Holmes (48): Rice 5 5 15, Martin 0 0 0, Englemon 4 0 8, Palmer 2 5 10, Coston 3 1 8, Bolden 1 0 3, Wilson 0 2 2, Walker 1 0 2. Totals 16 13 48.
Covington Catholic (34): Massie 0 1 1, Pauly 0 4 4, Tobler 5 2 12, Ruthsatz 1 4 7, Frederick 0 0 0, Hayden 2 0 4, Cleves 2 0 4, Schuh 0 2 2. Totals 10 13 34.
Halftime: Holmes 20-17. Three-point goals: H-Bolden, Coston, Palmer. CC-Ruthsatz. Records: Holmes 23-6, Covington Catholic 17-13.
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While it was some early foul trouble that caused Holmes coach Jason Booher to switch from man-to-man to a zone defense a little earlier than he may have preferred, it’s a defense the Bulldogs have used successfully all season and perhaps no more so than Friday night.
That zone, a wide-ranging 2-3 alignment, helped Holmes hold Covington Catholic to 20.8 percent shooting from the field for the game in rolling to a 48-34 victory in the 35th District championship game at Northern Kentucky University’s Regents Hall.
Both teams advance to next week’s Ninth Region Tournament at NKU’s Bank of Kentucky Center.“We’ve won a lot of games this year with that zone,” said Holmes coach Jason Booher, who is in his second season after guiding Shelby Valley to the 2010 state championship. “We contested just about every shot they took. I thought our guys were active. Our defense was outstanding tonight. I was really impressed with the way we played it.”
The zone was able to keep Covington Catholic from getting ball inside very much and it reacted quickly enough on the perimeter to harass sophomore guard Nick Ruthsatz, junior guard Nick Frederick and junior forward Sawyer Pauly. The trio made a combined 1 of 32 shots from the field – a three-pointer by Ruthsatz as his father, head coach Scott Ruthsatz, was actually trying to call a timeout that the officials didn’t hear. The trio combined to score 49 points in CovCath’s 81-74 triple overtime win over Holy Cross in the semifinal round on Wednesday, but finished with just 11.
“We were watching the Holy Cross game and they were shooting the ball pretty well so we were seeing where their shooters were and knew who they were,” said Holmes senior forward Dontel Rice, who finished with a game-high 15 points, 10 rebounds and three steals and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. “We played tremendous D. That’s what we base our team off of is our defense.”
Covington Catholic (17-13) struggled shooting the ball in both halves, going 5 for 26 in the first half and 5 for 22 in the second half. The Colonels were just 1 of 16 on three-point attempts and aside from junior center Zach Tobler, who was 5 of 6 from the field and finished with a team-high 12 points, the rest of the team was 5 of 42 from the field for the game.
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All-Tournament Team: Dontel Rice, Holmes (MVP); B.J. Coston, Holmes; Daquan Palmer, Holmes; Clint Massie, Covington Catholic; Sawyer Pauly, Covington Catholic; Jake Burger, Holy Cross; Corey Cruse, Beechwood; Dorien Clark, Covington Latin.