Seven in a Row!!
Ashland Makes History with Region Title
BY JAMES COLLIER
FOR THE ASHLAND BEACON
Boyd County led Ashland, 47-46 with 2:41 to play in the 16th Region championship Tuesday night at Johnson Arena.
That’s when Ashland coach Ryan Bonner turned to something he told his team before the game in the final media timeout.
“I don’t need overachievers, I need over believers,” Bonner said. “Everybody has to believe in each other that we are going to get the stop we need. We are going to shoot it with confidence. We are going to communicate defensively. We are going to execute all the little minute details for the game of basketball to perfection and if we do that, we will come out on top.”
Ashland’s belief and poise showed over the final two minutes as they rolled off a 9-0 run to claim their unprecedented seventh consecutive regional championship in a 55-47 victory over the Lions. Zander Carter tallied seven of the final nine Tomcats points enroute to his third consecutive region MVP. Carter netted 19 of a team-high 26 points in the second half, including 11 in the final stanza.
“That’s what he does,” Bonner said of Carter. “I remember turning to my staff last year in the region championship game and I said, I’m putting the ball in Zander’s hands, getting him a ball screen and letting him make the next right decision. I’m backing off and not micromanaging and just let him go make plays. Genius coaching, right. He’s just so good of generating paint touches and either scoring and getting to the free throw line or making something happen off it.”
Carter recalled peaking at the scoreboard before sparking the championship run in the fourth, wanting to make sure he did not allow his team to experience a loss in Morehead for the first time in seven years.
“I looked up at the clock and they had us 47-46 and I just started thinking about all the times I’ve been here and where I want to go with this year,” Carter said. “I want to win a state championship and I knew I couldn’t let a mental slip in a game like that determine that I couldn’t go to Rupp Arena one more time.”
Carter rewrote the record books for his storied career by breaking Elliott County’s Jonathon Ferguson’s all time scoring record of 226 points from 2006-09. Carter’s new mark is at 242. But one record drew a smile and laughter from the Liberty commit when he learned he broke the most tournament games played in and won record had been broken. Cole Villers rolled off 14 wins but Carter one bettered with 15 wins in 15 games.
“I’ll have to brag to him about that one,” Carter chuckled.
Bonner had nothing but praise for Carter.
“Zander has basically been a Swiss army knife for us,” he said. “If he has to guard the big, he will. If he has to guard the other team’s best guard, that’s what he’s going to do. He leads us in assists, steals, points, three-point field goal percentage and rebounds. He does everything for us. He’s what I call a do whatever it takes guy.”
Ashland and Boyd traded punches for the entirety of the first half with the Tomcats leading 17-16 after one and Boyd evening the contest at 27-27 at the break. Two players had standout performances in the first half and neither were the names most would expect. Caleb Clarke and Jackson Childers dueled for much of the game while matching each other tick for tat. Both had nine points in the first, but Childers led the matchup 15-14 at the half. Clarke, however, took advantage of the space Childers gave him by going 4 of 6 from downtown.
“Boyd made the decision to sag off on him and I understand why based on his percentages,” Bonner said of Clarke. “But that’s no fluke. He can do that on any given night. He hit two [Monday night]. But credit to Caleb. He puts in the unseen hours and worked tirelessly this week to put up shots and it paid dividends. You talk about not being afraid of the moment, that is going to propel his game to the next level as he continues to grow. He just hit five 3s on the biggest stage of basketball. That’s a building block for him as he continues to grow.”
Clarke finished with 17 points.
Childers finished with a game-high 29 points and seven rebounds in the losing effort. Rhett Holbrook netted 11. Boyd County’s leading scorer on the season, Jacob Spurlock, suffered a sprained ankle early in the second quarter and was unable to return the remainder of the game after scoring only two points.
“[Boyd] is a really good team and they have some really good pieces, especially Childers,” Carter said. “He’s a really good paint presence and they have some really good shooters.”
But when the chips were on the table and the regional championship within reach, it was Ashland who stood tall with their best defensive quarter of the game, allowing only eight points in the final eight minutes.
“I know people probably get sick of hearing this, but our strength of schedule is why,” Bonner said. “We’ve been in those moments. Overtime against Woodford County. Overtime against Lloyd Memorial. Danville Christian in the AIT Finals. There’s been so many nights that we’ve had adversity in front of us. We have great leadership and with that comes great composure. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen our guys rattled.”
Boyd County closes the season at 23-12 while falling in the regional championship for the fourth consecutive year.
Ashland advances to the Boys Sweet 16 and will play Region 1 Champion Calloway County Wednesday Mar. 26 at 8:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
ASHLAND 61 ROWAN COUNTY 39
Ashland distanced themselves from Rowan County in the opening stanza and continued to pull away after each quarter for a 61-39 win.
Zander Carter led the Tomcats with 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Caleb Clarke kicked in 14. Tyson Lalonde had 12.
BOYD COUNTY 57 RUSSELL 45
The game featured nine lead changes and three ties over the first eight minutes, but Boyd County found some breathing room before the break in a 57-45 win over Russell.
Jackson Childers led the way with 20 points for the Lions. Cole Hicks and Jacob Spurlock finished with 12 each. Rhett Holbrook added nine points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Caleb Rimmer led Russell with 21 points and six rebounds.
Russell closed the season at 15-14.
16th Region All-Tournament Team
MVP: Zander Carter (Ashland)
Tyson LaLonde (Ashland)
Caleb Clarke (Ashland)
Rhett Holbrook (Boyd County)
Cole Hicks (Boyd County)
Jackson Childers (Boyd County)
Jacob Spurlock (Boyd County)
Gabe Pridemore (Russell)
Caleb Rimmer (Russell)
Jonah Arnett (Raceland)
Aiden Barker (Elliott County)
Seth Hickerson (Fleming County)
Gavin Mirus (Rowan County)
Wyatt Slone (Rowan County)