By: Rick Broering, Enquirer contributor
Cole VonHandorf and Covington Catholic will take on Newport Central Catholic in the last game of the Bluegrass-Buckeye Charity Classic.(Photo: Jim Osborn for the Enquirer)
CovCath junior AJ Mayer poured in a career-high 30 points Friday night as CovCath blew out NewCath 69-41 in the final game of a tripleheader at BB&T Arena as part of the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Bluegrass-Buckeye Charity Classic.
CovCath built a 38-18 halftime lead over the Thoroughbreds. Mayer was 8-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, with eight rebounds. Senior Cole VonHandorf added 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with three steals and junior point guard Aiden Ruthsatz pitched in with 13 points and six boards.
Junior Brennan Hall led NewCath with 16 points.
Cooper beat Holmes 65-35 and Dixie beat Scott 55-50 in the first two games of the night.
The Colonels played without leading scorer, CJ Fredrick, who's been out since before Christmas with an ankle injury.
"With CJ out, obviously he was one of our best scorers, and we couldn't just have Cole (VonHandorf) do everything," Mayer said. "I got in the gym more and got up a lot of shots because I really didn't shoot the ball that much at the beginning of the season coming back from football. Now, I've got my shot back and I'm just looking to do more for our team."
Mayer is also one of the top quarterback prospects in the area for CovCath's football team. After re-joining the hoops team and shaking off some rust following the football season, he's emerged as a go-to scoring option for the Colonels, especially with Fredrick out. He posted 20 points two games ago in a loss at South Laurel and finished with a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards the game before that against Conner.
"A guy like AJ, he doesn't need a whole lot of instruction," CovCath coach Scott Ruthsatz said. "There's something innate about his ability to just come out and influence the game. Not too many kids I've ever seen really have that mentality. It's great to see because now he's picking up the slack for somebody who maybe didn't shoot it as well tonight."
Friday night's game was a rematch of last year's Ninth Region championship on the same court where NewCath ended CovCath's season, 52-47.
"Especially with them knocking us out last year, we had a bad taste in our mouth still," Mayer said. "We wanted to come in with a lot of momentum. Right away we wanted to show them that we were here to play and show them how good we are this year."
All five CovCath starters scored one basket over the first four minutes as the Colonels built a 12-2 lead. They continued on that run with two consecutive baskets from VonHandorf and a layup by Mayer to extend their lead to 18-2 with 2:13 left in the period. CovCath led 23-6 heading into the second quarter.
Mayer's layup with six minutes left in the half pushed CovCath's lead over 20, 27-6. He finished the first half with 17 points to lead all scorers. VonHandorf was 5-for-5 from the field with 11 points.
The Colonels built their huge advantage by taking care of the ball and defending without fouling. They went 8-of-12 at the free-throw line in the first half and 13-of-18 for the game, while NewCath didn't shoot a single free throw before halftime and finished 5-of-6 at the charity stripe.
"Defense is going to win you more games than it loses you," CovCath coach Scott Ruthsatz said. "In the past, we've gotten into foul trouble early and they're shooting free throws and there's nothing worse than them putting points on the board with the clock stopped. We've really worked hard on keeping them in front, contesting all jump shots, and if they make them great, but we can't commit fouls."
CovCath also outscored NewCath 11-0 in points off turnovers during the first half. The Colonels had two turnovers in the first half and eight for the game. NewCath had 14 total, seven in each half.
CovCath only outscored NewCath by a score of 28-26 in the second and third quarters, but the first and fourth quarters were disastrous for the Thoroughbreds.
"We talked about before the game that they're going to go on some runs and we just have to weather the storm," First-year NewCath coach Ken Collopy said. "I thought we did a lot better job in the second and third quarters. We have to put four quarters together. We did the same thing at Beechwood the other day where we only played two good quarters. We're still working and getting better."
Mayer put the exclamation point on his impressive effort with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give him an even 30 points just before he was taken out of the game in the final minutes with a huge lead.
"Credit them, they shot the ball really well and AJ Mayer had a great game," Collopy said. "Full credit to him. We went zone to try and make them hit some outside shots first and they did, and then we had to come out and get them."
CovCath has already played in two major showcases this season, the King of the Bluegrass in Louisville and the Skyline Classic in New Jersey. The Colonels will head north to Dayton on Sunday to participate in the annual Flying to the Hoop, an event teeming with high-major Division I college prospects and coaches.
"We have Dayton Dunbar on Sunday and we're totally focused on that," Ruthsatz said. "It's going to be a great atmosphere for our kids, a chance for a lot of them to get seen. We play the late night game on Sunday. Dunbar is unlike any team we've seen yet. They're going to be fast and aggressive."
Next up for NewCath is the Ninth Region All 'A' Tournament next week at Ludlow.
CovCath: Deere 1 0 2, VonHandorf 6 2 15, Lenihan 1 0 3, Mayer 8 11 30, Ruthsatz 5 0 13, Nowak 2 0 4, Walter 1 0 2. Totals 24 13 69
NewCath: Hall 6 2 16, Sp. Pangallo 1 0 3, St. Pangallo 1 0 3, Moeves 1 2 4, McDaniel 1 0 3, Wurtz 3 1 7, Luken 2 0 5. Totals 15 5 41.
3-pointers: C 8 (Mayer 3, Ruthsatz 3, VonHandorf, Lenihan), N 6 (Hall 2, Sp. Pangallo, St. Pangallo, McDaniel, Luken). Records: C 14-4,N 7-7.