For Magoffin coach, historic Sweet 16 trip means game against his twin brother’s son

If you had looked in on Shirley and Glen Castle’s twin boys, Scott and Jeff, growing up in Magoffin County in the late 1980s, you’d have seen a pair of teenagers on a mission.

As the starting guards for the Magoffin County High School boys basketball team, the twins’ goal was to lead the Hornets to the Kentucky state tournament for the first time in school history.

When that didn’t happen, for reasons tinged with tragedy, Scott Castle chose in his adult life to continue pursuit of the dream by becoming the Magoffin County boys head basketball coach.

Last Monday night, Castle and the 2023-24 Hornets produced a moment that many in Magoffin County had despaired would never come. In their fourth all-time appearance in a 15th Region boys tournament championship game, the Hornets finally broke through.

Facing a Martin County team that had previously beaten Magoffin three times this season, the Hornets scored a 67-57 win behind 34 points from star guard Aden Barnett. At long last, Magoffin County punched its ticket to play at Rupp Arena in a boys state tourney.

“Unbelievable,” Scott Castle says of the community reaction. “You see people crying and jumping up and down and smiling and celebrating. You ask yourself, ‘Is this really real?’”

Yet for Scott Castle, the thrill of leading his high school alma mater to its first-ever trip to the Boys’ Sweet 16 comes with a family twist.

When Magoffin County (21-13) makes its state tournament debut against 14th Region champ Perry County Central (22-13) on Wednesday at 11 a.m. EDT, Scott Castle will share the moment with his twin brother Jeff in a manner that would have been unthinkable when they were teens.

When Scott Castle, 51, at last coaches Magoffin County in the Sweet 16, the twin who looks just like him plans to be at Rupp Arena — rooting against his brother.

The MVP of Perry County Central’s unexpected run through the 14th Region Tournament was Casey Castle.

Jeff Castle’s son.

Scott Castle’s nephew.

A dream deferred

Though Scott and Jeff Castle are fraternal, not identical, twins, they look so much alike that Jeff, the better shooter, says he would sometimes take the free throws in high school hoops games when his brother was fouled.

“Even today, a lot of people will get us confused if they see us out separate,” says Jeff Castle, the director of pupil personnel for Perry County public schools. “A lot of people, if they see me out, they think I’m Scott. And they talk to me as if I was Scott.”

Going into their senior year (1989-90) of high school, the Castle twins had high hopes of making some basketball history for Magoffin County. “We played on the team that everybody thought we were going to be the team to break through and go to the state tournament,” Scott Castle says. “But things didn’t work out.”

During that senior year, the Castle twins noticed that their father had begun to lose an alarming amount of weight. Trying to shield the teens from worry, family members held back the details after Glen Castle was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, sickle cell carcinoma.

Still, the boys knew something was very wrong with their dad.

When Magoffin County lost to Allen Central in the first round of the 1990 15th Region Tournament, “we just had a lot of other important things on our mind other than basketball,” Scott Castle says.

On July 26, 1990, Glen Castle died at a medical facility in Prestonsburg. He was 43.

“That whole year, it was difficult,” Jeff Castle says.

Family reunion at Rupp

In the days since Magoffin County finally attained the Kentucky high school hoops holy grail of a berth in the Sweet 16, Scott Castle says he’s had two major problems.

One, there have not been enough days between Magoffin winning the regional tournament and having to leave for Lexington to play in the state tourney to accommodate all the local eateries that have wanted to host the Hornets for a free meal.

Second, the Magoffin County coach says he hasn’t had enough time in his days to return all the congratulatory phone calls and text messages he has received.

“Now, my brother called. I hung up on him,” Scott Castle jokes.

In the 14th Region Tournament, Carter Castle put on a master class in offensive efficiency for Perry Central. Over three games, the 6-foot-1 junior forward hit 21 of 26 field-goal tries and averaged 15 points and six rebounds as the Commodores claimed the regional championship.

“Carter has broad shoulders — and that’s a great way to describe his game. He carries us,” says Perry Central coach Shannon Hoskins. “Just very strong. Great feet. Great hands. Great touch. A great scorer around the basket.”

Scott Castle knows what his nephew can do. When Perry Central defeated Magoffin County 78-73 on Dec. 1, Carter Castle hit 8 of 10 shots and scored 17 points with six boards.

“Carter is a nice player. He’s going to give us all kinds of problems,” Scott Castle says. “... But we are going to try to stop Carter in order to win.”

For his part, Carter Castle allows that “it will be a little weird” to be at Rupp playing in the state tournament with his uncle on the opposite bench.

In a complicated family rooting dynamic, it is likely 75-year-old Shirley Castle — Scott and Jeff’s mom, Carter’s grandmother — who faces the most-challenging scenario.

“She’d probably be for Magoffin, but for me (to have a big game), too,” Carter Castle says.

During March Madness, dreams can be fulfilled in surprising ways. Thirty-four years after Scott and Jeff Castle saw their goal of together leading Magoffin County to its first Boys’ Sweet 16 end under trying circumstances, they will at last share the experience.

They’ll just be on different sides.

“Win or lose, there is not going to be any hard feelings,” Scott Castle says. “We are going to hope that both teams play to their ability and then we are going to support and root for whoever wins.”

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