Kentucky signee Malachi Moreno had 21 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and four blocks against Daviess County Thursday. (Les Nicholson Photo)
He made sure Great Crossing made a statement early when he had nine points and seven rebounds in the first quarter of an eventual 69-37 win over Daviess County.
Kentucky signee Malachi Moreno went on to finish the game with 21 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including 1-for-1 from 3, along with 17 rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
“We got out of Malachi what we expected to get out of Malachi and pretty much get that every night,” Great Crossing coach Steve Page said about his 7-foot center who will play in the McDonald’s All-American Game next week.
Page couldn’t resist mentioning the 3-pointer.
“I told you his 3-point shot has improved and he proved me right,” Page smiled and said.
Great Crossing had a 31-point lead early in the second half before coasting to the win and even giving up a 16-2 Daviess County win.
“I was really proud early of the way the kids locked in. We had a 16-day layoff and you never know how you will come out and play,” Page said. “We felt like we were the better team if we came out and played and I thought we did a tremendous job of that. I thought we were smothering on defense. Just a professional, business-like effort.”
Great Crossing lost in the state semifinals to Lyon County last year and winning the state was the team’s only goal this year.
“This year we knew what we were coming for (a state title),” Moreno said
The future Wildcat did not want to talk about his play after the game.
“I don’t like to talk about my individual performances much because this is a team game,” he said. “My teammates have a lot of trust in me. I trust them back. We had a great team effort tonight.”
Moreno even scored on a quirky inbounds play in the fourth quarter. Great Crossing had the ball out of bounds on the sideline when Page called for a lob pass to Moreno from Gage Richardson. However, the pass was too strong but went off the backboard to Moreno who laid it in the basket.
“I wish we were smart enough to tell Gage to throw it off the backboard. He was not supposed to do that but it worked very well,” Page said.
Moreno does a lot of things one might not expect.
— Great Crossing was leading 46-19 late in the third quarter when a rebound just tipped off Moreno’s hands and went out of bounds under the Great Crossing basket. He started to go back to play defense, but stopped and retrieved the ball to give it to the official.
— When Daviess County went on the 16-2 run, Moreno blocked a shot, handled the ball on the fast break and dished off for an assist to end the run and put the lead back to 50-31 with 6:04 to play.
— Moreno also played without picking up a foul until two minutes into the fourth quarter.
“He is a beast defensively. He turns people into jump jumpers. He only had four blocks but he did more (changing shots). He ran the floor well,” Page said.
Great Crossing will take a 31-4 record and 23-game winning streak into tonight’s quarterfinal matchup with Cooper, a win over Henderson County Thursday night. Great Crossing has not lost since Dec. 28 and its only in-state loss was to St. Xavier Dec. 15.
St. X came in as the tourney favorite but was upset in the first round by Jeffersontown. Page said that loss did not change his team’s approach.
“I said I didn’t care who was there (in the state championship game) if we were there,” Page said. “We didn’t assume St. X would win that game (against Jeffersontown.”
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Cameron Mills has heard from Kentucky teammate Jeff Sheppard talk all season about North Laurel junior Reece Davidson, Sheppard’s nephew and Reed Sheppard’s cousin.
He got his first chance to see the 6-7, 220-pound Davidson in person this season at the state tournament Thursday when North Laurel held off Breathitt County 54-53.
Davidson scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 36 points on 13-for-24 shooting from the field and 6-for-10 at the foul line after drawing eight fouls. He also had nine rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks. He played all but 23 seconds and did not commit a turnover.
“He’s got everything, including the little things that you really like the big defensive plays he made late in the game,” Mills, who is working as a radio analyst during the state tournament for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, said.
North Laurel trailed 53-51 when Davidson missed a 3-pointer with 1:42 to play. However, less than seconds later he created a steal by knocking the ball loose. North Laurel held the ball until Davidson was fouled with 29.3 second left and made one free throw to cut the lead to 53-52.
Another Breathitt gave North Laurel the ball back and with 4.6 seconds to play Davidson was fouled driving to the basket. This time he made both shots to send North Laurel into Friday’s quarterfinals against Montgomery County, a 98-72 winner over Lawrence County after hitting 16 3-pointers
“He’s not one dimensional. He can do it in the low post. He can do it and handle the ball and shoot the 3,” Mills said about the three-star prospect. “The only thing he struggled with today, and he usually doesn’t, I think he shoots 77 percent on the year, was at the foul line. But had two big ones when they counted.”
He has scholarship offers from Liberty, Tennessee Tech, Western Kentucky and Youngstown State. Mills expects more to be coming.
“He’s got some offers on the table, but I don’t know that I’d commit at this point,” Mills said. “I maybe would play a few more games and see if something bigger doesn’t come around because it seems to me like it would based on how he plays.”
