Highlands punches second-ever ticket to KHSAA Sweet 16 championship game
Highlands, long-known for its prowess on the football field, will try to add a round ball reward to its hefty trophy case.
The Bluebirds defeated Ashland Blazer, 66-50, to reach the KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 championship game for the first time since 1997. They were scheduled to play Elizabethtown, a winner over pre-tournament favorite Ballard earlier in the day, on Saturday night.
BOX SCORE: Highlands 66, Ashland Blazer 50
Saturday’s result held another distinction for the program: head coach Kevin Listerman said afterward that it was the Bluebirds’ 1,500th victory in school history.
“Hopefully we can get 1,501 this evening,” Listerman said.
The Bluebirds also got the better of Ashland for the second time this year: they defeated the Tomcats, 84-75, to open the 2021 season, snapping the 16th Region champion’s streak of 33 straight victories, then the longest in the state.
Highlands since has assumed that mantle, having won 20 straight since a loss to 9th Region rival Beechwood on Feb. 12. It brought 26 wins into the tournament, more than any team in the state this season.
Sam Vinson, a Mr. Basketball finalist who’s signed with Northern Kentucky University, finished with 27 points, four off his tournament-high 31 scored in the first round against Muhlenberg County. He was 12-of-21 from the field and added eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks.
He had 16 at the half, the last two coming on a highlight-film layup along the baseline to cap a 10-0 run as the second quarter ended.
“I was driving, taking the whole, kicking to find open shooters, and on the bigger court there’s a lot more space in the lane for me to drive in,” Vinson said. “And a lot of that opened up later in the game and I just got easy buckets out of that.
That 1997 appearance was Highlands’ only previous trip to the finals. That team, of which future University of Kentucky stars Derek Smith and Jared Lorenzen were key figures, fell to Eastern, 71-59. The Bluebirds are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001 and making their 11th appearance overall.
After shooting 50 percent from the floor and even better from behind the three-point arc (7-for-13, 53.8%) in the first half, Ashland finished sub-40 percent in both categories for the game. The Tomcats were 19-of-52 from the field (36.5%) and made just two of 15 three-point tries in the second half to finish 9-for-28 (32.1%).
“This is the second time we’ve played ‘em, and I remember saying after that (first) game, ‘Golly, they’re long,’” Ashland Blazer Coach Jason Mays said. “They’re long and we just couldn’t finish attacking the rim. I was hoping to attack the rim, maybe stop the clock, get to the free throw line and get some points that way, and it just wasn’t in the cards. We started missing. We’re as good as we shoot the ball, guys, that’s no secret.”
Highlands struck first, going up 5-0 before the Tomcats responded. Eight straight points by Ashland star Cole Villers helped give the Tomcats the lead with three minutes gone, and they stayed in front for the remainder of the first period. A corner triple by Ethan Sellars made the difference 21-17 by quarter’s end.
Ashland swelled its lead to six points twice in the second quarter but a 10-0 run by Highlands to close the frame put it back in front, 36-32, at the break. Vinson, a Mr. Basketball finalist, scored eight of Highlands’ 19 points in the second quarter.
Highlands missed its first three shots in the second half, its longest drought of the game, enabling a 5-0 spurt from Sellars that briefly put Ashland ahead again, 37-36. The Bluebirds connected on six of their next seven shots, among them a triple by Luke Muller, to regain the edge and build the largest lead of the game, 49-41, by either team to that point. A Zander Carter triple helped stop the bleeding for Ashland, which trailed 51-44 through three.
A successful and-one trip by Vinson put Highlands up double digits, 56-46, and Ashland got no closer than six points down the rest of the way. The Tomcats missed 10 straight shots to end the game and were just 3-for-15 from the floor in the fourth quarter; they were held scoreless over the final 5:18 of the contest.
