Here's the morning article from the Ashland Daily Indpendent. Remember when we used to have a local daily paper in Northern Kentucky?
Ashland — Campbell County and Simon Kenton traveled 180 miles to participate in the Ashland Invitational Tournament.
But tonight the neighboring northern Kentucky schools will meet in the tournament semifinals at 7.
Northern Kentucky reigned supreme in the afternoon session of the AIT on Saturday.
Campbell County defeated East Carter 52-48 and Simon Kenton downed Fairview 55-50 in James A. Anderson Gymnasium in a pair of hard-fought games to set up a semifinal battle of teams that are about 15 miles apart.
“We’re in the same conference,” said Simon Kenton coach Trent Steiner. “We’ll play them again in February.”
Neither team had an easy road to the AIT semifinals.
The Pioneers’ victory over Fairview made for a happy homecoming, of sorts, for Steiner and assistant coach Jeff Davis.
Steiner is from Louisa and Davis, whose father Jerry is a longtime Fairview assistant coach, is from Westwood.
Simon Kenton needed some gritty play from guard Langdon Barnes, who converted two three-point plays and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help erase a four-point deficit.
Barnes tied the game twice on three-point plays and then put the Pioneers ahead to stay at 49-48 with a pair of free throws. Casey Sorrell made a driving layup for a 51-48 before Fairview’s Caleb Collins hit two free throws to make it 51-50.
The Eagles had a chance to regain the lead by a back-tip steal from Grant Schenider took away the opportunity. Schenider is one of six players off the Simon Kenton football team that reached the Class 6A championship.
“We’re not a great offensive team but we have some nice pieces,” Steiner said. “We’re not in rhythm yet. This is a good win for our team.”
Fairview led for most of the first half, including by as much as seven points at 18-11 and 20-13.
The second half was more back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than the five-point final margin.
Eagles coach Rex Cooksey said defensive breakdowns were the difference.
“Defensive execution,” he said. “We had some offensive turnovers but it (the loss) was more on the defensive end. I thought we did some things well offensively.”
Despite dominating the on the boards, the Eagles managed only a 23-19 lead at the half. Several shots from point-blank range wouldn’t fall.
Collins turned in a solid performance with 22 points while Trey Stai scored 11. Jeff Evans had seven points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles (6-2), who play East Carter today at 2:30 p.m.
“People underestimate how good Collins is,” Steiner said. “He’s outstanding.”
Barnes scored 17 and Sorrell 13 for the Pioneers (2-3), who were outrebounded 33-19.
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