For the first time since 2011, two county schools will play for the championship of the UK Healthcare Boys Sweet 16.
Lyon County beat Great Crossing 58-49 in Sasturday’s first semifinal at Rupp Arena and Harlan County knocked off Evangel Christian 55-47 in the second semifinal.
The schools will meet in Saturday night’s 7:30 championship game.
Harlan County scored the game’s first nine points and held the Louisville private school scoreless for five minutes of the third quarter which proved to be the difference in the game.
“These kids never seem to surprise me with their effort, their toughness. I’m just so stinking proud of them, you know. These guys will be remembered forever in Harlan County,” said Harlan coach Kyle Jones.
Saturday’s championship will feature two of the state’s top three career scorers in Lyon County’s Travis Perry, who passed ‘King’ Kelly Coleman for the all-time mark at last year’s Sweet 16, and Harlan County’s Trent Noah, who moved into third place this week.
Noah, a South Carolina signee, scored 48 points in Harlan County’s quarter-final win over Campbell County and added 29 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s win.
“He’s just he’s a great player. I’ve been telling everybody that. I mean, we got we got a lot of great players and some of them are flying under the radar,” Jones said “He scored 54 points in a game earlier this year, so he’s capable of putting up big numbers and you know, he’s gonna do whatever it takes to win.”
The 6-7 Noah is familiar with Lyon County’s Perry from the summer travel circuit and various all-star games.
“We’ve played in a lot of games together and he’s a really special player,” Noah said. “I’m excited to see what he’ll do next year at the next level. I like Travis a lot.”
Lyon County and Harlan County met in the opener of the 2022 King of the Bluegrass in Louisville. Harlan County knocked down 14 threes but Lyon escaped with a 76-73 win. Perry had 29 points to lead the Lyons, while Noah had 22 for the Black Bears.
Jones expects to see much of the same from Lyon County on Saturday night.
“I think both of us like to get up and down the court. They play a lot of 2-2-1 zone and we were forced to make some shots against that,” Jones said. “They have three special players on one basketball team. That’s pretty big time for a small school like Lyon County. We have a lot of respect for them and it’s going to be fun.”
Saturday night will be the first time two county schools have met for the state title since Christian County beat Rowan County in double-overtime in the 2011 championship. It’s also the last time a Second Region school won a state title. South Laurel last brought home a state title to the 13th Region in 2005.
With a quick turnaround, Jones said they had already checked out of their hotel Saturday morning and made a connection to rest at a Lexington church.
“We have somebody nice enough to let us come and relax at a church that our bookkeeper knows and we’re gonna go over there and relax and eat some food and get ready to come back here this evening,” Jones said.
Noah said he anticipates another big crowd to support the 13th Region champs.
“We have the best fans in the state. They’ll travel wherever and they always have our back win or lose,” he said. “Hopefully we can do something really special for the community and the fans and I don’t know, maybe some couches will be burned tonight in Harlan County.”
READ: Trent Noah a Hard Matchup for Any Opponent
