HILLSBORO — Kentucky Country Day closed the game strong and defeated Blanchester 57-43 Saturday afternoon in the Ohio Valley Hoops Classic at Southern State Community College’s Patriot Center.
The Wildcats first game of the season was not good from a shooting standpoint. J.D. Wiederhold hit 4 of 5 shots and Jordan Stroud was 4 of 8. Harbor Lovin hit 2 of 3 but the rest of the squad was a combined 5 for 26.
“They (KCD) came ready to play and we came ready to participate,” BHS head coach Adam Weber said. “Their prime time players made plays and our prime time players came up short.”
Stroud had 11 to pace the BHS offense. He also had 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Lovin led with 7 rebounds.
Anthony “JR” Mathis was the Most Outstanding Player of the Game with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Solomon Mathis had 20 points and 4 assists.
The Wildcats started a bit slow, committing turnovers on their first three possessions. But their defense was solid enough to keep things close and they trailed by just four, 16-12, at the end of the first.
The offense had a spurt in the second quarter sparked by big man J.D. Wiederhold. The 6-8 senior had a dunk and a stickback basket then assisted on Jordan Stroud’s three-pointer that put Blanchester up 22-21 with 3:55 to play in the first half.
Quenton Miller drained a three at 2:57 as the Wildcats moved their advantage to 25-21.
But Kentucky Country Day grabbed the lead with 50 seconds to play in the first half, 27-26. The key play in the waning seconds of the first half came following a KCD miss. The Bearcats grabbed the offensive rebound and Solomon Mathis swished a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to make it 30-26 KCD at the break.
Blanchester fell back by 10 in the second half. The Wildcats managed to get within six on several occasions. Stroud hooked up with Wiederhold for two, 37-31 KCD, and Dylan Miller made his lone basket at 2:35 of the third to make it 39-33.
Blanchester pulled within five with 49.3 seconds to play in the third on Lovin’s basket, 41-36, but the would get no closer as the Bearcats’ Mathis duo proved too much to handle.
UP NEXT: Blanchester will travel to Reading for a non-conference game Tuesday night. The varsity game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
ALUMNI CHECK: Miles Burton, a Blanchester High School graduate, is an assistant coach for Kentucky Country Day.
SUMMARY
December 3, 2016
OhioValley Hoops Classic
@Southern State CC
Kentucky Country Day 57 Blanchester 43
K 16.14.13.14…..57
B 12.14.10.07…..43
(57) KENTUCKY COUNTRY DAY (fg-3fg-ft-tp) S. Mathis 7-3-3-20 JR Mathis 6-2-3-17 Kraus 3-3-0-9 Owen 0-0-0-0 Grissom 2-0-0-4 Brice 0-0-0-0 Cosby 3-0-1-7 Wildman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 21-8-7-57
(43) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Baker 0-0-0-0 Hopkins 1-1-4-6 Bandow 0-0-0-0 Q Miller 3-1-1-8 D Miller 1-1-1-4 Burden 0-0-0-0 Lovin 2-0-1-5 Stroud 4-2-3-13 Wiederhold 4-0-0-8. TOTALS 14-5-10-43
FIELD GOALS: KCD 21-51 (S Mathis 7-14 JR Mathis 6-20) B 15-42 (Stroud 4-8 Wiederhold 4-5)
3 PT FIELD GOALS: KCD 8-27 (S Mathis 3-4 Kraus 3-7); B 4-16 (Stroud 2-3 Hopkins 1-2)
FREE THROWS: KCD 7-15 (S Mathis 3-4 JR Mathis 3-5); B 10-15 (Hopkins 4-4 Stroud 3-4)
REBOUNDS: KCD-21 (JR Mathis 7 S Mathis 4); B-32 (Lovin 7 Hopkins 7 Stroud 6 Q Miller 6 Wiederhold 5)
ASSISTS: KCD-13 (JR Mathis 6 S Mathis 4); B-8 (Stroud 3)
STEALS: KCD-2 (JR Mathis 2); B-1
BLOCKED SHOTS: KCD-2; B-0
TURNOVERS: KCD-3; B-10
