Future Wildcat Travis Perry ‘bionic’ in Lyon County’s Sweet 16 win vs. Great Crossing

According to Lyon County head coach Ryan Perry, 2024 Mr. Kentucky Basketball and UK signee Travis Perry grew up spending countless hours dribbling a basketball all over his family home.

“Up and down the hardwood floor at night,” Ryan Perry said of his son, the state of Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer. “After he got his homework done, but not wanting to do his homework. He would dribble up and down, up and down, all night long. Kindergarten, first grade … there was a lot of those nights.”

In Saturday afternoon’s 58-49 victory over Great Crossing (36-2) in the 2024 UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 semifinals, all that practice paid off, as the two-time Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year shouldered the responsibility of slowing down the pace of the game in the fourth quarter. And, most importantly, burning time off the clock as the Lyons held on to a multiple-possession lead. Perry was so effective, in fact, that Great Crossing head coach Steve Page was one of several onlookers in attendance to compare the guard to one of the game’s most prolific ball handlers.

“Second half, particularly fourth quarter,” Page said, “we laughed on the bench that he looked like (former Harlem Globetrotter) Curly Neal, dribbling around, but they slowed it down there in the fourth quarter.”

Ryan Perry called his son “bionic, he’s in elite shape” after he led all scorers with 24 points on 7-for-19 shooting from the field, including 4-for-11 from long range and 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. He tacked on four rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal in 32 minutes on the floor.

Perry said he set out to give the game all he had, knowing Saturday was the last time he and his senior teammates would play high school basketball.

“We still missed a lot of shots, but I feel like today, it’s the third game in four days, we’re going to play four,” Perry said. “It’s just about doing the little things, playing hard. And for me, I came into it this morning sitting there, thinking the whole way since I woke up, ‘I’m playing my last high school basketball game today, might as well give it all you got .’ Last time playing for my dad, playing with these guys. So I think that’s kind of what motivated us.”

That confidence was necessary against the Warhawks, who had a slight lead after the first quarter, remained competitive throughout and finished with three juniors in double figures in scoring — sharpshooting guard Gage Richardson (16 points), dynamic guard Vince Dawson (11 points) and 7-foot-1 Power Five prospect Malachi Moreno (12 points and 14 rebounds).

Lyon County (35-3) is unique in that it has three senior Division I-bound guards running its backcourt, each of whom has been instrumental in the Lyons’ three consecutive Sweet 16 appearances. Alongside Perry are Florida Gulf Coast signee Jack Reddick and Brady Shoulders, who holds multiple offers including Mercer and FGCU, orchestrate the Lyons’ offense.

But it was starting the offensive attack that mattered most.

The Lyon County coaching staff was up late on Friday night, attempting to come up with the best strategy to break Great Crossing’s stifling press, which, until Saturday, the Warhawks used as one of many tools to remain undefeated within state lines.

Because of the Warhawks’ size, length and pressure, the Lyons set out to take a double-digit lead by beating that initial trap built by junior guard Vince Dawson and senior forward Jeremiah Godfrey.

“The second half, we knew if we could get a double-digit lead … we just let Travis dribble out the last quarter,” Ryan Perry said. “He can handle the ball, and you really can’t take it from him and you’re forced to foul. And then you end up shooting two shots with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and we’ll take our chances with that.”

In the second quarter, the Lyons took a lead they would not lose — building to as many as 12 in the third quarter. The Warhawks cut it to as few as three in the fourth quarter when Lyon County did, ultimately, win it from the free-throw line.

Shoulders finished with 13 points and Reddick added 11.

Lyon County advanced to face Harlan County in Saturday night’s state championship game.

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