While the pain of the loss is probably still too fresh at the moment, the seniors on the Lyon County basketball team will one day look back with great fondness and incredible pride over what they have been a part of during their high school basketball careers.
In their senior year alone, the quartet of Bray Kirk, Isaac Defew, Cooper Collins, and Carson Collins won 29 games, losing only twice after January 1, and one of those was their season-ending loss in the Boys Sweet 16. They won the 2nd Region All A Classic championship for the third year in a row. They would go on to win the All A Classic state championship, despite the weather forcing them into playing two tough, physical games on the same day to win the title.
Add to the team accomplishments this season the fact that Bray Kirk was named the 2nd Region ‘Player of the Year.’
They won another 5th District championship. On the way to the regional championship, they avenged a loss in the 2025 regional semifinals by outlasting Henderson County in a double-overtime epic in the regional championship game to earn the trip back to Rupp Arena.
As juniors in 2024-2025, this senior group won 25 games. They won the 2nd Region All A Classic and then reached the championship game of the All A Classic state tournament and nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages before falling to Danville Christian in the championship game. And yes, they won another 5th District championship.
During their sophomore season in 2023-2024, the foursome was part of a magical run that made Lyon County basketball history. Along with the ‘Three Amigos’ of Perry, Shoulders, and Reddick, they won an astonishing 36 games, including the final 16 games of the season.
They won the White, Greer, and Maggard Holiday Classic. They won two games at the City of Palms Classic. They were never seriously threatened in the 5th District tournament or the 2nd Region tournament, and, oh by the way, they cut down the nets on Saturday night at Rupp Arena, something the ‘small’ schools are not supposed to be able to do.
If not for an injured ankle to Jack Reddick, that team likley would have finished the season without a loss in the Bluegrass State.
All four played in a minimum of 17 games as freshmen in 2022-2023. That season the Lyons won 31 games. After being upset by UHA in the 2nd Region All A Classic, they won 17 games in a row, taking the 5th District tournament and the 2nd Region tournament, and then advancing to the quarterfinals of the Sweet 16 before losing a tight battle to GRC.
In 2021-2022, while the area was still in the recovery phases from COVID, Bray Kirk as an 8th grader, saw action in 27 games for the Lyon County team that won 29 games and reached the quarterfinals of the Sweet 16.
As a group, from their freshman year through their final game together, this quartet was a big part of winning 121 games and losing just 24 and earned a ‘ring for each hand.’
Indeed, while it may not be that way today, this group one day can look back and say ‘wow, we did all of that’ and do so with pride, not just pride but Lyon Pride.
