By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
EDGEWOOD – It
never feels like any lead is safe when your opponent is junior Brandon Hatton.
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds basketball team found that out Wednesday.
NewCath built a double-digit lead and had to fend off a furious rally by Hatton
and the Dixie Heights Colonels in a 65-63 victory.
But the Thoroughbreds
will take it. NewCath (2-0) won its second game in as many nights for just the
second time over the Colonels (0-1) since Grant Brannen took over as head coach
seven years ago. The Thoroughbreds lost to the Colonels the previous two years
to open the season.
The two
teams met in the epic 2011 9th Region title game. Dixie Heights won it, 79-76
in quadruple-overtime.
NewCath led
57-41 with 5:41 left in the final stanza. But Hatton scored six straight points
on his way to a 22-point second half to lead the Colonel rally. The
6-foor-3-inch junior finished with 32 points.
NewCath
senior forward Nick Seibert guarded Hatton the entire game. The Thoroughbreds
threw an extra player at him in the second half. But Hatton still knocked down
shots. Hatton finished with seven three-pointers.
“I told the guys at halftime, ‘If you’re up 15, 20 or
25, it doesn’t matter,” Brannen said.
“I’ve never seen an individual
performance like that. I’m proud of the way our guys fought. We got a little
rattled and had some turnovers there at the end.”
But NewCath
had better balance with three players in double-digits. Senior guard Michael
Bueter led the way with 23 points with posts Drew McDonald and Jake Schulte adding
19 and 11 points respectively. Schulte had a dunk on a nice lob from Zach
Pangallo with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
The
Thoroughbreds will have a height advantage on many opponents this year.
McDonald, a sophomore, stands at 6-7 and Schulte stands at 6-8. The NewCath
roster lists all 14 players at 5-10 and taller. Schulte and McDonald did face
constant double-teams
“I’m looking to see where (opponents) are playing me
and realize the double-team is coming so I try to find the open guy or make a
nice move and put (the basketball) in,”
McDonald said. “We’re happy we got the
win and are looking to move on.”
It was the
inside game that helped the Thoroughbreds build a double-digit advantage.
NewCath led 14-7 after the first quarter, 32-17 at halftime and 50-36 entering
the final stanza.
“We played within ourselves,” Brannen said. “We
had a nice inside-outside game and worked it around.”
Hatton
scored nine points in Dixie’s 14-2 run that cut the margin to 59-55 with 2:12
left in the game. But the Thoroughbreds made all six free throws down the
stretch to win the game. Bueter made all four attempts and McDonald hit the
other two.
Overall,
Dixie Heights made eight three-pointers to two for NewCath. Bueter made both
triples for NewCath.
The
Thoroughbreds do not play again until Tuesday in another big 9th Region
showdown at 7:30 p.m. NewCath takes on the host Cooper Jaguars (1-0) in a
battle between the two 9th Region preseason favorites.
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