Malachi Moreno a Big Challenge for Spencer County

Malachi Moreno has a lot of big-time college offers, including Tennessee. (Tennessee Athletics Photo)

Spencer County has a veteran team with six seniors that takes almost half of its shots from 3-point range and has two players — Luke Erhardt (110) and Camden Cox (100) — with triple digit makes.

“We like to push it and shoot the 3. We want to space them out,” Spencer coach Jason Burns said about his team’s state tournament matchup with No. 1 Great Crossing tonight in Rupp Arena.

Spencer won its first 8th Region title and shot 35 percent from 3-point range on 860 attempts.

“We have to guard the 3. Those two (Cox and Erhardt) are really good,” Great Crossing coach Steve Page said.

Great Crossing is unbeaten against state teams and has won 22 straight games, including a 56-53 win over Lexington Catholic in the 11th Region title that was settled on a buzzer-beating 3-point shot.

“If we bring our best, somebody will have to do something pretty special to beat us,” Page said.

Junior 7-footer Malachi Moreno averages 15.9 points and 13 rebounds per game for Great Crossing. He shoots 66.4 percent from the field. He is the 35th ranked prospect in the 2025 recruiting class by 247Sports and has offers from Kentucky, Alabama, Baylor, Indiana, Purdue, Tennessee and others.

Page said the goal is to keep Moreno playing in the “paint as much as possible” even with Spencer’s prolific 3-point shooting.

“We will let Malachi guard anybody from a guard to a center,” Page said. “Even though he is 7-1 he can guard on the floor.”

Page said he tries to avoid the words “foul trouble” because Moreno has not had any real issues with fouls this season.

“We know people are going to bring three or four people at him. Catholic did and he kicked the ball out for open looks. He could have cared less he scored 11 points because we won,” Page said. “He is about looking for the open man.

“He does a really good job defending at the rim without fouling. He does a good job not putting his hands on people when he is going to get the ball. He’s always impacted the game around the rim. His offensive skills have improved because it is tough to double or triple team him. He’s 7-1 and tough to referee.”

Page said Moreno’s shooting has improved and he could make 3-pointers if Great Crossing put him outside.

“I would be crazy to let him stay at the 3-point line,” Page said. “When he gets to college his jump shot will be really developed. But he has always been a great defender for us.”

Burns said Spencer cannot simulate Moreno’s defense in practice.

“He is way more athletic than he gets credit for,” Burns said. “You just can’t blow by him or get easy shots outside. We have had success in the tournament run getting to the rim but going to the basket is harder with him in there. He changes the game.”

Vince Dawson leads Great Crossing in scoring at 18.4 points per game and Junius Burrell adds 11.4 points.

“I told my kids let’s go to Rupp and then go have some fun. I don’t think they are feeling any pressure,” Page said.

Burns doesn’t think his team will, either. The community has supported the team all season, including the regional tournament, and Burns doesn’t think the state tourney atmosphere will add any more pressure.

“We had about 150 cars follow us after we won the regional championship back to the school. Kids have been going to elementary schools. We have had a couple of team dinners,” he said.

Burns said community member donations made it possible for students to have free tickets and transportation to the game along with free food.

“Everybody I know in the community will be there,” Burns said.