By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
It was billed as a head-to-head matchup between the state’s leading two scorers.
But that wasn’t the story here.
This was the case of a physically superior Holy Cross team with a seven-foot center going against a little Ludlow team with five guys who all looked like guards.
The state’s two leading scorers – Holy Cross’ Jacob Meyer and Ludlow’s Jaxson Rice – each got 23 points. But that was more of a footnote in Holy Cross’ 72-42 romp over a Ludlow team trying to fight way above its weight class.
That was the plan, said Holy Cross’ Sam Gibson, the Indians’ 7-foot center who had two low post scores, a couple of his dozen rebounds and a couple of blocked shots in the early going as Holy Cross jumped out to an 18-6 first quarter lead that only widened from there.
“We had to do that,” Gibson said, “we knew they didn’t have any size and just one scorer.”
“Sam’s the key,” Holy Cross Coach Casey Sorrell said of a defense-first mentality. “Absolutely, that’s our key this year.”
With its win over the 11-6 Panthers, Holy Cross moves into Saturday’s All “A” finals against Newport at 7 p.m. at Beechwood. The teams have yet to meet this season, but both are coming off regular season wins over Highlands coming into the tournament (Newport by 57-50, Holy Cross by 83-77).
With its 88-47 tourney-opening win, Holy Cross has been working at clamping down on opponents despite the presence of Meyer, the state’s leading scorer, who led the nation in scoring as a junior, and is averaging 34.0 points a game this season.
Co-starring with Meyer in this game on defense was senior guard – and first-year varsity player — Matthew Dreas, whose last three years have been taken up working with the professional FC Cincinnati soccer team. Dreas was the Indian who drew the assignment to stop Ludlow’s Rice.
“He has great footwork,” Sorrell said of all that top-level soccer work. And he made life difficult for Ludlow’s main threat, football-basketball star Rice, a 6-foot scrapper and pure shooter who was harried into a seven-of-19 night (three of seven from three-point range) with six rebounds as every Holy Cross defender seemed to know where he was all night.
“That kid’s an elite scorer,” Sorrell said of the feisty Rice.
But Meyer had much more help. On offense, there was senior guard Jacob Smith, who knocked down 21 points including five of 10 from three-point range. Pay too much attention to Meyer, or quick football wide receiver Javier Ward, who had 11 points, and Smith is zeroing in from deep.
So now comes Newport. Athletic, talented, patient, disciplined Newport.
“The key to this game will be our ball pressure,” Sorrell said, citing the “incredible speed” of Meyer, Dreas, Smith and Ward.
“We have a lot of respect for Newport,” Sorrell said, “they’re extremely disciplined, they’re patient, they take their time.”
And they’re led by a super-freshman in guard Taylen Kinney. “He’s a really good young talent, with a very good (basketball) IQ,” Sorrell said. “They’re well-rounded, they have ball-handlers, they have shooters, they have height and athleticism.”
So will Holy Cross try to press Newport the way they did Ludlow?
Sorrell’s not saying. But he likes the hand he’s playing here.
“We love our ability to pressure,” he says.
BOX SCORE
HOLY CROSS 18 21 28 5—72
LUDLOW 6 13 12 11—42
HOLY CROSS (10-5): Dreas 1-1-0-3, Ward 4-1-2-11, Smith 8-5-0-21, Meyer 9-1-4-23, Gibson 3-0-1-7, Arlinghaus 1-0-1-3, Bales 0-0-0-0, Crail 0-0-0-0, Reinersman 1-0-0-2, Goetz 0-0-0-0, White 0-0-0-0, Ambrocio 1-0-0-2, Brue 0-0-0-0, McElheney 0-0-0-0, TOTALS: 28-8-8-72.
LUDLOW (11-6): Brandenburg 1-0-2-2, Rice 7-3-6-23, Powell 1-1-0-3, Perrin 1-0-1-3, Haggard 0-0-0-0, Brock 0-0-0-0, Ralston 0-0-0-0, Perkins 0-0-0-0, Conley 1-1-0-3, Mays 0-0-0-0, Clary 0-0-0-0, Evans 0-0-0-0, Wolfinbarger 3-0-0-6, Morrison 0-0-0-0, McDaniel 0-0-0-0, TOTALS: 14-5-9-42.
Photos by Dale Dawn
