Trinity forward David Burton tries to block the shot of the driving Fern Creek guard Chance Moore on his way to the basket. 18 December 2016
After 500 victories and 19 seasons as Ballard High School’s boys basketball coach, Chris Renner is at the point of his career when his former assistants are branching out and trying to beat him.
Fern Creek’s James Schooler accomplished the feat Tuesday.
Ahmad Price scored 32 points and Chance Moore added 21 as Fern Creek defeated Ballard 87-82 in the fifth-place game of the Forcht Bank King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic at Fairdale.
Schooler was an assistant under Renner at Ballard for two seasons before taking the Fern Creek job in 2013. Schooler had lost his first two matchups against Renner, falling twice last season.
Tuesday’s victory was Fern Creek’s first over Ballard since a 68-63 win on Jan. 18, 2006, snapping a nine-game skid to the Bruins.
“It means a lot to me because Chris has taught me so much about being a man, a Christian and a coach,” Schooler said. “We talk several times a week, and he always jokes with me. I know he’s a really good coach, so I know I always have to come prepared. This meant a lot.”
No. 8 in the state in The Courier-Journal’s preseason poll of coaches, Fern Creek (9-1) finished 3-1 in the KOB with victories over No. 7 Christian County, No. 22 Franklin-Simpson and No. 6 Ballard (5-2).
“This schedule has paid off,” Schooler said. “Having to play top-rated teams that don’t beat themselves eventually starts to mold your team to withstand runs toward the end of the game.”
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►Fern Creek gets another big win in KOB
Clivonte Patterson scored 28 points to lead Ballard, and Jamil Wilson added 18 before going out with an ankle injury at the 1:08 mark of the fourth quarter.
Renner, who picked up his 500th victory at Ballard on Monday against Acworth (Ga.) Allatoona, said his young team showed fatigue in the second half against Fern Creek.
“We just had some mental breakdowns,” Renner said. “They did some things to beat us, and we did some things to beat ourselves.”
Down 64-63 after three quarters, Fern Creek took the lead for good on Anthony Wales’ 3-pointer that made it 66-64 at the 7:39 mark of the fourth.
Ballard pulled within one point on four occasions and trailed just 79-76 after two Delonta Wimberly free throws with 2:36 left. But Moore scored five straight points for the Tigers for an 84-76 edge with 1:13 remaining
Price said the victory was for Schooler.
“We did it for Coach Schooler because it was his old school,” Price said. “He wanted to beat them really bad, and we haven’t beaten Ballard since I’ve been at Fern Creek.”
Covington Catholic 67, Bowling Green 50: C.J. Fredrick scored 34 points and Cole VonHandorf added 17 to lead the No. 5 Colonels (8-2) over the No. 1 Purples (7-2).
Fredrick hit 11 of 15 shots, including 4 of 6 3-point tries, and 8 of 12 free throws. Covington Catholic shot 60.5 percent (23 of 38) and outscored Bowling Green 32-18 in the second half after leading 35-32 at halftime.
Eighth-grader Zion Harmon scored 15 points to lead the Purples.
Christian County 68, Doss 60: Jaylen Sebree scored 19 points and Cory Trice added 18 as the No. 7 Colonels (9-1) beat the No. 11 Dragons (5-4) in the consolation-bracket final.
With the score tied at 47, Christian County put together a 9-1 run to take a 56-48 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Doss never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
Terez Traynor scored 18 points to lead the Dragons.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
FIFTH-PLACE GAME
BALLARD 19 22 23 18 – 82
FERN CREEK 18 23 22 24 – 87
BALLARD (5-2) – Marshon Ford 10p; Tyron Duncan 6p; Dorion Tisby 4p; Antoine Darby 5p; Delonta Wimberly 11p; Jamil Wilson 18p; Clivonte Patterson 28p.
FERN CREEK (9-1) – Alvin Thomas 4p; Anthony Wales 15p; Ahmad Price 32p; Daiquan Jones 2p; Clint Wickliffe 3p; Kyree Hawkins 3p; Chance Moore 21p; Tony Rogers 7p.
THIRD-PLACE GAME
BOWLING GREEN 15 17 8 10 – 50
COVINGTON CATHOLIC 17 18 20 12 – 67
BOWLING GREEN (7-2) – Collin Jackson 3p; Deangelo Wilson 11p; Zion Harmon 15p, 4a; Eli Thurman 4p; Kyran Jones 10p, 9r; Terry Taylor 4p, 9r; Trever Dennis 3p.
COVINGTON CATHOLIC (8-2) – C.J. Fredrick 34p; Cole VonHandorf 17p, 3s; Luke Lenihan 2p; A.J. Mayer 6p, 6a; Paul Thelen 2p; Jake Walter 6p, 6r.
CONSOLATION-BRACKET FINAL
DOSS 15 11 18 16 – 60
CHRISTIAN COUNTY 12 17 16 23 – 68
DOSS (5-4) – Cam Maddox 11p; Stephon Franklin 11p; Shawn’Kel Knight-Goff 9p; Jaylon Hall 11p; Terez Traynor 18p.
CHRISTIAN COUNTY (9-1) – Jaylen Sebree 19p; T’Aivey Mason 6p; JaQuon Long 4p; Darius Daniel 8p; Deterrion Ware 13p; Cory Trice 18p.