‘We’ve been slept on.’ Henry Clay boys extend win streak to 14-0.
As of Tuesday, only two Kentucky high school boys basketball teams remained unbeaten after a month of play and Henry Clay, picked to finish 10th in the 11th Region this season, didn’t figure to be one of them.
But the Blue Devils survived a staunch road test at 42nd District rival Sayre on Tuesday night in a thrilling 64-60 win that showcased exactly why Henry Clay is now 14-0.
“We’ve been slept on, I’ll tell you that, but we grind day in and day out, and we believe in each other,” said Henry Clay senior guard Isaiah Stephan, who scored 13 points that included one of the Blue Devils’ four fourth quarter 3-pointers. “We can’t do it without teamwork and we all hit shots when we needed to and we moved the ball around that second half.”
Nine first-half turnovers helped Henry Clay squander a six-point first quarter lead. Sayre led 29-27 at halftime and stretched its advantage to 44-37 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter when Noah Gallagher nailed a 3-pointer directly in front of the raucous Spartans student section in Sayre’s tiny gym downtown.
The next eight minutes and 20 seconds included three ties and five lead changes as the Spartans and Blue Devils exchanged one clutch play after another.
Stephan’s younger brother Jackson answered Gallagher’s 3-pointer within seconds to help Henry Clay trim its deficit to 44-41 going into the fourth quarter.
Kayson Brown and AJ Dixon combined for Henry Clay’s next eight points as the Blue Devils quickly took a 49-45 lead with 6:04 left. But just as quickly, plays by Sayre’s Ian Reesor and Gallagher put the Spartans back in front by two, 51-49, with 4:11 to play.
After Brown got fouled on a made 3-pointer and hit the ensuing foul shot to put Henry Clay up 53-51, Sayre’s Brock Coffman made a 3-pointer to put the Spartans back on top.
Chase Parker fed Reesor for a baseline jam with 2:23 to play to give Sayre a 56-53 edge only to see Isaiah Stephan tie the game again with a 3-pointer for Henry Clay 10 seconds later.
Sayre retook the lead 59-56 at the 1:20 mark on another Coffman 3-pointer. Again, Henry Clay answered, this time with a Jackson Stephan 3-pointer to tie the game 59-59 with 1:07 to go.
Sayre took a timeout with 42 seconds left to discuss a potential winning play.
But a turnover out of the timeout sent Henry Clay on the break. Jackson Stephan took a dish from Hassan Bush and got fouled as he made the go-ahead basket. Henry Clay led 62-59 with 22 seconds left. Brown made a pair of free throws moments later to seal the victory.
Jackson Stephan led the Blue Devils with 16 points, followed by Isaiah Stephan and Brown with 13 each and Dixon with 12. Coffman led the Spartans with 18 points. Gallagher and Reesor added 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Henry Clay returned only one starter from last season’s disappointing 16-15 campaign — Kayson Brown averaged just seven points per game. Isaiah Stephan and AJ Dixon played sparingly and combined for a mere 36 total points.
The Blue Devils have matured nicely. All five starters this season average in double figures — Jackson Stephan (13.8 ppg), Brown (12.8), Isaiah Stephan (12.6), Dixon (11) and Bush (10.2).
“They’ve bought into sharing that basketball and believing in each other. There’s not any magic,” Henry Clay coach Daniel Brown said after the win. “It’s just that some teams enjoy playing together and when they do, they are going to win a lot of games.”
The 13th Region’s Bell County (13-0) is the other unbeaten boys team in the state. The Bobcats’ wins included an impressive 78-49 blowout of Scott County, one of Henry Clay’s 42nd District rivals.
Henry Clay’s wins have included a number of recent region champions like Lincoln County, Jeffersontown, North Laurel and Owensboro. That’s not bad for a team that 11th Region coaches picked as an also-ran in the Herald-Leader’s preseason survey.
Coach Brown figures the first loss will come soon enough. He’s enjoying the ride, though.
“We know that when you’re on a winning streak, you’re going to get everybody’s best and we want that,” Brown said. “In the 11th Region, that’s going to happen. And when we start having them down days, we’ve got to bounce back. But right now (the streak) is mainly because those guys believe in each other.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 7:59 AM.
