Sunday, January 09, 2000
Simon Kenton, Highlands rule 9th Region
NORTHERN KY. INSIDER
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
This was the year the rest of the Ninth Region was going to pay back Highlands and Simon Kenton.
That duo had been boys basketball bullies the past five years, Simon Kenton averaging 24 victories with one region crown and Highlands averaging 26 wins with three region titles. But after last year, Highlands graduated its entire starting lineup, and Simon Kenton graduated six of its top seven players.
So explain this: Highlands lost Saturday to Newport Central Catholic 64-53 but was still 8-1, and the Pioneers stand 10-3. Surprise!
“I'd be lying if I said the record didn't surprise me,” Pioneers coach Scott Humphrey said. “I thought maybe by the end of the year we could put everything together to be able to compete.”
Said Highlands coach John Messmer: “I think most people are a little surprised. I think some of it goes back to the success we've had in the past carrying over.”
These teams both ranked in the state's top 10 last year — a first for the Pioneers — but began this season much lower: Highlands was fifth and Simon Kenton ninth in the Enquirer's Northern Kentucky coaches poll.
“We had a complete replace ment to do,” Messmer said. “I was wondering, "Where are the points going to come from?'”
He started close to home, with his son, also named John. The senior forward, who averaged just one point a game last year, is now at 16.0.
Senior center Matt Muehlenkamp, the leading returnee at 3.5 ppg, now averages 11.6. Junior forward Gino Guidugli, who quarterbacked the football team, averages 11 points and 5.6 rebounds.
With no starters taller than 6-foot-3, Highlands relies on scrappy defense: It allows a Northern Kentucky-low 48.8 points a game. The Bluebirds upset Elizabethtown, the state's No.8 team, to win the Ashland Invitational last week.
“The defense has been the cornerstone,” Messmer said.
Simon Kenton started slow, losing 75-55 at Lexington Lafayette in its opener. “I wasn't sure we would beat anyone on our schedule,” Humphrey said.
Yet two games later, the Pioneers beat No.3 Newport Central Catholic. They are 10-2 since the opener, both losses coming to No.1 Covington Catholic.
Simon Kenton's only returnee of note was Jordan Stowers, who averaged five points a game last year starting at point guard. This winter, the 6-1 junior has been perhaps Northern Kentucky's best all-around player, averaging 15.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.1 steals. He's shooting 65 percent from the field and 43 percent from 3-point range.
“We lost six of the top seven, but we had a nice starting block,” Humphrey said. “Jordan has been tremendous.”
Stowers, a complementary player last year, now slashes to the basket. Senior forward Brandon Coppage averages 12.0 points and has made half his 3-pointers. Junior guard Donnie Baker averages 10.5 points, senior center Ryan Piper is the top rebounder (6.3 avg.), and junior forward Kevin Cristello leads Northern Kentucky in field-goal percentage (.735).
Humphrey and Messmer agree the Ninth Region race is as wide-open as ever. But they're happy to both be in the running.
“We're still learning game to game,” Humphrey said. “It makes it easier when you're winning and learning at the same time.”
BLUEBIRDS 45th: Highlands' football team finished 45th in Fox Sports Net's final “Fox Fab 50” national ratings, climbing one spot from the previous week.
The Bluebirds (14-1), who won the Class AAA state title, were rated ninth in the 10-state Midwest region — up from 12th the week before. They were the only Kentucky team included.
DIXIE DIVERS EXCEL: Former Dixie Heights diving teammates McKenze Murphy and Kim Powers, now reunited at Stanford, placed second and seventh, respectively, in the 3-meter springboard event Wednesday at the All-American Diving Invitational in Austin, Texas.
Powers is a Stanford junior; Murphy is a freshman.
O'BRIEN STARS: Notre Dame Academy grad Kim O'Brien, a soccer player at NCAA Division II Gardner-Webb University, was named the South Atlantic Conference's Freshman of the Year and earned first-team All-SAC honors. O'Brien led the SAC in scoring with 44 points and goals with 18.
WINTER WORKOUTS: Fitness guru Dave Guidugli begins his winter strength and conditioning camp this week. It continues through March 27, meeting four times a week. Cost is $425. For info, call Guidugli at 441-0958.
Neil Schmidt is The Enquirer's Northern Kentucky sports reporter. Call him at 578-5582 or send e-mail to nschmidt@enquirer.com.
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