Owensboro Catholic stole the 62-58 win out from under Owensboro after Tutt Carrico scored the go-ahead basket in the dying seconds of the game. Owensboro held the lead for most of the game, but Catholic fought their way back from a 12-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to win in fashion.
Aces head coach Tim Riley drew parallels to last year’s win over OHS where Catholic were down by 19 and still managed to fight back and get the win. He said that reminding the players of last year’s game turnout helped change the outcome of this one.
“We were down to them last year by 19 and we came back and won,” he said. “So, it’s not unfamiliar. What helps about that is that you can bring up the past and those guys have a recollection of it. That gives them some hope when you go like ‘look, we have time and it’s not over with, so we gotta keep fighting’.”
The game seemed within reach for Owensboro Catholic at the start of the fourth quarter as they only trailed by 6 at 46-40. After Owensboro scored two buckets, Keaton Hughes threw it down at the rim to put Catholic down by 12 at 54-42. After OCHS answered back with a three-pointer, Michael Acton drove to the basket and hit a spin move to break free for a layup. It was at this time that an assistant coach for the Aces addressed the body language of one of the players, and Riley reminded the team that they still had plenty of time to catch back up.
“We had a timeout late, and we’re down 11 with 3:06 to go,” he said. “We came to the bench and one of my assistants said something to the kids about their body language, and I reminded them that there was time to win the basketball game. We just had to get some stops and get a couple baskets, and that’s what happened down the stretch. To steal the win when I didn’t think we played very well was really good. We didn’t play very well, but it’s still a win. I’m pleased about that.”
OCHS came back out onto the floor and flipped the game on its head. After a quick basket, Carrico drove to the basket and kicked out to an open Luke Beickman who hit another three pointer. Their defense held back OHS long enough to score two more buckets. Beickman then drew an and-1 foul, but failed to convert the 3-point play. With 1:15 left on the clock, Carrico drew a foul and hit both free throws to tie the game up at 58-58.
After an intense sequence of back and forth where both teams tried to score the go ahead bucket only to be shut down by the opposing defense, Carrico drove into the contested lane and forced his way to the bucket that gave Owensboro Catholic the lead at 60-50 with just 3 seconds left. Catholic then secured a quick steal off the resulting inbound pass that led to Solly Smith putting the nail in the coffin with a layup that closed out the game at 62-58.
Despite the undesired finish, Owensboro commanded the floor for most of the game. They opened the game up strong as they held a 19-12 lead by the end of the first quarter. Both teams struggled to best one another’s defense in the second quarter as the Aces scored 9 points to the Red Devils’ 8. Riley said the Aces didn’t perform well in the first half, and felt that the emotions of the rivalry got in the way of their performance.
“We didn’t move the ball well all game,” he said. “It’s hard to play over here, you know. It’s not the easiest place to play. I thought we got caught up in the emotions.”
OCHS turned it around in the second half to match OHS with 19 points each in the third quarter. For the Aces, one of the biggest things Riley noticed was Carrico’s rebounds in the second half. Riley also took note of the team’s ball movement as well as the atmosphere and rivalry playing a part in the team’s performance.
“One of the big things in the game was that Tutt didn’t have a rebound in the first half,” he said. “We had him for 11 in the second half. On some of them they had the ball and he just took it from them. They also only had 5 assists. We didn’t move the ball well all game. It’s hard to play over here, you know. It’s not the easiest place to play. I thought we got caught up in the emotions.”
Given the team’s slow start in district due to many of his players playing in the state championship, Riley said this was a big win for the team as they look to catch back up in district. He feels that this year will be the most balanced in terms of contending for the top spot in the district.
“It was truly a big win because if we lost this we would go down 0-3 in the district. We lost those first two games during the first two weeks we got a chance to play coming off of football. It would’ve been real hard if we went down 0-3. I really think it’s the most balanced the district has been in a long time.”
