YSE File Photo
Lexington Catholic lost their season opener to Reed Sheppard and North Laurel and had since won 11 straight coming into their contest with Lyon County Thursday night in the semifinals of the White, Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic. You can now make that 12 straight wins.
In impressive fashion, the Knights took care of Lyon County 73-53 to advance to the championship game of the tournament. The game was the Lyons’ seventh in just 13 days against some of the state’s elite competition.
The Lyons stayed right with Lexington Catholic during the opening quarter. The Knights would lead 17-14 after the first eight minutes of the game.
Lexington Catholic took control of the game in the second quarter. Outscoring the Lyons 19-10, the Knights extended their lead to 36-24 at the half. Despite focused efforts to contain Travis Perry, the Lyon County leading scorer had 16 points at the break. However, Lexington Catholic was able to limit Jack Reddick and Brady Shoulders to a combined six points in the opening half.
Tyler Doyle had 12 points in the half for the Knights, while Hudson Sparks added nine.
The Lyons had their struggles from the field in the opening half, hitting just 43.5 percent of their shots from the field.
The Knights would continue to build the lead in the second half, reaching 22 at one point. Lexington Catholic would lead 56-41 going into the fourth quarter.
The Lyons would mount a 4th quarter effort to get back in the game but could never get inside of double-digits and Lexington Catholic would pull the lead back out to 20 in the waning moments of the contest.
Travis Perry led the way for the Lyons with 25 points. That gives him a career total of 3,638 and leaves him just nine points behind Flat Gap’s Charlie Osborne for second on the all-time Kentucky scoring list.
Jack Reddick finished with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Brady Shoulders was held to just nine points in the contest.
Tyler Doyle ended up with 19 points for Lexington Catholic. Hudson Sparks added 18. Miller Williams and Reece Potter added 11 each.
Cool shooting continued to be an issue in the second half for the Lyons as they connected on 40 percent of their shots in the half, giving them 41.5 percent for the game.
Lexington Catholic controlled the boards, outrebounding the Lyons 40-20.
The loss drops the Lyons to 11-4 on the season. They will close out 2022 in the 3rd place game of the tournament Friday afternoon.
LYON – 14 10 17 12 — 53
LCATH – 17 19 20 17 — 73
Lyon County – Perry 25, Reddick 11, Shoulders 9, Kirk 4, Collins 2, Defew 2
Lexington Catholic – Doyle 19, Sparks 18, Williams 11, Potter 11, Williams 8, Harward 4, Smith 2
