Les Nicholson Photo
Even though his team beat Adair County by 50 points in February, Lyon County coach Ryan Perry was expecting a “slugfest” in Friday’s state tournament quarterfinal game and got one before the Lyons won 80-65.
Sophomore Bray Kirk went on a 9-0 scoring spurt to open the second half that broke the game open for the Lyons (34-3) and finished with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 2-for-3 on 3’s, nine rebounds and two assists.
“Bray was like an uncaged animal to start the second half,” Perry said. “He ran it up quick. He is going to be elite and in that few minutes he was elite on the biggest stage in high school basketball.”
Kirk’s surge followed a 3-pointer from Mr. Basketball Travis Perry just before the halftime buzzer that gave Lyon a 28-20 halftime lead.
“That was really big. We drew up a play and he executed. That was a momentum changer for sure,” the Lyon coach said. “We were trying to increase the pace. Our calling card has been our full-court pressure. We were lucky they missed a lot of open shots that they might normally have made.”
Lyon was not at its best offensively. The Lyons were only 9-for-29 from 3-point range — well below their normal accuracy rate. Travis Perry was 4-for-9 from 3 but only 6-for-17 overall and had 21 points and five assists. Brady Shoulders did the work inside going 9-for-17 from the field for 18 points and also had 13 rebounds and two assists.
Now Lyon County gets Great Crossing in Saturday’s semifinal at 11 a.m. EST. Great Crossing crushed Magoffin County 83-48 behind 16 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks by 7-1 Malachi Moreno and 18 points, nine rebounds and two steals from Vince Dawson.
Ryan Perry knows how difficult the matchup will be.
“They are elite. They are just a really good team and one of the best ones I have seen in this state for a while,” the Lyon coach said. “So many matchup problems. They have got everything you want to have offensively and everything you want to have defensively.”
The teams met in a preseason scrimmage and Great Crossing jumped on top 15-0.
“They have not lost a game in state all season for a reason,” Ryan Perry said. “They have beat a bunch of really good teams.”
However, Lyon prepared for this season with three Division I signees — Travis Perry, Shoulders and Jack Reddick — by playing a loaded schedule and going to prestigious out of state events.
“There is not anybody these guys will roll out and be star struck or wide eyes. They played in every tough situation for a reason,” the Lyon coach said.
He designed the schedule to create “uncomfortable” situations like his team faced Wednesday when it was down seven points in the fourth quarter to Ashland before winning and will be in against Great Crossing.
He expects 6-8 Jeremy Godfrey to guard Travis Perry “making his life miserable” in Saturday’s game.
“They are elite and good but we are good, too,” Ryan Perry said. “Our guys are extremely confident.”
Lyon was 2-for-16 from 3-point range against Ashland and is now 9-for-38 in two state tourney games. The coach said his team is due a good shooting game.
“Everybody in our locker room expects to win,” Ryan Perry said. “Some say that is just lip service but everybody we play we expect to win. They are really good but we think we can play with them. Our guys played more loose today and I hope we are going in the right direction. When we are going 90 miles per hour and getting up 80 shots we are better.”
Moreno can be intimidating inside and has numerous scholarship offers, including one from Kentucky. However, Shoulders is not one to back down inside.
“He is such a good player. He is so physical and so gifted and so strong,” Ryan Perry said about Shoulders. “We need him to bring that physicality inside. He loves to knock down 3-point shots but right now he’s awfully good inside and can punish people with his physicality.”
