Owensboro Catholic held off Owensboro in the dying minutes of the final district game of the regular season that ended with the Aces taking the win 55-50. Luke Beickman was named player of the game as his 19-point contribution helped OCHS move to 16-6 on the season.
The Aces started the game off with 3 quick buckets from 2 steals to get an early 6-0 lead. The Red Devils struggled to get things moving offensively early on as Catholic led 8-0 before a free throw from Michael Acton put OHS on the scoreboard. Dre’mail Carothers made the first of his 3 threes to take the score to 11-2. The quarter ended with Luke Beickman driving through the lane and dunking at the rim through contact. The Owensboro defense worked to not allow OCHS to run away with the lead early on, but OCHS managed to get a 10-point lead going into the second quarter.
After another 3 from Carothers opened the quarter, Will Hume made 2 back–to-back threes to kickstart the OHS offense. Acton kept the intensity going for the team when he fought through the paint to turn an offensive rebound into a second-chance basket and took the score to 24-15. Carothers answered back with a contested 3 to put the score at 27-15. Carother’s contribution didn’t go unnoticed by Aces head coach Tim Riley. Riley said his contribution in the first half was crucial in the games’ grand scheme, and his shooting form comes after Riley pushed for him to take more shots.
“I was out last Tuesday with the flu, but I watched the game on TV and he would pass up shots,” he said. “I texted him and said, ‘You’ve got to shoot the ball, don’t pass up shots.’ He said yes sir and I said, ‘No no, you can not pass up shots. You’ve got to shoot the ball.’ He can really stroke it, so what he gave us in the first half was a big deal. We needed every point we could get to beat those guys.”
Sanders was blocked on a shot, but he recovered the ball and converted the and-1 play to take the score to 29-19. After trailing 31-20 at halftime, OHS went on a 6-point run in the third quarter that started with Sanders getting a steal and scoring at the other end. Tutt Carrico tried to shut down the run when he went to the ground to fight for a loose ball and kicked it to Beickman, but Keaton Hughes was there to reject the shot. Just when OHS made it a 1-point game from Acton’s 2 free throws, Beickman and Carrico scored back-to-back baskets to give them a 5-point cushion. Catholic ended the third quarter leading at 40-36.
The exciting fourth quarter started with Acton scoring off of an offensive rebound to kickstart the final OHS offensive. Hughes tied the game at 40-40 with a bucket from inside the paint. After going back and forth with one another, Owensboro took the lead at 47-45 from another basket by Hughes in the post. The lead was short lived as Beickman hit 2 free throws to tie it back up at 47-47 with 2 minutes left. A steal by Catholic gave Beickman an easy basket to back the lead. The Red Devils continued to try and force their way back into the lead, but multiple free throws by Carrico, Beickman and Carothers sealed the win for the Aces at 55-50.
Beickman was named Player of the Game for his 19-point effort. He shot 7 of 10 from the free throw line as well. Carothers was the next highest scorer for the Aces with 3 threes and 12 points, and Carrico had 11 on the night as well. Leading the Red Devils in scoring was Hughes who had 18 points and shot 6 of 10 on free throws. Hume had the next highest points with 10 points on the night.
This game capped off district play, and the Aces and Red Devils both finished 3-3. Riley acknowledged that this game didn’t do too much in the way of the upcoming district tournament, and it was more of a game of pride between the two.
“This game didn’t matter,” he said. “This was just a pride game between us and Owensboro. They don’t want to lose to us, and we love the opportunity to beat them. Most likely, it’ll be a slam dunk with who’s going to play in the first round of the district tournament. We’ll meet them again in about 18 days.”
