Lyons Earn Three-Peat Chance with Big Win Over Madisonville

The Lyon County Lyons are just one more step away from making a historic third straight trip to the Boys Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena. The Lyons advance to the 2nd Region championship game by roaring past Madisonville-North Hopkins 84-62 Monday night in front of a capacity crowd at Hopkinsville High School.

The win sets up a meeting between the Lyons and Henderson County Tuesday night with the title on the line. Lyon County’s previous two regional championships in this run have come with wins over Hopkinsville in the title game.

The Maroons took the lead for a brief moment early in the game. A Landen Smith three was the first bucket of the game as Madisonville opened with a 3-0 lead.

Lyon County got on the board with back-to-back baskets from Travis Perry and Jack Reddick to take the lead for the first time in the game at 4-3. After a quick basket put the Maroons back in the lead at 5-4, it happened again, as it has so many times over the course of the season.

With Travis Perry and Jack Reddick putting the pedal to the metal, the Lyons ripped off one of ‘those’ runs. The Lyons scored 13 straight points and in the blink of an eye, a one-point deficit was a 17-5 lead and the Maroons were in a hole that was going to be awfully tough to try and dig their way out of.

When the quarter ended, the Lyons held a 21-11 lead. Perry and Reddick had combined to score 19 of the 21 Lyon County points. Lukas Breedlove was a force down inside with two blocked shots and was causing Madisonville all kinds of problems on the glass.

While the Lyons have gotten plenty of attention with their offense, their defense is pretty doggone good too and oftentimes generates a huge chunk of the offense. And, in the second quarter, the Lyon County 1-2-2 trap was almost more than the Maroons could handle.

With the defense generating eight turnovers in the quarter, the Lyons began to stretch the lead. Brady Shoulders, who had been contained for the most part by Madisonville’s Kanyon Johnson over the first eight minutes, started to get involved with the offense, scoring five points in the second quarter.

The Lyon County crowd tested the integrity of the structure of the roof in the quarter when Jack Reddick hit the second of two long, long threes, giving the Lyons their first 20 point lead at 41-21 and sending the purple-clad folks into a roof-rattling roar.

If not for Landen Smith, the Maroons’ night might have been over at the half. Smith scored 10 points in the quarter and 15 in the half, as the two teams went into the break with Lyon County holding a 46-28 lead.

Turnovers were a big issue for Madisonville-North Hopkins in the opening half. The Maroons had 14 miscues in the half with the Lyons committed eight.

As the second half got underway, it was Lyon County that was having to battle its way through some ball security issues. The Lyons turned the ball over five times in the first four minutes of the third quarter, but still managed to find a way to extend the lead to 56-35. Three pointers from Bray Kirk and Travis Perry held the Lyons to nudge the lead out despite the turnovers.

The problem for Lyon County in the third was the turnovers kept coming as the Maroons turned up the heat on their defensive pressure. Kanyon Johnson and Landen Smith started to attack the basket off the miscues and Madisonville would close to within 14 points at the quarter’s end at 63-49. Johnson and Smith combined to score 17 points in the quarter.

The nerves of Lyon County fans began to get a little rattled and the hopes of Maroon fans began to rise as the final quarter got started. A pair of free throws from Kanyon Johnson trimmed the lead to 12 at 63-51.

With Lyon County fans starting to reach for the Pepto Bismol, enter Jack Reddick. The senior guard buried two three-pointers and then Travis Perry connected on a jumper in the lane to push the lead back out to 20 at 71-51 and the celebration began in earnest among the massive Lyon County throng that made the trip to Hopkinsville.

Madisonville would get no closer than 19 points for the rest of the game as the Lyons moved on with the 24-point win.

Travis Perry came up with a big night for Lyon County, finishing with 31 points. Jack Reddick, who hit five big three-pointers added 23 points. Brady Shoulders got into double figures with 10 points. Lukas Breedlove just missed with 9 points, but had 6 rebounds and three blocked shots.

For Madisonville-North Hopkins, Landen Smith ended the night with 23 points, 16 of them coming in the first half. Kanyon Johnson, who spent most of the night focused in on containing Brady Shoulders, added 21 points for the Maroons.

Madisonville finishes the season at 18-16. The Maroons lose only two seniors off this year’s roster and those two seniors combined to score only three points Monday night.

Lyon County goes to 31-3 with the win and now faces Henderson County Tuesday night with the trip to Rupp on the line. The two teams met back on January 30, just three days after the Lyons’ trip to Corbin for the All A Classic. Henderson County won in Eddyville 78-73, however, Jack Reddick was recovering from an ankle injury and did not play in the game.

Tipoff Tuesday night is set for 7pm.

LCHS  —      21   25   17   21  –  84
MNHHS —  11   17    21   13  –  62

Lyon County – Perry 31, Reddick 23, Shoulders 10, Breedlove 9, Kirk 7, Defew 4

Madisonville-North Hopkins – Smith 23, Johnson 21, Ratcliff 10, Bryant 3, Howard 3, Wilkes 2