‘Anybody can beat anybody.’ Henry Clay’s basketball upset of Bryan Station proves a point.

Coming into the week there were two 42nd District boys basketball teams ranked in both the statewide media poll and the Herald-Leader’s Dave Cantrall Ratings.

But both took a punch to the chin over the last 48 hours from a less heralded district rival.

“In the 42nd, anybody can beat anybody, honestly,” said Henry Clay’s Kayson Brown, who helped the Blue Devils topple media No. 15 Bryan Station 63-58 on Friday. “We’re up there and we fit right in. I think we’re one of the best teams in the 42nd.”

A day earlier, No. 14 Frederick Douglass blew a 17-point lead at Sayre and lost 62-60 in overtime. Douglass had an eight-point lead with a minute to go and saw the Spartans erase it in the span of 26 seconds.

In the extra period, Chase Parker’s floater from the right elbow as time expired gave Sayre its first-ever win over the Broncos after 14 previous tries. Playing all week without leading scorer Armelo Boone due to a wisdom tooth extraction on Tuesday, the Broncos have lost three straight games.

“It’s been a crazy week,” Henry Clay coach Daniel Brown said. “But we could face (Bryan Station) again, so let’s not get too fired up.”

The Blue Devils added to the chaos Friday by avenging the 77-51 loss they suffered at Bryan Station on Jan. 16. That was Henry Clay’s first loss of the season and sent Brown’s team on a spiral in which it lost five of its last eight games.

“We don’t panic. We’ve got a system here and we stay at it and be positive,” Brown explained. “We look at film and say, ‘Hey, what can we do better as an individual and as a team?’ And you see I’ve made some adjustments.”

Henry Clay trailed by 12 midway through the third quarter, but scrapped back into the game with the help of the foul line where they made 13 shots on 16 third quarter trips to the charity stripe, including Jackson Stephan’s three-point play that cut Bryan Station’s lead to 45-44 with 50 seconds left until the final break.

“Early on in these types of environments you could tell we weren’t ready, but I think having some losses and playing good competition has allowed us to get better along the way,” Brown said.

Bryan Station built the lead back to 55-50 after Amari Owens stole a desperation pass against a full-court press and went in for a layup with 4:47 left in the game.

But moments later, Henry Clay’s Isaiah Stephan, Jackson Stephan and Kayson Brown made consecutive 3-pointers as part of an 11-3 run to help the Blue Devils take a 61-58 lead with 1:38 left.

Brown hit the last, a shot from well outside the 3-point line. He was so far out there wasn’t a defender within 10 feet of him.

“I was wide open. I knew I had to knock it down,” Brown said. “I knew it was going in as soon as I let it go.”

Brown led Henry Clay with 14 points, Jackson Stephan had 13, Isaiah Stephan 12, and AJ Dixon 10. Amari Owens and Felix Gonzales led Bryan Station with 23 and 13 points, respectively.

The win improved Henry Clay’s record to 20-5 and 3-3 in the 42nd District with games against Sayre on Saturday and Frederick Douglass on Tuesday that were to be pivotal to help it secure a top-three seed in the district tournament. Henry Clay, Douglass and Sayre are all in the running for those spots.

Bryan Station (20-4, 6-2) has secured the top seed. Scott County (7-19, 2-5) is in fifth place, but could still be dangerous considering its district wins are over Bryan Station and Henry Clay.

Henry Clay legend honored

In a ceremony preceding Friday’s game, Henry Clay honored one of its legends, James Lee, with a framed commemorative poster denoting his recent induction into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

Lee is Henry Clay’s fourth all-time leading scorer and earned all-state honors in 1973 and 1974. He helped lead the Blue Devils to the 1973 Boys Sweet 16. His contemporary Bryan Station rival and friend Jack “Goose” Givens joined him for the presentation.

Henry Clay girls roll

The Blue Devils’ girls basketball team also avenged an earlier loss to Bryan Station on Friday with a dominating performance in its 57-40 win.

Allison Stone scored 23 points and Ariyanna Sutton added 16 in the rout. Henry Clay scored the game’s first 15 points on the way to a 21-5 advantage after one quarter.

“Early on in the season we were ‘energy, energy, energy,” said Henry Clay coach Ashley Garrard, who lamented her team’s inconsistency during a stretch in which it lost four of seven games. “That first quarter, I said, ‘There’s my team. There’s my girls. They’re coming back out.”

The win locked Henry Clay (18-7, 5-3) and Bryan Station (13-11, 5-3) in a tie for second place in the 42nd District behind Frederick Douglass. That means the Blue Devils and Defenders will face each other again in the district tournament semifinals later this month.

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42nd District boys standings

Through Friday’s games

1. Bryan Station, 20-4, 6-2

2. Frederick Douglass, 16-9, 4-3*

3. Henry Clay, 20-5, 3-3

4. Sayre, 16-8, 2-4

5. Scott County, 7-19, 2-5*

*Douglass beat Scott County in the Billy Hicks Classic on Dec. 9, but it does not count toward district standings.

Remaining district games

Feb. 10: Sayre at Henry Clay, 7 p.m.

Feb 13: Douglass at Henry Clay, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 19: Sayre at Scott County, 7:30 p.m.