‘Nobody is going to forget you all.’ Pikeville wins school’s first boys’ All ‘A’ Classic.
A little less than a year ago, a promising Pikeville boys’ basketball season took an awful turn as leading scorer Rylee Samons went down with a knee injury and was lost for the season.
Samons, a 6-foot-6 junior guard, described the months of rehabilitation that followed as one of the hardest things he’s had to go through in his life.
“There’s so much blood, sweat and tears, pain, suffering. It’s just so harsh, man,” Samons said. “ I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to go through it. I worked so hard to get back to 100 percent.”
Samons isn’t just back. And his Pikeville Panthers are no longer the team that got knocked out in their 59th District Tournament last year.
Pikeville is the All “A” Classic state champion after defeating Breathitt County 53-44 Sunday in an all-mountain team title game at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena. Samons was named the event’s most valuable player.
Samons scored seven of his team-high 16 points in a decisive first quarter that gave the Panthers an 11-point lead on the way to the school’s first crown in the midseason state tournament for Kentucky’s smallest 125 schools by enrollment.
More than a decade ago Pikeville head coach Elisha Justice helped lead Shelby Valley to back-to-back All “A” championships as a player. Samons recalled Justice’s words to them about their opportunity this week and this season.
“He motivated us. He said, ‘Nobody is going to forget you all.’” Samons said. “He said, ‘What’s going to make you all special? What’s going to make you all unforgettable? We worked hard every day just to get there. We are here now.”
Justice marveled at the accomplishment, perhaps appreciating it more as a coach than he did as a teenager.
“This is unbelievable, to just be on this side of it. Doing it as a player was one thing. It’s something I wanted these guys to experience,” he said. “They put so much time and work into it, we felt like they deserved it. We just tried to keep telling them nobody’s going to give it to you. You’ve got to go take it, and these guys did.”
Turnovers proved costly for Breathitt County. The Bobcats committed 17 turnovers, many of them leading to Pikeville fast breaks. Pikeville was able to get on the offensive boards, as well, scoring 15 second-chance points to go with 19 points off turnovers.
“We’ve tried to preach that to these guys and let them know that there’s going to be games we don’t shoot it well.” Justice said, praising his team’s defensive effort. “There’s been a lot of games where we have shot it well, but we continue to win on our defense. And they did it all tournament long.”
Pikeville topped Owensboro Catholic by 13 on Thursday, beat Murray by six on Friday, routed Evangel Christian by 26 on Saturday and led by as many as 17 in their win over Breathitt.
Breathitt’s Christian Collins led the Bobcats in scoring with 20 points. Austin Sperry added 13. Breathitt cut the lead to seven points with under a minute left, but could get no closer.
Nick Robinson chipped in seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Panthers to go with Samons’ 10 boards. Samons’ childhood friend and teammate Laithan Hall scored 15 points.
“It’s just a blessing,” Samons said in talking about his relationship with Hall. “We’ve really wanted this since we was little. We were in the gym when nobody else was there and that’s what it takes.”
With a major goal achieved, Pikeville has its sights on winning a 15th Region championship and bringing the school back to Rupp Arena for the Boys’ Sweet 16. Justice accomplished the feat in his first two seasons at Pikeville in 2017 and 2018, but they haven’t been back since.
“We’ve got six seniors. They’re mature enough to understand that this isn’t the end for us,” Justice said. “They’re still hungry and determined. And the way we played down here, we feel like we can play with anybody in the state if we continue to guard and defend the way that we have.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 7:24 AM.
