Lyon County players, from left, Travis Perry, Jackson Shoulders, Jack Reddick and Brady Shoulders plan to soak up the state tournament experience. (Twitter Photo)
The team got a parade through town after winning its first Second Region championship since 1951. People let him know almost immediately they were booking hotel rooms in Lexington and everyone was excited there would be no school Thursday.
“Things have been a little different than normal in Lyon County,” said sophomore guard Travis Perry.
Lyon will play Fifth Region champion John Hardin Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the state tournament at Rupp Arena and Perry and his teammates want to make up for “disappointing” fans when they lost their first game in the All “A” Classic to Breathitt County.
“We disappointed ourselves too losing that game and it’s great now to give the fans something big to enjoy,” Perry said. “I think some people are expecting us to win, some are hoping. Some people are saying if things don’t work out we still had a great season but a lot of people are counting on us to win.”
Perry scored a career-high 44 points in the regional championship win over Hopkinsville for Lyon (28-6). The sophomore guard is averaging 27.7 points — the most of any player in the state — per game and has 111 3-pointers, also the most in the state. He shoots 49 percent overall from the field, 38 percent from 3, and 82 percent at the foul line (he averages almost six free throw attempts per game).
Perry became only the 37th player in Kentucky high school history to reach 3,000 points this season and is on pace to surprise King Kelly Coleman’s all-time record of 4,337 points if he stays healthy two more years.
Thursday’s game figures to be a high-scoring affair. Lyon County averages 79.3 points per game — second in the state — but John Hardin is not far behind at 73.7 points per game.
“We like to play fast. We feel like if we get 70 or 80 shots, we are going to win,” Perry said. “If we miss 10 shots in a row, we are still encouraged to shoot. We have fun playing basketball and scoring a lot of points.”
Lyon senior forward Jackson Shoulders has scored over 2,000 points, and will play baseball at Kentucky Wesleyan.
“I am so proud of him. We have been playing together forever,” Perry said.
Perry thinks Lyon County could have its biggest crowd ever at Thursday’s game.
“Playing in Rupp Arena is a different environment. Our fans are excited to watch us play and enjoy the moment with us,” Perry, who has numerous Division I offers, said. “It’s no pressure on any of us. It’s just a great opportunity. I try to take the approach every time I play that there might be somebody new in the stands who might only see me play this one time.”
Perry knows he gets more exposure to college coaches on the AAU circuit than he will at the state tourney but also appreciates what extra exposure he knows playing in Rupp Arena will bring to him and his teammates.
“It’s the first time in 71 years Lyon County has been in the state, so it’s going to be a great experience with some good exposure,” Perry said. “But we want to enjoy this. I am sure we will see a few games before we play. You only get to experience something like this a few times in your life and people in Lyon County have not experienced it at all. We’re going to have a good time.”
2 Responses
The reason they were unconnected was because their coach had them all upset by his acting like a crazy man on the sidelines in place of trying out how to help the players. I have been a Ky fan 50 years and he is the absolute worst game coach by a mile that Ky has ever had.
got to get it straightened out