AIT boasts stellar field: Tomcats face Simon Kenton in opening round
Dec. 27—A four-times-and-counting state champion, a Sweet Sixteen semifinalist and three more defending region titleists populate the field of this week's 67th Ashland Invitational Tournament.
What's really on Ashland's wish list — a fifth straight 16th Region Tournament crown — won't be determined in December, but the Tomcats' experience on the week after Christmas is important to that pursuit.
"It's wide-open, and that's the way we want it," interim Ashland coach Ryan Bonner said, "because we talk about valuing possessions. A tournament like this, you can't afford to have empty possessions or possessions where you lose your focus, or you're gonna find yourself in a hole really quick. That's the beauty of the AIT.
"There's no free lunches and you better show up ready to go, because it's gonna be a dogfight."
The Tomcats' opening-round matchup is an object lesson to that end. Ashland's opponent tonight, Simon Kenton, scored 32 points on Dec. 13 — and won, by holding Cooper to 30.
The Pioneers trailed the Jaguars 15-7 at halftime. Coach Trent Steiner told his charges at intermission that if they allowed only 15 points as well in the second half, they'd win, he said, and "by God, I looked like Nostradamus."
Winning that way wasn't a new concept to Steiner, a 1990 Lawrence County graduate and former Bulldogs assistant and head coach.
He came of age in the hard-nosed 16th Region era of Greenup County coach Randy Ward and Boyd County bench boss Roger Zornes, he noted.
"Everybody on social media and the parents (would say), 'Aw, you guys (won and) only scored 32 points!'" Steiner said. "At the end of the day, if we'd have lost, you'd have been mad that we only scored 32 points. You gotta be mentally tough to play in those type of games."
Finding or forging that mental toughness is chief on the list of objectives for the eight teams in this week's field.
"We obviously want to finish this week 3-0, that's the ultimate goal," Bonner said, "but we want to be able to look back and again continue to reflect and understand what we're doing well and what we're doing not so well, and how we can improve all that moving forward."
Ashland is one of four AIT participants who finished last season in Rupp Arena. The others: Lincoln County — which made a stirring run to the state semifinals before falling to eventual champion George Rogers Clark in double overtime — Henry Clay and Perry County Central.
Blue Ridge School is the four-time defending champion of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association's Division II — and will be joined in Ashland by Carmel School, also a VISAA member.
Martha Layne Collins and Simon Kenton complete the field.
Perry County Central (6-6) and Lincoln County (5-4) tip off the tournament at 2:30 p.m. today.
Four Commodores average in double figures in points per game — Kizer Slone (15.0 ppg), Trayten Woods (11.0 ppg), Rydge Beverly (10.3 ppg) and Tyler Day (10.1 ppg). Three Patriots join them in that distinction: Tramane Alcorn (16.6 ppg), Colton Ralston (14.8 ppg) and William Bishop (10.7 ppg).
Collins (9-1) and Blue Ridge (6-1 according to MaxPreps) meet at about 4 p.m.
Kenyon Goodin paces the Titans with 19.1 ppg. Quintin Simmons adds 12.7 ppg and Isiah Cochran nets 11.8 ppg.
For the Barons, Kamren Martin scores 13.1 ppg, Colby White drops in 11.9 ppg, Shanon Simango adds 11.4 ppg, and Camden Brewer and Markus Robinson both deliver 10.1 ppg.
Ashland (6-4) and Simon Kenton (7-3) open tonight's evening session at 7 p.m.
They last met on Feb. 27, 2021 in Independence, a wild 87-85 Pioneers victory. Each team still has one player who competed in that game — the Tomcats' Zander Carter and Simon Kenton's Travis Krohman. Neither scored that Saturday afternoon.
Different story this season. Carter is pitching in 23.6 ppg to pace Ashland, while Krohman's 15.0 ppg lead the Pioneers.
Gabe Dynes, listed at 7-foot-3, puts up 11.3 ppg for Simon Kenton, but his impact defensively got Bonner's attention.
"They do a really good job of extending their 2-3 (zone) because of Dynes's length at the rim," Bonner said. "They do a really good job of making teams settle for contested jump shots."
Ashland has a similar mindset defensively and has worked to improve its production on the interior with bigs James Mayor and Nate Freize. Mayor, in particular, possesses a similar frame to Dynes.
"One of the most important things going into this game is ball security," Bonner said, "because they do a really good job of pressure in the half-court, and because of their length at the rim, we're gonna have to be able to hit shots."
Ashland's Rheyce Deboard is responsible for 14.7 ppg, and Tucker Conway adds 11.6 ppg.
Carter, Conway and Deboard were each AIT All-Tournament Team members last year — Deboard while suiting up for Boyd County. So was Lincoln County's Ralston.
Henry Clay (6-3) and Carmel (8-5 according to MaxPreps) finish off Day 1 at about 8:30 p.m.
Mason Hawkins leads the Blue Devils with 16.9 ppg. Konlin Brown adds 14.6 ppg.
Still some locals
This will be the first AIT with no northeastern Kentucky teams other than the hosts, confirmed area historian Curtis Crye.
As recently as 2019, four area teams participated. In particular, Boyd County's streak of consecutive appearances ends at seven.
However, local connections remain.
There's Steiner, who surpassed 300 career wins last season and by way of confirming that milestone to a reporter said his total is "somewhere around there, I reckon."
He is looking forward to being back close to home.
"Very selfishly, my family gets to come, my friends get to come, my high school coach (Sam Sparks) gets to come," Steiner said. "I still have a lot of friends back in that area."
Lincoln County assistant coach Shawn Conley was a Tomcats guard in the 1980s. He held the Ashland single-game assists record for 24 years.
Collins, Blue Ridge and Carmel are first-time AIT invitees. Lincoln County and Perry County Central are both making their second appearance.
Simon Kenton has won two AIT crowns — in 1998 and 2010 — and Henry Clay claimed it in 1961. Ashland collected its 16th AIT title last December.
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