Owensboro Catholic knocked off Hopkinsville back in December at a holiday tournament in Madisonville.
Despite being similar-sized schools and not that far apart geographically, there have been very few meetings in recent history on the basketball court between the Lyon County Lyons and the Owensboro Catholic Aces. The two teams are set to meet in the opening round of the 2024 All A Classic Thursday morning at the Corbin Arena.
In fact, since 2000, Lyon County and Owensboro Catholic have met just twice. The first of those two meetings was in 2007 with the most recent matchup coming in February 2021.
The game in 2007 was a close, low-scoring affair, with the Lyons falling to the Aces 48-43.
Three years ago, the Lyons came into the contest in Owensboro riding a 14-game winning streak to start the COVID-delayed season, which had not started until January. That day completely belonged to the Aces, as Owensboro Catholic handed the Lyons their first loss 71-47.
‘The Three Amigos’ were limited to just 26 points that day. Travis Perry had 13. Jack Reddick had 9, while Brady Shoulders was held to 5 points. Gunnar Bingham also hit double figures in the game for the Lyons with 12 points.
Lyon County was colder than the February weather that day, knocking down just 29.8 percent from the field.
Five Aces reached double figures in the game led by Gray Weaver with 18 points. However, none of those five, or any of the players from that game, are still wearing the green and white for O-Cath.
The Aces are still a formidable opponent for the Lyons in the opening round, however. Owensboro Catholic comes into the week at 12-3, having not lost since a 70-67 loss to Madisonville back on December 21. Since that time, the Aces have won ten straight, including wins over Hopkinsville, Christian County, Owensboro, and McLean County.
The Aces are led by Luke Beickman, who is averaging 20.7 points a game. He also is shooting better than 40 percent from behind the 3-point line. Ronald Smith averages 11.2 points. Waryn Ebelhar and Tutt Carrico are both averaging just over 9 points per contest.
Carrico is the Aces leading rebounder at 8.4 boards a game. Carrico is the outstanding receiver on the Aces football team that put on a show at this year’s Class 2A championship game, catching 11 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns.
The Aces shoot 48.8 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. They also are hitting 65.9 percent of their free throws.
One of the big questions heading into the week for the Lyons is the health of senior Jack Reddick. Reddick injured his ankle late in the All A regional championship game against UHA and was on crutches after the contest.
Travis Perry is leading the Lyons at 29.4 points a game. Brady Shoulders is scoring at an 18.5 per game clip and is the team’s leading rebounder at 9.7 per game. Jack Reddick is averaging 15.7 per game. Bray Kirk, with some strong performances as of late, is now also averaging in double digits with 10.1 points and is pulling down 5.9 rebounds a game, second on the team.
The Lyons would appear to have the edge shooting the ball. Lyon County is hitting 52.8 percent from the field, 37.8 percent from behind the 3-point line, and 67.6 percent from the free throw line.
The game is set for Thursday at 11:30am Eastern in The Corbin Arena. The winner of the game will play the winner of Augusta and Walton Verona Friday evening in Corbin.
