What We Learned: Covington Catholic at Lexington Catholic
Wednesday night, Covington Catholic traveled to Lexington to tangle with the Knights of Lexington Catholic. The crowd was good and the Lex Cath students were deep and outfitted in their finest jerseys for “jersey night”. The game itself was sloppy at points and lower scoring than I expected. But the final quarter was exciting and featured multiple lead changes and a Lex Cath corner 3 that missed badly to end the game. Here are some of my takeaways from the 54-53 win.
- Aiden Ruthsatz is really good. Ruthsatz controlled the game for Cov Cath. Aiden is the stereotypical coaches’ son. He keeps the ball on a string when leading the fast break and doesn’t miss free throws or take plays off. Ruthsatz finished with 27 points on 7 of 9 shooting, including 5 for 6 from 3. He was also a perfect 8 for 8 from the line. Ruthsatz played all but 40 seconds and Cov Cath needed all the energy he gave them.
- CJ Fredrick and Jake Walter struggled. Xavier signee Jake Walter sat in foul trouble in the first half and finished with 4 points and 6 rebounds and was generally ineffective other than opening the game with a baby hook. Fredrick never quite found the range from deep as he shot 1/7 from 3 and 4/12 overall. CJ, signed to Iowa, also fouled out with a couple of minutes left in the game. Not his best game.
- Zan Payne needs scholarship offers. Zan ended up leading everyone in scoring and rebounding as he tallied 28 points and 9 boards. Zan played inside and out throughout the game and narrowly missed 3 dunk attempts that would have all brought the house down. He was fouled on all 3 attempts and finished an impressive 13 for 13 at the free throw line. Zan’s dad (and Kentucky assistant coach) Kenny Payne was in the house along with Kevin Knox and PJ Washington. They surely left impressed.
- Both teams look incomplete right now. Cov Cath was missing Sophomore Michael Mayer who is a D1 recruit in football and basketball at 6’6. Lex Cath looked like they had never seen a 3-2 zone before. The Knights had a possession where they ran nearly 45 seconds off the clock because they were running plays designed for a 2-3 zone against a 3-2 zone. I was surprised Cov Cath didn’t play more 3-2 after it was so effective.
- Not sure what Lex Cath was looking for on the final possession. But it probably wasn’t a corner three from their starting center. Early in the season, most schools haven’t worked much on situational plays and that could be the case here. It didn’t help that they also burned 11 seconds off the clock before taking a timeout to set up this final play.
Lex Cath’s final possession ends with an air ball from the corner. Final score: Cov Cath 54 – Lex Cath 53. Cov Cath escapes with the win pic.twitter.com/CpFUJptBrx
— Prep Hoops Kentucky (@PrepHoopsKY) November 30, 2017
- Early season games like this make both teams better. Cov Cath doesn’t need to travel 75 minutes to Lexington on a Wednesday night. They could easily have played someone closer. Same for Lex Cath. They could have scheduled Berea or Model and had a big win. Instead, these two teams went to battle and both schools will be better for it as the season rolls along.