By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
His team opened up an 18-point lead late in the third quarter, but Simon Kenton boys basketball coach Trent Steiner knew the battle with Walton-Verona was far from being over.
The Pioneers had to survive a furious rally in the fourth quarter to come away with a 60-57 win over the visiting Bearcats in a district seeding game that drew a crowd of more than 1,400 on a rainy Friday night.
Simon Kenton sophomore Kelly Niece launches a shot over Walton-Verona defender Grant Grubbs. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
“When you go up 18 points, the kids’ psyche sometimes goes, ‘Oh, we’ve got this in the bag,’ but that’s not necessarily true,” Steiner said. “Walton’s got a lot of fight in them. We’ve got a lot of fight in us. At the end there, you probably saw what both of us are made of. We were fortunate to come out on top.”
In the latest Northern Kentucky coaches poll, Walton-Verona was No. 5 and Simon Kenton was No. 7. The final margins in their two games last season were three and two points, but Friday’s game wasn’t close until the end.
During the second and third quarters, Simon Kenton made eight 3-point shots to fuel a 31-12 scoring run that put the Pioneers ahead, 50-32.
Walton-Verona trimmed the margin to 52-39 before the third quarter ended and opened the fourth with a 13-2 run that made it 54-52 with 3:24 remaining.
A free throw by Simon Kenton sophomore guard Kelly Niece put his team ahead, 58-54, with 45 seconds left.
But Walton-Verona senior forward Kameron Pardee was fouled while making a shot and swished the free throw to make it 58-57 with 25 seconds on the clock.
Niece recovered a loose ball and was fouled with 19 seconds left. After he converted both free throws to give his team a 60-57 lead, the Bearcats missed two 3-point attempts on their final possession.
“We’re just going to keep fighting no matter what,” Niece said of surviving Walton-Verona’s comeback. “I didn’t really expect it, but we fought to the end.”
Walton-Verona senior center Dieonte Miles scores two of his 25 points on a slam dunk. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
Simon Kenton finished with a 30-9 scoring advantage from behind the 3-point line. The Pioneers were 10-for-25 and the Bearcats were 3-for-17 on treys.
“Against a good team like that at their place, you can’t be 3-for-17,” said Walton-Verona coach Grant Brannen. “But it was a great game by Simon. They make shots and make you make basketball plays. They mix it up (on defense) and there’s nothing you can run against them, so you just have to make plays. Unfortunately for us, they just made a couple more basketball plays than we did.”
Niece scored a game-high 27 points with five rebounds and four assists. He got 14 of the Pioneers’ 28 points in the second half. The team’s other double-figure scorer was junior guard Jeremy Davis, who made four treys and finished with 15 points.
Simon Kenton ended up shooting 40 percent (20 of 50) from the field overall compared to Walton-Verona’s 46.6 percent (21 of 45). The Bearcats also had a 35-20 rebounding advantage.
After shooting 52 percent (13 of 25) from the field in the first half, Simon Kenton was 7-of-25 in the second half with only two field goals in the fourth quarter. But the Pioneers found a way to win.
“I didn’t like giving up the big lead, but I was happy with our effort at the end,” coach Steiner said.
Walton-Verona senior center Dionte Miles posted a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds. The Xavier University recruit also had four blocked shots. Pardee finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Bearcats were playing their third game without senior guard Trey Bonne, who was averaging 11.5 points when he went down with an ankle injury.
WALTON-VERONA 16 12 11 20 – 57
SIMON KENTON 19 17 16 8 – 60
WALTON-VERONA (9-2): Grubbs 1 5 8, Jones 2 0 5, Miles 10 4 25, Brook 1 2 4, Pardee 6 1 13, Schadler 1 0 2. Totals: 21 12 57.
SIMON KENTON (10-3): Niece 8 8 27, Krohman 1 0 3, Davis 5 1 15, Schwartz 3 0 7, Lair 2 1 5, Barnes 1 0 3. Totals: 20 10 60.
Three-pointers: WV – Grubbs, Jones, Miles. SK – Davis 4, Niece 3, Krohman, Schwartz, Barnes.
