Owensboro Catholic’s defense led them to a 3rd Region first round win on Wednesday, as they were able to stifle the Wildcats in a 48-31 win.
The Aces got on the board first with a nice floater from senior Parker Gray after a rebound by junior Jody Hopgood, eventually building a 10-3 lead. Back-to-back threes led to a quick 6-0 run for Edmonson County though, as both teams proceeded to trade buckets for the rest of the quarter.
Leading 16-11 after the first quarter both teams continued to fight it out early in the second, with the Wildcats switching from their box-and-one on senior Brian Griffith to a 2-1-2 zone down 21-15 with 5:50 to go in the first half. But just a little over a minute later Owensboro Catholic’s fullcourt pressure started to affect Edmonson County, as a layup by senior Deuce Sims followed by a pair of steals for the Aces kickstarted a dominant defensive stretch.
The Wildcats went scoreless for the next two and a half minutes, while Owensboro Catholic proceeded to close the second quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 34-18 halftime lead. The Aces didn’t have the same luck coming out of the locker room though, being held scoreless for the first five minutes of the third while Edmonson County’s 6-0 run cut it to 34-24.
Owensboro Catholic called a timeout and responded well, closing the third on an 8-0 run of their own to make it a 42-24 game heading into the fourth. The run stopped at 10-0 in the fourth, as a layup kickstarted a 7-0 run that allowed the Wildcats to cut it to 44-31 with 3:19 to play.
It was too little too late though for Edmonson County, as they ultimately fell 48-31. Head Coach Tim Riley said afterwards that he felt the Wildcats would struggle to score against them, as they couldn’t find a way to break through a man defense without their best player in Braxton Highbaugh all night.
“I think they were minus their best offensive player and it threw them out of whack,” Riley said. “I thought we had a good gameplan too. They’re not very good at beating people off the dribble. We just went mano-a-mano. I got you and he’s got you and we don’t have to help as much.”
Griffith and Gray led the Aces with 15 and 14 points respectively, serving as the only players to score more than to score more than six. Riley said that they knew what was coming defensively from the Wildcats after watching film and preparing in practice, but felt like the schemes still slowed them down.
“They played a junk defense against us and made it a difficult game,” Riley said. “We practiced for it, but they got out here as excited as they could be and we didn’t handle it really well.”
Regardless, the Aces grabbed the first round win, helping them advance to the semifinals. They’ll take on Breckinridge County, as Owensboro Catholic will look to replicate the effort from their regular season win on Saturday at 6 p.m.
“We played them late in the season over at their place and I think we ended up beating them by eight to 10,” Riley said. “It’ll be a nice atmosphere. They’ll have a great crowd here and we’ll see if we can survive and advance.”
