“I’m just really proud of the kids,” said Cougars coach Brian Smith. “That’s a really big win for our program.”
The Cougars (7-2) led by 12 points entering the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats fought back to tie the score at 52 with 1:30 remaining.
Kenton Ridge sophomore Xavier White scored five of his seven points in the final minute to lift the Cougars to the victory.
“He made a couple of huge plays there at the end,” Smith said.
Springfield senior Bryce Washington scored a game-high 18 points, junior Zy’Aire Fletcher had 12 and senior Cabrae Byrd added 10 as the Wildcats fell to 1-4 overall.
“I was definitely happy with their resilience in the fourth quarter, but overall, we keep talking about being consistent and we’re not very consistent,” said Springfield coach Matt Yinger. “It’s been a resounding theme for us all season where we don’t play 32 minutes. We might play 20, 25, 28, but never 32. Tonight we talked about it, we might’ve played hard for five whole minutes and it was the fourth quarter when we started making our comeback. Guys gotta understand that at the varsity level, you have to bring it every night and that consistency is key and we’re not very consistent right now.”
The Cougars jumped out to an early 16-9 lead after the first quarter. They played a 1-2-2 zone throughout the game to take away Springfield’s height advantage, pushing the lead to 33-24 at the half.
“We just brought the energy, kept moving the ball and played well as a team,” Fyffe said.
Rogan hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cougars a 44-32 advantage after three quarters.
“He’s done that his whole life,” Smith said. “I’ve coached him since fourth grade and he hits those at the end of quarters all the time.”
The Wildcats stormed back in the fourth quarter, cutting the Cougars lead to 50-48 after five straight points by Fletcher. They tied the score at 52 on a putback by Springfield sophomore E.J. Rice with 1:30 remaining.
On KR’s next possession, White drove to the basket and finished a layup to give the Cougars the lead for good. He followed with a steal and fed Rogan for a bucket to make it 56-52. The sophomore also hit 3-of-4 free throws to seal the victory.
The Cougars have won four straight games after back-to-back losses earlier this month. The victory proved they can beat anyone on their schedule, Fyffe said.
“It was a really big win,” he said. “We’ve been talking about this game since the summer. It was one we wanted to get on our schedule. It will help us throughout the season because this was a big game, one of the best team’s we’ll play all season.”
The key to the victory, Smith said, was limiting Springfield’s ability to get extra possessions throughout the game.
“It seemed like every time we needed a stop, we got a stop and got the rebound,” Smith said. “We knew if we kept them off the offensive glass, we’d have a chance and we were able to do that.”
The Wildcats host Northmont next Friday night in Greater Western Ohio Conference action. Following that game, Springfield is on the road for four straight games, including trips to Withrow (Jan. 6) and St. Xavier (Jan. 9).
“We’ve got to regroup, refocus and put this behind us,” Yinger said.
The Wildcats and Cougars played in front of the largest crowd of the day that included four other games and featured all 10 Clark County teams.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Smith said. “I would encourage them to keep hosting this and possibly host more games.”
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