By Ed Letsinger

Covington Catholic plays Apollo in the first round of the National City/KHSAA boys’ state basketball tournament at Rupp Arena on Thursday, March 16 at 1:30 p.m.

The Colonels (24-6) cruised to the Ninth Region title by beating Ryle, Highlands and Newport Central Catholic by an average of 15 points.  They enter the state tournament on a roll having won 12 of their last 13 games including their last eight since dropping two straight to Holmes and Lexington Catholic in late January.

The Covington Catholic backcourt of junior Todd Jacobs (15.2) and senior Tim Tierney (12.9) combines for 28.1 points a game while senior forward Danny Noll has come on strong late in the season.  Noll is coming off an MVP performance in the Ninth Region Tournament where he scored a career-high 30 points against Highlands in the semifinals.  Noll is CovCath’s other double figure scorer at 10.7 ppg.

The Colonels averaged 64.6 points a game on offense and gave up 54.0 on the defensive end during the regular season, finishing in the top five in Northern Kentucky in both categories.  

Apollo (22-10) has been living dangerously the last two weeks.  They survived elimination in Ninth District tournament play with a 54-52 overtime win over Owensboro in the semifinals before losing in the title game to Muhlenberg North.  But the Eagles rebounded to win the Third Region title which included an overtime win against Hancock County in the semifinals and a 50-49 triple overtime win over Ohio County in the championship game.

Apollo is led in scoring by Tyler Brown (14.6) and Doug Denton (12.9) and averages 55.3 points a game.

Both teams enter the tournament unranked in the final Associated Press poll.  The winner advances to the second round on Friday and will play the winner of Warren Central/Mason County at 6:30 p.m.