Montgomery County's Sweet 16 Record 16 Threes Sink Lawrence County
The No. 15 Montgomery County Indians defeated the Lawrence County Bulldogs 98-72 in the opening round of the UK Healthcare Boys’ Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena on Thursday. Playing in front of a large contingent of Montgomery County fans, the Indians hit a Sweet Record 16 three-pointers on 32 attempts.
“We are definitely playing out best basketball right now,” Montgomery County coach Jason Mays said. “I’m really happy for Montgomery County. The people from Mt. Sterling, our school. I’m really happy that they get to share this journey with us.”
Thirty years after his father, Billy Ray Fawns, scored 29 points to lead the Indians to a first-round Sweet 16 victory over Paintsville, Luke Fawns scored 23 points and was 5-of-8 from downtown to lead Montgomery County to victory over another 15th Region opponent. He added eight rebounds.
“Last week we watched the game at Mason County where he (Billy Ray) had 47 points,” Luke Fawns said referring to the 1995 double overtime region championship game.
Freshman Andrew Terry was a game-changer on the inside with six points and 14 boards. Tyce Jarvis added 21 points and seven boards. Ethan Dunn and Dawson Gentry added two triples each. Cayden Reed set the table for many of the triples, racking up 15 points and 10 assists. They are now 14-2 after Reed became eligible in January. He had to sit out a calendar year after transferring from Mason County
“His strength comes from his moxie,” Mays said about Reed. “We are practicing all year long. He’s playing point guard in practice but when the game comes, he’s not playing. It was really hard. Going through that made us stronger and more connected. He has some flair to him, but he is one of the most selfless kids that I have ever coached.”
“I just trust everybody on the team to make a shot,” Reed said. “I feel like we are one of the best shooting teams in the state. It’s easy for me to draw two (defenders) and kick it out.”
Kaiden Harris (18 points), Kaden Johnson (16 points, eight rebounds), and Gunnar Woods (15 points) led Lawrence County. The Bulldogs, who rank fourth in the state in scoring (77.7 points per game), were only 2-for-20 from downtown, with the Indians refusing to help off shooters.
Game Recap
First Quarter
The game started off with a furious pace. Jarvis was on fire with 10 early points, including two treys, to put the Indians up 20-13 heading into the media timeout with 2:12 remaining. He added another from downtown after the timeout to stretch the Montgomery County lead to 25-15. He was 5-of-6 from the field and 3-of-3 from deep in the quarter. Reed dished out five assists. Johnson had a strong eight points and four boards to help the Bulldogs hang around.
Montgomery County 25, Lawrence County 15
Second Quarter
Inside buckets by Dane Klute and Terry, followed by a Dunn triple, ballooned the Montgomery County lead to 32-15, forcing a Bulldog timeout. Reed continued to drive in the lane, draw the defense, and dish out for open threes. Klute drilled one and the Indians followed up by forcing a turnover that led to a Fawns layup to make it 39-20, causing another Bulldog timeout.
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Reed, who won the 10th Region tournament with an NBA range buzzer-beater triple, added another buzzer-beater at halftime to give the Indians a 50-30 lead heading into the break. He finished the half with five assists. Fawns finished the half with 13 points and was 3-of-4 from downtown. Johnson led Lawrence County with 13 points and six boards in the half.
Montgomery County 50, Lawrence County 30
Third Quarter
Two Jarvis layups followed by a transition bucket from Reed extended the margin to 56-30, forcing yet another Bulldog timeout. Jarvis and Reed each had eight points in the quarter, and Terry added a monster dunk to break the game open.
Montgomery County 76, Lawrence County 49
Fourth Quarter
Montgomery County began to empty their bench midway through the final quarter. Reserves Price Campbell and Austin Hatton hit threes and Klute added a dunk down the stretch to punctuate the victory.
Montgomery County 98, Lawrence County 72
Next Up
Montgomery County (23-10) moves on to the quarterfinals where they will face North Laurel (23-10) on Friday at 6:00 PM ET in Rupp Arena. The Jaguars won a 54-53 thriller in the opening game earlier on Thursday. The Indians are one win away from advancing to the semifinals for the second time in school history. Coach Happy Osborne and William and Mary star Omar Prewitt helped them advance to the 2013 semifinals in their last Sweet 16 appearance. Their only other appearance was in 1995, where they made the quarterfinals.
Lawrence County (23-11) will look to return to the Sweet 16 next season; they did not have any senior starters. They made history as the first team to win the region despite losing in the first round of districts, due to the Super Region format in the 15th Region.
“We battled adversity just like everyone else, and fortunately we responded to that adversity to be here today, Coach Chander Thompson said. “We went through a four-game gauntlet to win the 15th Region and that’s a testament to these guys.”
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