It would have been a great championship game to this year’s Boys 2nd Region All A Classic. Instead, it was a great opening-round game between the two teams expected to contend for the title and the trip to Richmond.
The University Heights Academy Blazers had four players reach double-figures and they used a staunch defensive effort to hold Travis Perry to his lowest point total of the season as UHA upended Lyon County 74-64 in front of a packed and rowdy house at Blazer Gym. The win for UHA ends Lyon County’s two-year run as All A regional champs.
The Blazers came out and set the tone early, scoring the first six points of the game and letting the Lyons know this was going to be a full 32-minute affair.
The Lyons roared back and took an 8-6 lead as the two teams played out the opening quarter going back and forth at each other.
Lemar Northington II got the Blazers rolling early, scoring 10 points in the first quarter as UHA lead 18-15 after one. University Heights would not trail in the final three-quarters of the game.
The Blazers started the second with a 9-3 run that pushed the lead out to 27-18. UHA’s full-court defensive pressure gave the Lyons problems and never allowed them to settle into any kind of rhythm.
Meanwhile, the Blazers found the seams to attack the Lyon County zones. UHA was then able to get good shots in close or to get the ball back out on the perimeter for open threes.
Lyon County made one of their usual runs to get back in the game at 30-29, but they could not get back to the lead. UHA closed out the first half with a 10-2 run and lead 40-31 going into the locker room. The run was capped off by a long, long three from Lemar Northington II, one that found the bottom of the net as he launched it not far from the scorers’ table. Northington ended the opening half with 15 points.
The UHA defense limited Travis Perry to ten first-half points, and he had to work for those, as shots just did not fall as easily as they usually seem to do for Kentucky’s second-all-time leading scorer.
UHA continued to hold a double-digit lead through the early portion of the third quarter, then came a scary moment that could have easily changed the momentum of the contest.
In a traffic jam down in the defensive paint, Quinton Quarles hit the deck and his head hit the floor. Quarles would then leave the game and not return for the rest of the night. So now the Blazers would find themselves trying to knock off the Lyons without their starting point guard.
But all credit goes to Gavin Grubbs, Preston Thomas, and Lemar Northington, as the UHA guards found a way to not let losing their point guard keep them from having a chance to win the region later this week and get another trip to Richmond.
Lyon County did make a move and cut it to six at the end of the third after Quarles got hurt. Brady Shoulders had a monster night for the Lyons and kept them in the game when the Blazers could have run away and hidden.
But the story of the 4th quarter was the UHA defense on one end and their resiliency on the other without Quarles running the show at point. Even with Perry struggling with his shooting, and let’s note he still finished with 21 points, so we all should struggle so badly, but still the big momentum shots he has hit so many times through his career just refused to fall on this night.
The Lyons would fight back to within four in the final quarter at 61-57, but the Blazers answered right back with six straight points and then finished it on out to the ten point win.
UHA got some big late game plays from Preston Thomas and Gavin Grubbs, plus the Blazers made their free throws when they needed them. Brady Shoulders racked up 18 points in the second half for Lyon County, but it would not be enough to keep alive the Lyons’ dreams of an All A state championship.
Lemar Northington II led four Blazers in double-figures with 17 points, fifteen in the opening half. Elijah Walton, who battled first-half foul problems, ended the game with 14. Quinton Quarles had 11 before leaving the game and Preston Thomas had 10 huge points for UHA.
Brady Shoulders led the Lyons with 28 points. Travis Perry added 21 hard-worked-for points. One of the stories of the night was the defensive job the Blazers did on Jack Reddick as they held him to just five points on the night, none in the second half.
Another big story of the game was the three-point shooting. UHA hit eight from behind the arc while Lyon County only connected three times, just one by Travis Perry.
UHA improves to 7-6 with the win. The Blazers will take on Crittenden County in one semifinal Friday night at Caldwell County.
Lyon County drops to 14-5. The Lyons have a week off before traveling to Webster County.
LCHS – 15 16 14 19 — 64
UHA – 18 22 11 23 — 74
Lyon County – Shoulders 28, Perry 21, Breedlove 8, Reddick 5, Kirk 2
UHA – Northington 17, Walton 14, Quarles 11, Thomas 10, Wallace 9, Hauret 5, Grubbs 4, Baker 2, C. Brown 2
