First Annual Middle School State Tournament
Kentucky Basketball Academy
Lexington, Kentucky
March 16-17, 2002
©2002 by Ron Harrison
There were twenty-four teams entered in this event. The teams scheduled to participate include Blessed Sacrament, Boyle County, Jackson County, North Laurel, Scott County, Owensboro Catholic, Woodford County, Grant County, Estill County, South Floyd, Bardstown, St. Pius, Jackson City, Second Street, Scott Middle (Ft. Knox), Elkhorn Middle, Burns, Leslie County, Bell Central, Lexington Christian Academy, Ohio County, Morgan County, Lexington Catholic, and Highlands. There are several competitive teams in this tourney but the favorites entering the event would probably be Lexington Catholic and Highlands.
Saturday March 16th, 2002
|
Pool 1 |
|
Pool 2 |
|
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|
Blessed Sacrament |
48 |
Boyle County |
41 |
|
Scott County |
88 |
North Laurel |
62 |
|
|
Boyle County |
50 |
Jackson County |
42 |
|
Owensboro Cath. |
70 |
North Laurel |
25 |
|
|
Jackson County |
50 |
Blessed Sacrament |
35 |
|
Owensboro Cath. |
54 |
Scott County |
26 |
|
|
Pool 3 |
|
Pool 4 |
|
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Grant County |
48 |
Woodford County |
42 |
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South Floyd |
55 |
Bardstown |
41 |
|
|
Woodford County |
47 |
Estill County |
43 |
|
St. Pius |
60 |
Bardstown |
29 |
|
|
Estill County |
45 |
Grant County |
40 |
|
St. Pius |
67 |
South Floyd |
47 |
|
|
Pool 5 |
|
Pool 6 |
|
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Second Street |
60 |
Jackson City |
47 |
|
Burns |
56 |
Elkhorn Middle |
39 |
|
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Scott Middle (Ft. Knox) |
57 |
Jackson City |
38 |
|
Elkhorn Middle |
42 |
Leslie County |
40 |
|
|
Scott Middle (Ft. Knox) |
63 |
Second Street |
48 |
|
Leslie County |
47 |
Burns |
43 |
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Pool 7 |
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Pool 8 |
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Lexington Christian |
47 |
Bell Central |
43 |
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Lexington Cath. |
51 |
Morgan County |
37 |
|
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Bell Central |
46 |
Ohio County |
39 |
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Highlands |
58 |
Morgan County |
31 |
|
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Ohio County |
57 |
Lexington Christian |
53 |
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Highlands |
48 |
Lexington Cath. |
47 |
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Tournament Round |
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Scott Middle (Ft. Knox) |
76 |
Lexington Christian |
51 |
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|
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St. Pius |
54 |
Scott County |
45 |
|
|
|
Burns |
60 |
Boyle County |
59 |
(OT) |
|
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Highlands |
48 |
Grant County |
21 |
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|
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Jackson County |
54 |
Leslie County |
48 |
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|
|
Lexington Catholic |
60 |
Estill County |
33 |
|
|
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Owensboro Catholic |
58 |
Second Street |
42 |
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|
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Bell Central |
58 |
South Floyd |
51 |
(OT) |
|
Pool Play
Scott Middle (Ft. Knox) 63 Second Street 48
Scott was led today by Brandon Bland with 25 points while Second Street
was led by Aaron Dunaway who poured in 33 points.
Jackson County 50
Blessed Sacrament 35
The victors were led by McCowan and Eversole with 20 points
each. Blessed Sacrament was led by
Frommeger with nine points.
St. Pius 67
South Floyd 47
St. Pius was led by Brett Sutton and Stephens with 21 and 12
points respectively. South Floyd
was led by J. Johnson and E. Johnson with 12 points each.
Estill County 45
Grant County 40
Estill County edged Grant County by a 45-40 margin and was led by C. Dixon
and S. Reese with 13 and 12 points respectively. Grant County was led by Dezarn
with 11 points.
Bell Central 46
Ohio County 39
Bell Central was led by J. Turner with 13 points and Ohio County was
paced by S. Maden with 10 points.
Owensboro Catholic 70 North Laurel 25
Owensboro was led by Andrew Howard and Travis Owsley with 20 and
13 points respectively. Nanz
led North Laurel with 13 points.
Boyle County 50
Jackson County 42
The victors were led by S. Tamme 23 points while McCowan led
Jackson County with 15 points.
Woodford County 47
Estill County 43
Rice and Williams led Woodford County with 12 points each while J.
Puckett and C. Dixon each tallied 11 points for Estill County.
Lexington Catholic 51 Morgan County 37
Dexter Davidson and Russell Allen led the victors with 16 and
nine points respectively. Morgan
County was led by Young and McCowan with nine and eight points
respectively.
Tournament Round
St. Pius 54
Scott County 45
Brett Sutton led St. Pius with 18 points while Scott County was paced by
Thompson and Houston with 21 and 14 points respectively.
Owensboro Catholic 58 Second Street 42
Owensboro Catholic was led by Andrew Howard and Dylan Flaim with
20 and 12 points respectively.
Second Street was led by Aaron Dunaway and Anderson with
24 and 11 points respectively.
Sunday March 17th, 2002
Tournament Round
|
St. Pius |
61 |
Scott Middle (Ft. Knox) |
54 |
Quarterfinal |
|
Highlands |
39 |
Burns |
38 |
Quarterfinal |
|
Lexington Catholic |
57 |
Jackson County |
49 |
Quarterfinal |
|
Owensboro Catholic |
61 |
Bell Central |
44 |
Quarterfinal |
|
Highlands |
42 |
St. Pius |
33 |
Semifinal |
|
Lexington Catholic |
63 |
Owensboro Catholic |
59 |
Semifinal |
|
Lexington Catholic |
47 |
Highlands |
33 |
Championship |
St. Pius 61
Scott Middle (Ft. Knox)
54 Quarterfinal
St. Pius was led by Brett Sutton and Stephens with 27 and 13
points respectively. Scott was led
by Brandon Bland with 30 points.
Owensboro Catholic 61 Bell Central 44
Quarterfinal
Owensboro Catholic was led by Travis Owsley, Andrew Howard and Jay
Ivey with 16, 15 and 11 points respectively. Bell Central was led by K. Nelson with 22 points.
Highlands 42
St. Pius 33 Semifinal
Highlands was led today by Tanner Johnson with 13 points. St. Pius was led today by Schiever
and Brett Sutton with eight and seven points respectively.
Lexington Catholic 63 Owensboro Catholic 59 Semifinal
Lexington Catholic edged Owensboro Catholic in an excellent semifinal
matchup. The victors were led by Justin
Burke, Brian Hewitt, and Russell Allen with 16, 15, and 12
points respectively. Owensboro
Catholic was led by Travis Owsley, Jay Ivey and Andrew Howard
with 18, 13 and 12 points respectively. Hewitt and Burke combined for nine three
pointers for Lexington Catholic with Hewitt connecting on five bombs
from beyond the arc.
Championship Game
Lexington Catholic vs. Highlands
Lexington Catholic coach Mike Mendenhall started the following lineup: Mike Heissenbuttel, Dexter Davidson, Russell
Allen, Brian Hewitt, and Justin Burke. Highlands coach Kevin Bundy brings a
33-0 record to the game and started Chase Cecil, Brian Rose, Tanner
Johnson, Ben Guidugli, and Jeff Vories.
Lexington Catholic led 23-18 at halftime and pulled away in the final period to take a 47-33 decision and avenged an earlier loss to Highlands. Lexington Catholic was led by Dexter Davidson with 16 points and 18 rebounds. Highlands was led by Tanner Johnson with 16 points and 12 rebounds. .
|
Lexington Catholic |
5 |
18 |
10 |
14 |
- |
47 |
|
Highlands |
10 |
8 |
7 |
8 |
- |
33 |
Lexington Catholic |
(47) - |
Heissenbuttel 1, Davidson 16, Allen 7, Hewitt 7, Burke 6, Donnelly 8, Breathitt 2. |
Highlands |
(33) - |
Cecil 0, Rose 7, Johnson 16, Guidugli 0, Vories 8, Smith 2. |
All Tournament Team
|
Aaron Dunaway |
|
Second Street |
|
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Brandon Bland |
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Scott Middle (Ft. Knox) |
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Jake Wells |
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Burns |
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Brett Sutton |
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St. Pius |
|
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Andrew Howard |
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Owensboro Catholic |
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Jay Ivey |
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Owensboro Catholic |
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Jeff Vories |
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Highlands |
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Tanner Johnson |
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Highlands |
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Justin Burke |
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Lexington Catholic |
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Russell Allen |
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Lexington Catholic |
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Dexter Davidson |
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Lexington Catholic |
MVP |
Conclusion
There was some excellent basketball played here this weekend and hopefully this will be an annual event. Unfortunately, I missed Saturday due to prior commitments to the Sweet 16 state championship and I could not see as many teams and players as I would have liked. Lexington Catholic and Highlands both have excellent teams and actually split in the tournament, with Lexington Catholic taking the championship. I would have to rate these teams 1 and 1A if I were ranking teams. 6-3 Tanner Johnson of Highlands had an excellent tourney.
I was very impressed with 6-2 Dexter Davidson of Lexington Catholic. Davidson has a nice inside-outside touch and is a warrior on the boards. Note: since this tourney it was announced that Coach Danny Haney of Lexington Catholic had resigned his position and was taking a coaching position in Florida. Dexter Davidson’s father will join Coach Haney in Florida so Florida will be gaining an excellent young player who may be a 3-4 year varsity starter. Watch for Highlands – some of these players could be early contributors.
I was also impressed with Andrew Howard (Owensboro Catholic), Aaron Dunaway (Second Street), Brandon Bland (Scott–Ft. Knox), and Brett Sutton (St. Pius) who all put up good numbers. I understand from veteran observers that several players I did not get to see also had excellent tourneys.
Acknowledgments
A special thanks to the people at the Kentucky Basketball Academy—they do a great job with these events and make my job a lot easier. There are many AAU events held at KBA this spring and summer, giving everyone a chance to come out and see the future of Kentucky high school basketball.
Please feel free to send your comments and questions concerning the tournament, teams, or players to me at prephoops@yahoo.com .