Drew Hartz scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and Brian Griffith hit a buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime, and Owensboro Catholic escaped with a 79-69 win over Trinity to claim their fourth consecutive 3rd Region All “A” Classic championship Tuesday night.
The Aces trailed by six points with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter but were within a score for their final possession. Trinity’s Landon Hall hit a late free throw that put the Raiders up 65-62 in the waning seconds before Catholic finished regulation with a wild sequence.
Hartz — who finished with a game-high 23 points — missed the initial game-tying attempt, then Andrew Riney missed a layup that would have left them trailing by one.
Riney again got the rebound and kicked it out to Griffith, who caught the ball and shot it all in mid-air as he knocked down a 3 as time expired to knot the game at 65-all.
Catholic (9-5) took control in the extra period. Though they only hit three shots, the Aces went 8-for-9 at the free throw line. Trinity (6-9) got a single bucket and a pair of free throws in overtime.
Hartz, Griffith and Ji Webb were named to the All-Tournament team for Catholic, while Brenden Wathen and Hall made the team for Trinity.
The Raiders were the aggressors early, turning a 12-11 lead after the first quarter into a 38-26 advantage by halftime. Ethan Howard scored nine of his 14 points in the second quarter.
Catholic head coach Tim Riley said Trinity was the better team for much of the night, keeping the Aces on their heels.
“Trinity played hard,” he said. “They wanted it worse than we did. They outrebounded us in the first half and they made shots. They played their hearts out.”
The Aces closed the gap during the third quarter and faced a 50-44 deficit heading into the final frame.
That’s when Hartz came alive, draining a trio of 3-pointers to lead the late charge. Scales also knocked down a shot from deep, and the Aces used a 21-point fourth quarter to tie the game at the last second.
“We went over the stat lines at halftime,” Riley said, referencing the Aces’ poor first-half shooting performance. “We told them they have to fight through that and can’t pout when they’re not making shots.”
While it wasn’t a pretty win, Riley said he’ll take it. The Aces expected to earn a repeat trip to the All “A” Classic state tournament in Richmond later this month, and a loss would have been tough to swallow.
“We were able to not play very well and find a way to win,” Riley said. “It gives us a little hope. If we didn’t win, then it would have been hard to deal with that.”
Catholic will now move on to the state tournament at Eastern Kentucky University, with a first-round game scheduled for Jan. 23 against the winner of the 16th Region.
Griffith finished with 14 points for the Catholic, while Riney added 13 and Gray Weaver had 10.
Trinity was led by Wathen with 15 points. Hall and Howard finished with 14 each, and Denver Dickens had 10.
BOX SCORE
THS 12-26-12-15-4—69
OCHS 11-15-18-21-14—79
THS (69): Brenden Wathen (15), Landon Hall (14), Ethan Howard (14), Denver Dickens (10), Ladon Huff (6), Elijah Boarman (4), Kevin Foster (3), Nathan Hernandez (3)
OCHS (79): Drew Hartz (23), Brian Griffith (14), Andrew Riney (13), Gray Weaver (10), Ji Webb (9), Luke Scales (8), Braden Mundy (2)
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2019-20 basketball coverage is presented by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
