The Boone County Rebels were streak busters in Friday’s regular-season finale with a thrilling, 82-80 Senior Night victory over the defending Ninth Region champion Dixie Heights boys’ basketball team in Florence.
Led by Zane McQueary’s seven 3-pointers and a game-high 25 points and buoyed by game-saving plays in the final 30 seconds by Cooper Downs, Boone snapped the Colonels’ six-game winning streak and handed them their first regional loss of the season after 12 straight wins. McQueary and Downs are two of eight Rebels seniors.
“There was a lot of stuff going on beforehand but we wanted to make it just another game,” said McQueary, who poured in 17 second-half points. “They knocked us out of the regional tournament last year so that was the motivation for us.”
The upset for Boone (23-6), ranked fourth in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches’ poll, was its first victory over top-ranked Dixie (19-9) in two years and avenged a pair of losses last season to the Colonels, including a five-point heart-breaker in last year’s regional semifinals.
“I’m happy our seniors got a chance to win their last home game in the Boone County High School gym,” Rebels coach Greg McQueary said. “Our focus now is on the district tournament.”
Boone enters postseason play with seven wins in its last eight games. Downs scored the final five points Friday night, with a trey to tie the score at 80 and the game-winning basket with 2.9 seconds to play.
“I’ve built up a lot of confidence,” said Downs, who hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points. Senior Kameron Schwartz hit a trey and scored 19 for the Rebels. Boone shot 12-for-31 from behind the arc.
“We were really poor in rebounding and defense, and we’ve been trying to work on that,” said Dixie coach Ken Chavalier. His Colonels finished with just one loss in regional play for the second season in a row.
On Dixie’s final possession, Downs got a hand on the in-bound pass which prevented the Colonels from getting a last good look at the basket. Parker Stansberry picked up the loose ball and was short on a desperation 3-point heave at the buzzer. Stansberry finished with 17 points. Brandon Hatton drilled four treys and led the Colonels with 24.
“The whole game, we could have played harder,” Stansberry said.
The Colonels built a nine-point lead in the opening quarter and led by four at halftime, but the Rebels exploded for 51 second-half points, 27 coming in the fourth. There were 15 ties and lead changes during a furious third quarter as the teams traded nine consecutive lead-changing baskets in less than two minutes.
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