No. 2 Lexington Catholic, No. 1 Great Crossing Roll to 11th Region Finals
March is here, which means it’s tournament time. You hear the term “Road to Rupp” a lot throughout the season. Now, the time has come when teams are put to the ultimate test of longevity in order to survive and advance.
With regional tournaments taking place around Kentucky, basketball fever is at an all-time high. Our own Piper McCoun has Western Kentucky on lockdown, while Troy Howell and I will work together to cover the rest of the state.
It didn’t get any better than Saturday night in Lexington though. The top two teams in the Bluegrass were in action at Paul Laurence Dunbar’s historic basketball gym for the 11th Region Tournament. No. 2 Lexington Catholic (31-2) matched up with No. 24 Fredrick Douglass (21-12), while No. 1 Great Crossing (32-1) faced off with Madison Southern (23-9) in semifinal matchups.
Dunbar’s gym, being one of the largest in the Lexington area, had a stage set for monumental matchups.
Lexington Catholic Survives, Knocks off Preeason Standout
This season has been all you can ask for within the Lexington Catholic Program.
The Knights entered Saturday’s matchup with Douglass on an 11-game win streak and coming off a recent 15-point 43rd District championship victory over Lexington Christian. In fact, since Lexington Catholic’s eight-point loss to Great Crossing to end January, only one team has kept a defeat within 10 points against the Knights. That team? The Frederick Douglass Broncos.
In fact, the teams’ two matchups felt eerily similar.
Douglass’ Journey, and Deja Vu for Lexington Catholic
Frederick Douglass entered the season as one of the favorites to make it to Rupp Arena. Behind star junior Armelo Boone and super-athlete (and three-star football player) Aveion Chenualt, the Broncos seemed destined for a deep run. However, injuries and let-down spots throughout the season caused some to write off Douglass throughout the season.
Douglass showed who they could be with a Jock Sutherland Classic victory over #14 Harlan County in early February. But they followed the statement of victory by losing four of the next five. However, it seemed that Douglass might finally have hit their rhythm after the Broncos rattled off victories over Henry Clay, Bryan Station, and Madison Central in the postseason en route to the matchup with Lexington Catholic.
Both sides of Dunbar’s 14-row stands were packed full, as the south stands also were at capacity. Lexington Catholic’s student section was deafening near the north-side goal. Everybody in blue, and everyone in orange and green, knew how important this matchup was.
Up for grabs wasn’t just drawing one step closer to Rupp Arena; it was much more than that. For the Lexington Catholic Knights, it was about announcing to Lexington that they were great. And what better team to do it against than the team that knocked you out last season?
Leads can Vanish in a heartbeat
And quite an announcement they made. The Knights came out firing behind Rowan Williams and Sam Smith. Early in the second quarter, Lexington Catholic senior Owen Kennedy rose and slammed all over Douglass. This slam sent the crowd into a frenzy — at this point, the Knights pulled away for a 24-10 lead.
Following more plays from Williams, Tyler Doyle, and a big three from John Reinhart, Lexington Catholic had a 33-13 lead at the half. The air seemed sucked out of the left side of the building, with Douglass seemingly out for the count. However, just like their earlier matchup in February, Douglass did not go away.
The second half began with a 6-0 run for Douglass after some buckets from DeMarcus Sarratt, and the Broncos were alive. Boone finally put the ball in the basket after going into halftime 0-6 with 0 points. Boone rose for a breakaway slam, then hit a big shot as well. Chenault rose for a slam of his own as the Broncos only trailed by seven entering the fourth.
Coach Salsman spoke on Douglass’s fight and talent: “All the prognosticators in the world picked them to win this game. And rightfully so. They were in the top five in the state three seasons ago. They’re playing their best basketball, finally healthy. They came out and gave us a punch in the face in the third quarter.”
The punches continued into the fourth, as Douglass senior Jake Mitchell scored eight early on and cut the lead down to five.
Doyle, Williams flex their talent
However, Lexington Catholic made free throws, defended hard, and didn’t turn the ball over as they finished off Douglass’ comeback.
Lexington Catholic advanced with a 60-50 victory over Douglass. Senior Rowan Williams was the star for the Knights, as he scored 19 points along with 15 rebounds in the game. Williams is never the tallest on the court, but his fight is unmatched. Coach Salsman said, “A lot of people just, you know, see him sometimes that he’s someone that has a fiery soul. But he just wants to win, and he does what he has to do to get it done.”
It was obvious how proud Salsman was of his senior class, mentioning how great all nine of his seniors played to finish off the game. After the game, Williams was as humble as ever: “Yes, sir, thank you. I swear it was. It was awesome. It was just a great game. We had a battle, a whole team battle. I’m proud of the team.”
Even after the game, Coach Salsman was excited for Tuesday’s final. He warned whoever they ended up seeing, “My people will be here. I promise you that.”
Great Crossing Continues to Dominate at the Perfect Time
Although Great Crossing is seen as the best team in the state, some aren’t always convinced. Great Crossing has been known to play with their food at times. Throughout their season, the Warhawks have let far inferior competition stay in games for far too long. However, it always ends the same, a Great Crossing victory (and usually it isn’t close).
Saturday night was much different though, as Great Crossing came out firing on all cylinders. Within the first quarter, it was obvious who the better team was, four-star center Malachi Moreno had two blocks and two dunks in the first quarter. It was evident that Madison Southern had no interest in scoring in the paint, as Moreno and Jeremiah Godfrey both being supremely athletic.
The Warhawks’ top scorer Vince Dawson was incredible in the first half, finishing with 25 points on 10/20 shooting. Dawson’s mid-range game is elite and is a go-to shot for Great Crossing. He spoke on this shot becoming featured less and less in basketball. Dawson said, “If you look at our team, we got two big guys. So that’s like, it’s either going to be there or the next level. So that middy has been like a layup.”
It seemed that Great Crossing had the formula for how to break down Madison Southern early on. Southern fought throughout the entire game, but Moreno played way too well for any team to compete with the Warhawks. Malachi Moreno finished with 28 points on 9-9 shooting and 10-11 from the line with 15 rebounds. In fact, Moreno’s only miss was a free throw… which he airballed.
After the airball, Moreno looked over at his older brother Michael Moreno, laughing at his younger brother. “The free throw is embarrassing. I gotta go home and work out some free throws.” Moreno said, then continued about his brother laughing, “Yeah, because he’d be clowning me on my free throw sometimes, but it’s out of love, so I guess it just shows how much he cares about my free throws.”
Still, Moreno showed why Kentucky head coach John Calipari and many other D1 coaches would love to have his services, and why other high school coaches stay up at night about his size.
Lexington Catholic and Great Crossing will meet Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. EST in Dunbar’s gym for the 11th Region Championship. The winner will advance to the Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena. Unfortunately, the bracket will be missing one of the two best teams in the state during the regular season.
Dawson spoke on this matchup, “We definitely don’t want to get into a shootout (with Lexington Catholic). So, but we don’t want to slow the pace down. Just limit their threes and we’ll be all right.”
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard