For one team, winning their first game at the KHSAA State Basketball tournament at Rupp Arena was a major achievement. For the other, it was a disappointing way to end their marvelous season. Lyon County came into the game never winning a State Tournament game and despite trailing at halftime by a point, came out and took it to the Bulldogs in the second half and came away with a victory for the ages in front of a spirited crowd, many who followed the Region 2 team to Lexington, Kentucky.
The Lyons came out in a 2-3 zone to slow down the Bulldogs and John Hardin responded by hitting several long-range shots building a 20-11 lead midway through the first quarter. The Lyons, who like the Bulldogs are a run and gun team, responded by adjusting slowly cutting the lead to 20-15 after one. John Hardin continued to lead through the second and held a 36-35 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Bulldogs began pressing full court and the game began to change drastically as Lyon County first took the lead and then began building on it. Lyon Travis Perry would score 11 of his game high 26-points in the third quarter and Lyon County outscored John Hardin, 23-12 and built a 58-48 lead.
John Hardin fought back, but found themselves in tough position as Lyon County would not let up and continued to score at will as they outrebounded the Bulldogs 38-to-28 and finally pulled out an 82-65 win.
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Jalen Tyus with 18-points and Devon Rogers with 13-points. Lyon County got balanced scoring by Perry with 26-points, Jackson Shoulders with 22-points and brother Brady Shoulders with 18-points.
John Hardin was making their sixth appearance in the State Tournament, while Lyon County hasn’t made an appearance since 1951, yet Lyon County appeared to be the more in control team in the second half. Even the Lyon’s loss in the second round to Covington Catholic could not silence the cheers from their fans.
John Hardin’s season ends at 25-10 under first year coach Austin Jones and he will definitely have some reloading to do as the team will lose their top five scorers. However, the Bulldogs have graduated plenty of talent before and have been back near the top as all four head coaches (Artie Braden, Mark Wells, Jared McCurry and Jones) have taken teams to Rupp.
