In the end, you feel like the Lyon County Lyons just ran out of time. After battling back from 18 points down in the first half, the Lyons saw a Bray Kirk 3-pointer just miss the mark at the horn as Danville Christian Academy held on to take a 56-53 win in the 2025 All A Classic championship game at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Looking back, if the Lyons had another 60 seconds, they likely would have pulled off the comeback completely. The Lyons had the momentum and their pressure was affecting the Warriors as they tried to finish out the game. Cooper Collins was sizzling hot from the outside and all he needed was an open glance at the basket.
But alas, the historic win was not to be for the Lyons, rather it was Danville Christian that made history by becoming the first school to win both the boys’ and the girls’ title in the same year.
The Lyons, though, made them work for it coming down the stretch. After trailing by as many as 18 points late in the first half, Lyon County trimmed the lead to 14 at the break at 34-20.
The Lyons did not help their cause with ball handing issues over the first 16 minutes. Lyon County was charged with 14 first half turnovers that led to 15 points for DCA. The Lyons also dealt with some first half foul problems as Nolan Coffman played less than seven minutes in the first half as he picked up three fouls.
The Lyons were also outrebounded for the first time of the tournament in the first half. With their 6-10 and 6-11 combination of Lual Ayiei and Leek Ateny, the Warriors won the battle of the boards in the first half 19-14.
Lyon County trailed 13-10 after the first quarter and then the turnover issues helped DCA move out to the 14 point halftime lead.
But as Lyon County teams of recent years have shown, it is dangerous to count them out too early in the game.
Led be Cooper Collins and Bray Kirk, the Lyons opened the second half with a 13-1 run to make it 35-33 and it was game on. Collins was simply on fire in the quarter, knocking down three shots from behind the arc in the third. Kirk went into attack mode going to the basket as the Lyons brought the purple and gold clad folks to their feet roaring their approval and support.
Lyon County could not quite pull even in the third as DCA was able to do just enough to hang on to the lead. But, the Lyons would grab the momentum as the quarter ender. Trailing by six in the final seconds of the quarter, Lyon County got the ball to Cooper Collins from near 30 feet away and he drained the shot just ahead of the horn to cut the lead to 45-42 heading into the final quarter and the Lyon County fans nearly lifted the roof off the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Lyon County finally drew even with the Warriors at 47-47 early in the final quarter. Lyon County had the ball on a couple of occasions with a chance to get to the front in the fourth, and you felt like if they could ever get to the lead the game was theirs. Give Danville Christian credit, they did what they had to do to not let that happen.
Tournament MVP Titus Boyd made a pair of free throws with 25.9 seconds to go that put DCA up 55-51. Bray Kirk attacked the basket and scored to cut it to 55-53.
Leek Ateny was fouled with 10.7 seconds to go and made 1 of 2, making it 56-53 and giving the Lyons one last chance.
Bray Kirk brought the ball up court and got a look at a three from out front, but the shot was off line and Danville Christian had survived to take the title.
Cooper Collins had a spectacular game for Lyon County. He was 8 of 13 from behind the 3-point line and led the Lyons with 26 points. Bray Kirk had another big day for the Lyons with 21 points. Nolan Coffman was the only other Lyon to score with 6 points after spending much of the afternoon in foul trouble.
Danville Christian was led by Titus Boyd with 20 points. Leek Ateny finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Lyon County was 18 of 43 from the field, while DCA was 18 of 42. The Warriors however controlled the glass 36 to 21, the first time in the tournament the Lyons were outrebounded.
Lyon County came back thanks to their three-point shooting, where they were 9 of 25. Danville Christian held on for the win at the line, where they were 18 of 25, while Lyon County was 8 of 16.
The loss ends Lyon County’s 9-game winning streak and drops the Lyons to 14-5. Lyon County will be back in action Tuesday night on the road at Livingston Central.
One Response
A high school game is 32 minutes long. Theories are fun to entertain, but at the end of the day, DCA beat Lyon County because they were better than them Sunday.