After their win over University Heights in the quarterfinal round of the 2nd Region All A Classic, there may have been some concern among Lyon County fans that the Lyons would be dealing with a little overconfidence heading into Saturday night’s championship game against Caldwell County. Those concerns were put quickly to rest once the game got started.
Using defensive pressure from the beginning the Lyons jumped out to a 15-1 lead and never looked back on their way to an 88-60 win and their first All A Regional championship since the 2009 season. Lyon County turned on their press after they scored the first basket of the game, and it took the Tigers a little over a quarter to get things figured out, and by that time, it turned out to be too late.
The trio of Travis Perry, Jackson Shoulders, and Gunnar Bingham combined to score 25 first quarter points, as the Lyons roared out to a 27-5 lead after the opening eight minutes. A big chunk of the Lyons points came off of turnovers, as Lyon County forced Caldwell County into eight first quarter miscues.
With Jabrion Spikes and Tripp Branch doing all they could, the Tigers actually made a little headway late in the second quarter. Trailing 39-10, Caldwell County finished the half on a 14-5 run to cut the lead to 44-24 at the half. Turnovers continued to plague the Tigers as they had seven more in the second quarter.
The third quarter saw more of the same pattern. Lyon County pushed the lead out to 27 points at 57-30. Jabrion Spike continued his hot play of the second quarter, and helped lead Caldwell County on a 12-8 run to finish the quarter to cut the lead back to 65-42. Spikes scored 15 points in the third quarter alone.
Caldwell County could get no closer than 21 points in the 4th quarter, as the Lyons cruised on out to the final 28 point margin.
Travis Perry paced the Lyon County attack with 31 points. Jackson Shoulders added 16, while Gunnar Bingham finished with 13 points.
Jabrion Spikes had a big night for Caldwell County, finishing with 30 points.
Tripp Branch finished with 15 points, but was shutout by the Lyons in the second half of play.
Lyon County improves to 5-0 on the season, and will now be making their 4th trip to the All A Classic state tournament, and their first since 2009. The Lyons have not won a game at the statewide event. Lyon County will take on the winner of the 7th Region at a date and time yet to be determined the week of February 15th in Richmond.
Caldwell County drops to 2-3 on the season.
One interesting point of note. The two teams are set to play again Monday night in Princeton.
CCHS — 5 19 18 18 – 60
LCHS — 27 17 21 23 – 88
Caldwell County (2-3) – Spikes 30, Branch 15, Bumphus 6, Riley 5, Ca.Whittington 2, Co.Whittington 2
Lyon County (5-0) – Perry 31, J. Shoulders 16, Bingham 13, Whalin 11, Reddick 6, B. Shoulders 6, Kirk 3, Wilson 2
