Malachi Moreno drops double-double in season-opener, Great Crossing escapes in overtime

Great Crossing has a huge target on its back this season. Malachi Moreno is trusted with making sure the opposition doesn’t hit the mark.

The Kentucky men’s basketball commit did exactly that in a thrilling season-opener on Monday night in Georgetown. The top-ranked Warhawks used a game-tying three-pointer right before the buzzer in regulation to steal a win in overtime, 95-89, from the No. 5 Ashland Blazer Tomcats, which was down a few starters.

Great Crossing senior point guard Junius Burrell was the one who saved the Warhawks down the stretch of the fourth quarter. After Morehead State commit Vince Dawson (who finished with 26 points) missed the potential game-tying shot for the Warhawks, Moreno picked up the rebound underneath the basket and rifled out a pass to Burrell, who drilled an off-balance triple to give us four free minutes of basketball.

“I was just hoping and praying underneath the rim that Junius is gonna make it,” Moreno told KSR afterward. “But we wouldn’t be in that situation without him. Once he made that shot, we went into overtime, and we took care of business.”

Burrell finished with 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists. No stat was more important than the three-pointer that sent this one to an extra period.

OVERTIME!

Great Crossing hits a 3 right before the buzzer to send us to overtime.

81-81 pic.twitter.com/TlNylnMFUq

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) December 3, 2024

Moreno’s rebound-to-assist combo at the end of regulation was just a slight glimpse into his stat sheet-stuffing performance. The seven-foot four-star prospect cleaned up on both ends of the floor. He finished with 26 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, four blocks, and one steal in 31 minutes with just one turnover. Moreno shot 11-12 from the field, the only miss being a shot at the rim that he immediately grabbed and put back up for a make.

But his biggest moment of the night won’t show up in the box score. With Great Crossing up by four in overtime with under 30 seconds to go, Moreno stopped a drive from Ashland Blazer senior Zander Carter (a Liberty commit) by going straight up, forcing the miss, and grabbing the game’s final rebound.

“I just like to be the defensive anchor for my team,” Moreno said. “Set the tone early. Making sure (my teammates) know there’s no reason to be scared and just be the backbone of the defense.”

FINAL (OT):

No. 1 Great Crossing 95
No. 5 Ashland Blazer 89

Malachi Moreno came up with arguably the biggest defensive stop of the game near the end against Blazer’s top player.

Awesome game. pic.twitter.com/MdakwfNM9M

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) December 3, 2024

It was an excellent defensive play from Moreno to close out the win, but Carter deserves some praise.

Despite Ashland Blazer being down multiple starters, the 6-foot-6 guard was nearly unstoppable against Great Crossing’s defense. He finished with a game-high 29 points and six assists on 12-18 shooting. Senior Preston Hoskins (15 points) and junior Drew Smith (17 points) also chipped in some production for the Tomcats. But outside of six more points from senior Tyson Lalonde, no other Ashland Blazer player scored.

Ashland Blazer put up a great fight and is well-deserving of the No. 5 ranking in the Bluegrass. The Tomcats were down by 10 in the second quarter before making it a one-point game at the half. One missed free throw down the stretch of regulation opened up a tiny window for Great Crossing, which took full advantage. This group of Warhawks has a history of finding wild ways to win. Sophomore LJ Holman rounded out Great Crossing’s four double-digit scorers with 10 points and seven rebounds.

But Great Crossing should expect this type of effort from every opponent for the rest of the season. This is a nationally-ranked squad with a Top 30 player in the country leading the way. The schedule is impressively tough too. Advancing further than last season’s Sweet 16 semifinals finish will require plenty of tests along the way.

It only took one game for the first test to pop up, but Great Crossing managed to pass.

“We knew it was gonna be a hard game,” Moreno added. “Everybody is gonna be targeting us because we were preseason No. 1 (in the state), preseason No. 15 in the country. Everybody wants to beat Great Crossing. We came into the game knowing it was gonna be a rough game. To be honest I didn’t expect that.”