Wednesday, January 12, 2000
No. 2 CovCath bumps No. 1 NewCath
BY MARK SCHMETZER
Enquirer contributor
Covington Catholic coach Dan Tieman said he was “embarrassed” at pregame ceremonies Tuesday night during which he was honored for recently getting his 300th career win. He was anything but after the game.
His Colonels established dominance inside in the first quarter and maintained it throughout as CovCath beat Newport Central Catholic 69-49 at CovCath.
NCC was ranked No.1 in The Enquirer's coaches poll after wins over No.10 Conner, No.6 Holmes and No.3 Highlands. The Colonels, coming off a two-point loss to unranked Holy Cross, were No.2.
“We thought we could go inside, and we did,” Tieman said. “They do a lot of perimeter shooting, and we thought if we could hold them to one shot, we'd be in good shape.”
Chad Wachs, a 6-foot-3 junior, was the key to that plan. Wachs, who blocked a career-high nine shots against NCC last season and was averaging 3.3 a game this season, had six Tuesday night and a game-high eight rebounds, helping CovCath to a 41-13 rebounding advantage. The Thoroughbreds had just three first-half rebounds, none in the second quarter, and shot just 29.7 percent from the field for the game.
“I just came to play hard, and when I had the opportunity to block shots, I made them,” Wachs said. “It's good timing and good help defense. I can't get up too high, but my long arms give me an advantage. I like to block shots. I think it ignites the fans and gets the team into it, especially if I can block the shot and we get the ball.”
“Chad's a good ballplayer,” said senior guard Steve Purdon, who led all scorers with 26 points. “He came to play tonight. He's the key to our team. Our offense was designed to go inside-out, not outside-in.”
Purdon, hitting 45 percent of his 3-point shots going into the game, faced strong perimeter defense early, which forced him to ball-fake and drive. He was 10-of-11 from inside the arc.
NCC senior Ronny Dawn scored 25 but was 6-of-21 from the field. He hit 11 of 13 free throws.
“He took too many shots,” said his father, NCC coach Ron Dawn. “He's got to learn to be patient, but it's hard to be patient when you're down by 14 points.”
CovCath led by as many as 12 points in the first half before NCC closed to within three with 6:21 left in the third quarter.
The Colonels expanded their lead to as many as 21 on Purdon's driving layup along the baseline with 1:45 left in the game.
NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC (49) — A. Dawn 0 1 1, Bonhaus 1 0 3, Bacigalupo 2 2 8, R. Dawn 6 11 25, Meyer 1 0 2, Myers 1 0 2, Lynn 3 0 8. Totals: 14 14 49.
COVINGTON CATHOLIC (69) — McQuade 6 2 15, Finke 3 3 9, Dietz 4 2 11, Purdon 10 6 26, Wachs 3 0 6, Hiltz 1 0 2. Totals: 27 13 69.
Newport Central Catholic ....... 8 15 11 15—49
Covington Catholic ....... 18 12 16 23—69
3-pointers: NCC—Bacigalupo, Dawn, Lynn 2, Bonhaus. CC—McQuade, Dietz. Records: NCC 9-5, CC 10-3.
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