Owensboro Catholic will make their return to the regional championship game after they beat Muhlenberg County 65-55. The Aces will face a strong Butler County team on Tuesday where they will look to take home the championship after finishing runners up last year.
Muhlenberg opened the scoring with a pull-up jump shot from the free throw line. They scored again after stopping OCHS and converting an and-1 play. Waryn Ebelhar put Catholic on the scoreboard with a drive through the lane. The Aces gained the lead when Beickman drew a foul on his drive basket and made the free throw to put the score at 7-5. While extending their lead on offense, Owensboro Catholic held a full court press for most of the game to keep constant pressure on Muhlenberg. Kaiser Frick assisted on a three by Ebelhar, and Dre’mail Carothers converted an and-1 play to end the first quarter at 15-10.
To start the second quarter Beickman drove in and drew a foul on his finish in the paint. His free throw took the score to 18-10. OCHS got a stop on the next possession and Tutt Carrico kicked to his brother Vince Carrico in the post for 2. This was Tutt Carrico’s first game back from an injury he sustained in February. He made a big impact on the court as he recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. OCHS head coach Tim Riley put it simply that when Tutt Carrico is on the court, something is going to happen.
“When he’s on the floor, something’s going to happen,” he said. “We have a program that does the stats, and coach came in the other day and said, ‘Tutt makes the most mistakes, but he makes the most things happen. That’s good, even though sometimes you get mad at him.”
Owensboro Catholic played a very patient offense where their motion opened up space for shots or drives to the basket. One such play saw the ball moved around the floor with care before Tutt Carrico found a lane to the basket for a layup. Tutt Carrico said that playing with patience led to Muhlenberg over-playing the ball on defense, which allowed the team to use their athleticism to drive right by.
“They started over-playing,” he said. “You know, we don’t have a lot of size, but everyone’s athletic and can handle the ball. When they play up on us, we can just drive right by them.”
Muhlenberg may have not shot the highest percentage tonight, but their attacks at the rim caused trouble for Catholic as halftime saw the Aces leading by just 6 points at 29-23.
Muhlenberg started the second half with the ball, but OCHS stole it and Ebelhar finished the fast break with a layup. Muhlenberg scored on the next possession, but the Carrico brother scored on the next two possessions as Vince was found open in the post and Tutt converted an and-1 play shortly after to put the score at 36-27. Mustangs guard Jace Sommers scored two baskets in a row to cut the gap to 5 points, but the Aces offense continued to wear down Muhlenberg as Tutt Carrico hit a corner three, Frick converted an and-1 and Solly Smith grabbed an offensive rebound for second chance points. Smith made a single free throw to end the third quarter with OCHS leading 47-39.
Vince Carrico continued to work in the post as he hop-stepped down low for a bucket to open the fourth. With the minutes counting down, Muhlenberg tried to shoot their way back into the game, but the Aces defense made getting open shots difficult. This was a point of emphasis coming into the game according to Riley. He felt that if Catholic could take away their three-point game and limit their free throws then the Mustangs would have a hard time scoring.
“They had 2 threes, and one of our goals was to take away their three ball,” he said. “We wanted to take away their three ball and not allow them to shoot too many free throws. They shot too many free throws, but they shot the same amount we did. We felt like if we took both away then they would have a hard time scoring against us. I think the three ball proved that, but we did foul too much.”
After a deep jump shot by Beickman and a driving layup from Ebelhar, Sommers made a three to put the score at 59-50 in favor of Owensboro Catholic with 2 minutes left on the clock. With just a 9-point lead, Catholic slowed their tempo on offense down to protect the ball and run down the clock. Despite Muhlenberg scoring a few buckets, Carothers, Tutt Carrico and Bieckman all made free throws to close out the game at 65-55.
Tutt Carrico led the Aces in scoring with 2 threes and 16 points. Beickman scored 14 points while shooting 6 of 8 from the free throw line. Ebelhar had 1 three to go along with his 10 points on the night as well.
This will be the 6th time in the last 9 years that Owensboro Catholic will be playing in the regional championship. The program has been to the regional championship 12 times throughout their history, and 6 of those were while Riley was at the helm for the Aces. The championship game between Owensboro Catholic and Butler County is on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
