Everybody at Wayland Gymnasium in the Mountain Sports Hall of Fame knew who Travis Perry was Saturday night.
Like so many of his teammates, he took time to hug friends, sign autographs, take candid photos and chat with excited University of Kentucky fans — all crammed in the historic home of once-upon-a-time scoring champion King Kelly Coleman and his winged Wasps to watch the current-and-future King.
And Perry certainly delivered: to the tune of 30 points and five 3-pointers in a 110-72 running-clock romp of 15th Region Floyd Central. His lone scoring miscue: a blown dunk in the second quarter, something he rarely attempts.
However, it was his long-time teammates Brady Shoulders and Jack Reddick that had several Jaguars fans and general onlookers in the stands wondering: “Who is that guy? And where is he headed?”
Shoulders, bound for UT Martin, and Reddick, still weighing his options, simply erased early-season mini-shooting slumps — both pouring in an effective 27 points during the landslide.
The former had 15 points after halftime, zipping no-look passes if he wasn’t camping near the cup.
The latter had three of his five 3-pointers in a 38-point first quarter for the Lyons, who led 62-46 at the break, and 96-60 after the third.
“Coach [Ryan Perry] said we had to come out guns-a-blazing,” Reddick said. “We just had to keep going. Keep pushing. We knew they were getting tired. And we just had to keep putting our foot on their throat. And we did. And it turned out good.”
For a half, the Lyons were challenged by the senior-laden Jaguars — who altogether got 22 from Ronnie Sammons and 18 from Braden Moore — and late in the second quarter led just 49-39.
Perry, however, closed out a Lyon County 13-7 run into halftime with a drawn-up catch-and-slash.
Less than five minutes to go in the third, it was 90-56, as an alley-oop dunk and an ensuing offensive putback, both from Shoulders, brought about a timeout — and a deafening roar from a crowd of 250 boxed in with no bad seat in the house.
“I told our guys that I thought we were playing pretty well in the first half,” Ryan said. “But they were, too. I told our guys, ‘This is a really good Floyd team.’ They’ve got a shot to win their region. They’ve got players. They’re well coached. That’s a really good team. And I really emphasized at halftime that we needed to try and stretch this thing out to where they couldn’t catch us. Because if we let them hang around, that team would [stay around] until the end of the game. And so we came out with a sense of urgency, and made a couple of small defensive changes.”
Like their Lady Lyons counterparts, the Lyons had a challenging turnaround — winning by nearly 60 against Crittenden County Friday night before making the trek to Appalachia.
The history of it all, though, made it worth it. Especially with it being only the second varsity boys game there in 50 years.
“It’s really special to be in the house that King Kelly Coleman built,” Travis said. “Probably the most unique gym I’ve ever played in, and just to get to play here with all my teammates and the girls team getting to play here, it’s really special.”
“It’s pretty surreal,” Reddick said. “I wasn’t expecting anything because I hadn’t seen it before. It was just a blessing to be here with Travis being such a good player, and it felt good to roll here, and it was just a blessing.”
“It’s amazing,” Ryan added. “We had people in the gym last night sending us pictures of it, and we were so excited. But until you walk through the door over there, and feel it, and smell it, and hear it, and all that kind of stuff, it just doesn’t do it justice. You can’t understand. This place is special. I told our coaches when we walked in: ‘Man, if the walls could talk, the stories they could tell.’ You just look around, and everywhere you look is just historical. We were humbled.”
LYON COUNTY 110, FLOYD CENTRAL 72
Lyons (6-1) 38 24 34 14 — 110
Jaguars (5-2) 25 21 14 12 — 72
LYON COUNTY
Scoring: Travis Perry 30, Jack Reddick 27, Brady Shoulders 27, Isaac Defew 9, Cooper Collins 6, Bray Kirk 4, Jackson Crawford 3, Carson Collins 2, Lukas Breedlove 2.
FG: 44-72. 2PT: 31. 3PT: 13 (Perry 5, Reddick 5, Collins 2, Crawford 1). FT: 9-10. PF: 7. Reb: 36. Ast: 31. TO: 19.
FLOYD CENTRAL
Scoring: Ronnie Sammons 22, Braden Moore 18, Dylan Boyd 9, Brody Buck 9, Grant Jenkins 6, James Sammons 4, Logan Meade 2, Dawson Moore 2.
FG: 31-67. 2PT: 23. 3PT: 8 (Boyd 3, Moore 2, Jenkins 2, Bock). FT: 2-2. PF: 11. Reb: 27. Ast: 24. TO: 23.
