By: Rick Broering, Enquirer contributor
CovCath's Andy Flood and Holmes' Andrew Arnold grapple for the ball during the second quarter. CJ Fredrick is on the right.
By: Jim Osborn for The Enquirer
Friday night's game was a typical high-energy, scrappy battle between 35th district archrivals, Holmes and Covington Catholic. In the end, the Colonels made the winning plays down the stretch on the road to come out with their fifth straight win over the Bulldogs, 57-49.
After trailing by one after three quarters, CovCath outscored the Bulldogs 23-14 in the final eight minutes. Leading scorer Cole VonHandorf scored six of his game-high 14 points in the final period. Sophomore point guard Aiden Ruthsatz added 12 points, and was 5 of 6 at the free throw line in the clutch.
"The games like we had a week ago at Aiken helps," CovCath coach Scott Ruthsatz said. "It was the same type of game, it was close, but it was free throws down the stretch that won it. We were 11-for-11 that game, and we only missed three tonight.
"(Holmes) played tough. You knew they would. That was my gut-feeling coming in here. There's just something about the rivalry. You throw out the records. Records mean nothing in this game. It's all about pride and battles that we've had in the past, and I thought we lived up to that. Tonight was a great battle. Both sides did great in coaching their kids, playing hard and getting on the floor, and just doing everything you could to come away with the win."
With the Colonels up 46-45 and 2:40 to play in the game, senior Andy Flood hit a backbreaking three from several feet beyond the arc near the edge of the Bulldogs' logo at center court to put them up four. On the following play, Flood drove aggressively down the right side, drawing the defense toward him, before dishing to sophomore forward AJ Mayer, who was fouled. Mayer made both free throws to make it a six-point game with two minutes to play, and the Bulldogs never recovered.
"If I missed that, it wouldn't have been good," Flood said of his shot. "I didn't do anything the first three quarters of the game, so I had to do something. I had confidence, and my teammates had confidence in me to shoot it."
Flood finished with eight points and six rebounds, and Mayer added nine points and eight boards. Their rebounding was critical with the Colonels often playing a smaller lineup against the quicker Bulldogs.
"It was definitely a no, no, no, YES, moment," Coach Ruthsatz said of Flood's big shot. "Andy really wasn't in the flow at that point. We didn't even start him in the second half. But he is a senior, and there are times that seniors have to take over. Regardless of who's playing, sophomores or whatever, it's a senior team. He's our guy, and it was a big shot. I thought even better than that down the stretch were a couple of his rebounds."
Multiple live ball turnovers that led to run-outs for CovCath proved to be one of the biggest differences in an otherwise evenly played game. CovCath scored 12 points off of 12 Holmes turnovers, while the Bulldogs were only able to convert the Colonels' 10 miscues into two points.
With Holmes coming off a 49-46 district loss to Beechwood on Tuesday, CovCath knew to expect a motivated opponent.
"We take a lot of pride in this game," VonHandorf said. "After Holmes lost to Beechwood, they had a lot of fire under themselves. We knew we had to bring our 'A' game and carry the tradition from the guys before us."
The Bulldogs raced out to a 12-3 lead behind a hot start from Markel McClendon. He scored the game's first points with a steal and layup, and then drilled a 3-pointer off of an impressive behind the legs step-back move. CovCath responded with an 8-2 run, finishing the first quarter down by three, 14-11.
McClendon finished with a team-high 13 points, but was just 3-of-16 from the field.
The Colonels continued that momentum into the second period and took the lead on a corner three by senior guard Noah Lenhof. Holmes didn't score for six minutes and 23 seconds, a stretch that lasted from the two-minute mark of the first quarter to the 3:37 mark of the second, during which CovCath took an 18-14 lead. Brennon Englemon ended Holmes' scoring drought with a layup on a well-executed underneath inbounds play.
The Bulldogs took the lead back, 20-18, with 2:35 to play in the half on a basket by senior big man Brandon Moore, and the two teams battled back-and-forth from there. A pull-up elbow jumper by VonHandorf seconds before the buzzer gave the Colonels a 25-24 lead at halftime.
Holmes outscored CovCath 11-9 in the third quarter, taking the lead back with 30 seconds to play on a tip-in by Andrew Arnold to make it a 35-34 game heading into the fourth.
Both teams shot exceptionally well from the free throw line, as CovCath went 17-for-20 and Holmes was 15-for-15. However, they struggled from the outside, where CovCath was 4-for-14 and Holmes was 2-for-16.
CovCath (15-6) – VonHandorf 5 4 14, Ruthsatz 3 5 12, Mayer 3 3 9, Fredrick 4 0 9, Flood 2 3 8, Lenhof 1 2 5. Totals 18 17 57.
Holmes (9-10) – McClendon 3 6 13, Moore 5 0 11, Englemon 1 6 8, Commodore 3 1 7, Arnold 2 0 4, Greene 1 2 4, Miller 1 0 2. Totals 16 15 49.
Halftime: CovCath 25, Holmes 24. 3-pointers: C 4 (Fredrick, Lenhof, Flood, Ruthsatz), H 2 (McClendon, Moore).