By: Rick Broering, Enquirer contributor
In a battle between two teams ranked in the Kentucky statewide coaches' poll, Covington Catholic's balanced offense and tenacious defense was too much for visiting Lexington Catholic Wednesday night. The Colonels won 62-52.
Four of CovCath's five starters scored in double figures as C.J. Fredrick led the way with 17, Cole VonHandorf added 15, Jake Walter pitched in with 13, and Aiden Ruthsatz had 10.
Fredrick visited Xavier on Tuesday night for the Musketeers' win over North Dakota State and received a scholarship offer from coach Chris Mack's staff. He also has offers from Iowa, Ball State, Wright State, Northern Kentucky, Miami (OH), and Winthrop.
CovCath's C.J. Fredrick tries to drive past LexCath's T.C. Price during their game at CovCath, Wednesday, November 30, 2016.(Photo: Jim Osborn for the Enquirer)
"I was shocked," Fredrick said of his offer. "But I appreciated their confidence in me that they think I can play with them. They see me as a J.P. Macura-ish type of player."
It wasn't a lights-out shooting performance for CovCath, nor were the Colonels always sound in their decision-making, but coach Scott Ruthsatz appreciated the effort of his team.
"We just got done telling the kids, 'lots of good things but lots of things you need to work on,'" Ruthsatz said. "It's just getting back in the flow of knowing scouting reports and I thought we had a couple of defensive breakdowns. Overall, I thought the effort was there and everybody played well."
CovCath entered the season, which started on Monday night, ranked fifth in the Kentucky state coaches' poll, while Lexington Catholic was ranked 12th. LexCath senior guard Luke Johnson, a Loyola-Maryland recruit, led the Knights with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. He averaged 23.2 points while shooting 48 percent from the field last season, but wasn't able to shake VonHandorf long enough to get off for that type of performance on Wednesday.
The Knights also boasted one of Lexington's most physically imposing frontcourts with senior Peter Whitman (6-7, 240) and junior Zan Payne, son of University of Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne. However, the two combined for just nine points on 2-of-9 shooting and 11 rebounds with four turnovers. Walter and junior forward AJ Mayer, who just recently rejoined CovCath's team after football season, combined for 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting with 13 rebounds and one turnover.
CovCath's signature suffocating man-to-man defense rendered LexCath's offense useless for most of the first quarter. The Knights didn't score their first field goal until the 3:27 mark. Fredrick's first 3-pointer of the game from the left corner put CCH up by 10 with 2:10 to play in the period. Aiden Ruthsatz led the CovCath offense with a three and an and-one finish to put the Colonels up 15-6 after one.
LexCath settled in by speeding up the game on defense with a fullcourt press. CovCath turnovers helped generate some easier scoring opportunities for the Knights, plus Johnson and fellow senior guard TC Price got it going on offense as they scored seven and eight points in the half respectively. LexCath cut its deficit to four in the final minute, but a buzzer-jumper from the short corner by Cole VonHandorf pushed CovCath's lead to six, 31-25, at halftime.
VonHandorf and Walter each scored eight points in the first half to lead CovCath.
LexCath looked poised to make the game interesting out of the locker rooms. Johnson buried a three on the Knights' first possession of the second half to make it a one-possession game, 31-28. However, he rolled his ankle while running back on defense and VonHandorf and Fredrick followed with consecutive 3-pointers for the Colonels to push the lead back to 37-28. CovCath continued on a 16-5 run to build its largest advantage of the night, 47-33, and led 47-35 after the third.
Johnson returned late in the third quarter but left the gym after the game with a noticeable limp and a bag of ice around his bare foot.
LexCath made one more push to start the fourth quarter. Max Sparkman's free throw with 5:18 to play capped an 8-2 run for the Knights and brought them back within six, 49-43. However, Ruthsatz and VonHandorf each followed with a pair of free throws to push the CovCath lead back to double-digits.
"Once we negated some of the turnovers we had in the first half, we only had five in the second and, to me, that was the difference in the game," Ruthsatz said. "I thought taking it to the hole and remaining aggressive late in the game worked well for us. With like three or four minutes left, we just kept going and going and were seeing if we could get our guys at the free throw line and close the game out like that."
While Wednesday's home game served as a strong challenge against a good LexCath team, it was more of a warmup than a showcase for CovCath. The Colonels know they have to lock in and improve quickly with a brutal December schedule coming up that includes games at Louisville St. Xavier and Cincinnati Moeller before they head to Fairdale for the always loaded King of the Bluegrass tournament and New Jersey for the Skyline Classic at legendary St. Anthony High School.
"We just need to make everything more crisp," Fredrick said. "Run the offense more crisp, make shots, limit turnovers and make free throws."