The Lyon County Lyons enter play in the boys’ Fifth District basketball tournament as the odds-on favorite to repeat and claim a seventh straight title.
The Lyons are the top seed after breezing through district play unbeaten at 6-0 and have won 41 straight district games dating back to 2020.
Lyon County will face four-seed and winless Crittenden County in Tuesday’s first semifinal at 6 o’clock. The Lyons closed out the regular season with a Friday loss to St. Mary which snapped a six-game winning streak.
Lyon County has posted a 22-7 record against the region’s sixth toughest schedule according to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association ratings percentage index (RPI) which factors in the strength of schedule of the teams beaten but does not include margin of victory.
While Lyon County was known as a finesse team during the era of Travis Perry, Jack Reddick, and Brady Shoulders, the Lyons have added in a blue-collar trait this season with more size inside.
Guard Bray Kirk leads the Lyons in scoring at 22 points a game, while Cooper Collins has added 10 points, mostly from the outside.
However, forwards Isaac DeFew and Nolan Coffman have given Lyon County a combined 28 points and 18 rebounds a game. Factor in Carson Collins (8 ppg., 6 reb.), who brings his hard hat and lunch pail to the game every night and it’s not just about three-pointers and fast breaks for this Lyon County team.
The Lyons will face the last district school to knock them off in district play.
It’s been a challenging year for second-year coach Matt Fraliex in Marion as the Rockets enter the postseason winless with a roster missing several upperclassmen from the beginning of the year due to defections.
The Rockets are led and scoring by a pair of freshmen – Drake Young and Coby Larue – at seven points a game.
However, without an experienced point guard on the floor, the Rockets will try and overcome a Lyon County press that likes to force turnovers and get quick baskets in transition.
The Tuesday night 7:30 semifinal will feature the host, Trigg County, who is the three seed against Livingston Central. These teams played a pair of close contests during the season.
In January, Trigg County scored the final eight points of the game to beat the Cardinals 78-70 at Wildcat Gym.
Three weeks ago, Livingston Central returned the favor with a 77-74 win over the Wildcats on a night when Trigg County hit 16 three-pointers but could not overcome 50% shooting by the Cardinals.
Trigg County averages eight 3-pointers a ballgame and shoots 43 percent from the field. But offense hasn’t been the problem for the Wildcats who bring a 10-game losing streak into district play, their longest since the 1992-93 season.
During its losing streak, Trigg County’s opponents are averaging more than a point per possession with eight of the 10 teams scoring 70 or more points.
The Wildcat offense features Davaree Gude, who averages a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Caleb Fogle (67) and Landon Swann (67) lead the Wildcats in 3-pointers made and have shown the ability to shoot a higher percentage at home than on the road.
Livingston Central is paced by 6-7 junior Logan Wring, who averages 24 points and 12 rebounds. In two games against Trigg County, Wring scored 57 points and grabbed 26 rebounds and proved to be a tough matchup against a Trigg County team that doesn’t feature much size inside.
Bryson Walker was a non-factor in the first game at Trigg County but scored 16 points in their win over Trigg in Smithland.
Trigg County also had trouble with Brady Stone, who came off the bench in both games and scored 20 points and pulled down 15 rebounds – nearly twice his season average.
Whichever team can figure out a working defensive game plan should be the victor, although it’s likely to come down to which team can outscore the other.
Tuesday’s winners will meet in Friday night’s championship game at seven o’clock at Wildcat Gym.
Oldies Radio 100.9 FM will broadcast the entire district basketball tournament. The games will also be streamed worldwide at wkdzradio.com and full coverage of the district tournament can be found here at YourSportsEdge.com.
