‘We have experience now.’ Great Crossing reflects on lessons learned in Sweet 16 loss.
It wasn’t the ending Great Crossing’s players had envisioned. The No. 1 Warhawks had not lost to a Kentucky team all season.
But the 5-year-old school with a team playing in its first UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 could not overcome a veteran squad playing in its third straight state tournament with Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer at the helm.
Mr. Kentucky Basketball Travis Perry scored 24 points to lead No. 5 Lyon County to a 58-49 win in the state semifinals at Rupp Arena on Saturday.
The loss hurt, but it also offered Great Crossing a lesson.
“I think we learned that if we play the right way, we can pull out any win we need. But the older you get, the more experience you have, it plays a factor in the game,” Great Crossing 7-foot-1 junior center Malachi Moreno said. “We have the experience now. We’ll just have to wait and see until next year.”
Great Crossing (36-2) will have to replace two seniors, starter Jeremiah Godfrey and key reserve Jaylen Warren, but they should return junior starters Vince “Tre” Dawson III, Gage Richardson, Junius Burrell and Moreno, one of the top centers in the nation.
The Warhawks had seen teams make runs on them before. Lyon County made them, too. Perry made back-to-back 3-pointers to start an 8-0 run late in the second quarter on the way to a 28-24 halftime lead. Later, Perry, Jack Reddick and Bray Kirk made consecutive 3-pointers to extend Lyon County’s advantage to 38-26 early in the third.
This time, however, Great Crossing could not close the gap.
“They, obviously, wanted to keep the ball out of the paint and keep us from throwing the ball to Malachi,” Page said. “But probably the biggest difference is Travis Perry didn’t play for those other teams.”
Lyon County (35-3) frustrated Great Crossing’s attempts to feed Moreno, who dealt with foul trouble in the second half and was limited to 12 points and 14 rebounds. On two key third-quarter possessions, Lyon County grabbed steals on pass attempts to Moreno in the post.
“I think our kids got a little bit tentative after that point to throw it in there,” Page said.
That helped Lyon maintain a 44-36 gap on the Warhawks going into the fourth quarter.
Richardson led Great Crossing with 16 points Saturday, including four 3-pointers, to help keep them in the game. Dawson added 11. But Great Crossing shot just 37% from the field and made only one more 3-pointer besides Richardson’s on 20 attempts.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Page said. “We couldn’t get the timely stops. We couldn’t get timely loose balls. … We played a little bit out of character towards the end of the game.”
Despite the loss on the state tournament’s final day, Page appreciated he had a special team and a special season.
“We’re a fifth-year program. We’ve won close to 100 games in the last three years, which is phenomenal,” Page said. “As a coach, it means a lot that these kids bought into what we wanted them to do, day in and day out, and continued to work. I just feel horrible that I wasn’t able to help them get over the line today.”
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Day 2 wrap-up from 2024 Boys’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena
Day 1 wrap-up from 2024 Boys’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena
