vinson had 22. For the Breds Caleb Eaglin had 24.

Taylen Kinney scored 17 followed by Jabari Covington and James Turner, both with 12, to lead the way for the Wildcats in the Championship game as they defeated Highlands 63 to 48.

 

Regional Tournament

The quarterfinal round opens March 4th at 6:30 as Lloyd squares off with Beechwood. This is a rematch of a 61 to 58 Lloyd win from January 2nd where Isaiah Sebastian scored 20 for Lloyd and Jack Sullivan scored 21 for Beechwood. 

The second game on March 4th is between Newport and Ryle, a rematch of a December 12th Newport victory by a margin of 66 to 55 with 4 Wildcats in double figures.

The tournament takes a night off and then we are back in action Wednesday March 6th as Covington Catholic faces Dixie Heights. The Red Colonels and Blue Colonels did not face each other in the regular season. Dixie is certainly playing their best ball of the year right now but it still may not be enough to take down mighty CovCath.

The quarterfinals then close out with Cooper taking on Highlands, a rematch from January 9th where Cooper won 79 to 63 with Yamil Rondon scoring 28. Andy Johnson was out with injury. Brayden Moeves scored 21 and Nathan Vinson was held to 10.

The semifinal games will take place Sunday at 2:00 PM and 3:30 PM. We will be back next week to recap the first two rounds of the tournament and preview the championship game.

I look forward to being there tonight, Wednesday, and Sunday covering this great tournament. It actually shows on Khsaa that Cov. Catholic and Dixie Heights just played on Feb. 16th in a game that Cov. Catholic won 80 to 40.