Mark another item off the basketball ‘bucket list’ for the Lyon County Lyons. Led by a 37-point performance from Travis Perry, including nine straight during a big stretch for the Lyons in the second quarter, the Lyons picked up their first-ever win in the All A Classic state tournament by powering their way past Owensboro Catholic 72-54.
The Lyons were able to overcome a cool shooting performance with their pressure defense and a strong rebounding effort against the Aces, who, to their credit refused to go away until the final horn. The Lyons shot just 39.7 percent from the field for the game.
Despite some early shooting woes, the Lyons never trailed in the game. Baskets from Travis Perry and Brady Shoulders gave Lyon County a 4-0 lead, a lead they would never surrender in the game. Perry hit back-to-back threes midway through the quarter to extend the lead out to 12-4, but the Aces quickly buckled down.
With some big plays from Luke Beickman and Tutt Carrico, Owensboro Catholic came battling back and cut the Lyon County lead to just 16-12 after one quarter.
And then, the Lyons did it again. They have done it so many times over the course of the past couple of seasons, you just sit there during a game waiting for it to happen, knowing that it is coming at some point, you just don’t know when. One of those runs that leaves you looking for the license number of that truck that just ran you over. And it happened to the Aces in the second quarter.
Brady Shoulders scored two old-fashioned three-point plays and Travis Perry scored as the Lyons scored the first eight of the second to go up 24-12. After a basket from Ronald Smith, the Lyons finished lowering the boom on the Aces. Three straight threes from Travis Perry and a bucket from Bray Kirk later, the Lyon County lead had exploded to 35-14 and the Aces looked like they were going down for the count as the lead was still 21 at the break at 39-18.
But give Coach Tim Riley and his team tons of credit, they would not go down on this Thursday afternoon without causing the Lyons to sweat and have fleeting images of what Breathitt County did two years ago in Richmond.
The Owensboro Catholic defense held the Lyons without a field goal for more than five minutes to start the second half. Ronald Smith and Luke Beickman combined to score 8 points early in the third as the Aces cut the lead to 41-28.
The Lyons had an answer to stop the bleeding as Travis Perry and Brady Shoulders scored six straight to push the lead back out to 47-28. And, when Travis Perry hit one of ‘those’ shots to end the third quarter, the Lyons were up 53-36 and looked to be rolling again.
However, Owensboro Catholic said ‘not quite so fast.’ Luke Beickman caught fire in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points and bringing the Aces to within 11 points at 63-52 and at 65-54. But, the Lyons never allowed Owensboro Catholic to get within double digits and they fended the Aces off to take the 18-point victory.
Travis Perry hit for 37 points to lead Lyon County, including seven made 3-pointers. That now places him at 4,955 career points, just 45 away from the 5,000-point mark. Brady Shoulders finished with 13 points. Bray Kirk added 8 points. Jack Reddick, who was battling an ankle injury, finished with 7 points but tweaked his injured ankle in the third quarter. He was able to finish the game.
Luke Beickman led the Aces with 23 points, 19 of them coming in the second half. Ronald Smith added 17.
Lyon County dominated the glass, outrebounding the Aces 42-18, led by Brady Shoulders with 14 rebounds.
Lyon County advances to Friday evening’s quarterfinal round where they will take on Walton-Verona, who had no trouble with Augusta in the final game of the early session, winning 65-39.
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