2025 Kentucky Mr. Basketball finalists announced. See all 18 players
Great Crossing’s Malachi Moreno and Woodford County’s Armelo Boone were among 18 boys high school basketball seniors to earn region player of the year honors Friday and with it a nomination for the sport’s highest individual honor, the 2025 Kentucky Mr. Basketball award.
Moreno, a 6-foot-10 center signed with Kentucky, averages 22 points and 14.6 rebounds per game and ranks as the No. 1 college recruit in the state and No. 3 center in the nation for the class of 2025, according to 247Sports.com. His defending 11th Region champion Warhawks rank No. 2 in the state and are among the favorites to reach the Boys’ Sweet 16 state tournament next month.
Boone, a 6-4 guard signed with Western Kentucky, played for Frederick Douglass until this season and helped lead the Broncos to the 2023 11th Region title and the state tournament semis before joining Woodford County in the 8th Region. As a Yellow Jacket, Boone has averaged a team-high 18.2 points and six rebounds per game this year.
Other contenders for Mr. Basketball include Butler County’s Ty Price, Ashland Blazer’s Zander Carter, Harlan County’s Maddox Huff and Cooper’s Andy Johnson, who rank among the top scorers in the state.
Price helped Butler County win the 3rd Region Tournament for the first time in school history last season and is climbing up the all-time boys scoring ranks with 3,193 points and counting. Carter could cross the 3,000 mark with a few postseason wins in the weeks ahead.
The boys and girls region players of the year were announced Friday morning by the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation via its social media channels, including Facebook. In conjunction with the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches, the KLEF conducts a survey each year of coaches and media for the region player of the year awards in advance of a separate vote over the next several days for Mr. and Miss Basketball.
Voters for Mr. and Miss Basketball include coaches, media members and past honorees. Votes for the award will be cast Feb. 28. Those awards and other honors will be presented at the annual Mr. and Miss Kentucky Basketball Awards Ceremony on March 16 at the Griffin Gate Marriott in Lexington.
Mr. Basketball finalists
The 2025 KABC region players of the year with school, height, position, this season’s points per game through Thursday and college choice. The awards are reserved for seniors.
1st Region: Jonah Butler, Calloway County, 6-5 guard, 22.4 points (Stony Brook).
2nd Region: Rex Blue, Dawson Springs, 6-0 guard, 21 points (undecided).
3rd Region: Ty Price, Butler County, 6-0 guard, 27.8 points (UT Martin).
4th Region: Robert “Ant” McAfee, Warren Central, 6-6 guard, 21.1 points (Bellarmine).
5th Region: Connor Loy, Adair County, 6-0 guard, 21.1 points (undecided).
6th Region: Noah Glover, Fern Creek, 6-1 guard, 18.5 points (undecided).
7th Region: Justice Decker, Manual, 6-6 forward, 16.8 points (undecided).
8th Region: Armelo Boone, Woodford County, 6-4 guard, 18.2 points (Western Kentucky);
▪ Aaron Gutman, Walton-Verona, 6-7 forward, 24 points (undecided).
9th Region: EJ Walker, Lloyd Memorial, 6-8 forward, 19.2 points (South Carolina);
▪ Andy Johnson, Cooper, 6-5 forward, 23.7 points (Illinois-Chicago).
10th Region: Garyn Jackson, Campbell County, 6-1 point guard, 16.6 points (undecided).
11th Region: Malachi Moreno, Great Crossing, 6-10 center, 22 points (Kentucky).
12th Region: Trevor Ellis, Mercer County, 6-6 forward, 15.8 points (undecided).
13th Region: Maddox Huff, Harlan County, 6-3 guard, 29.9 points (East Tennessee State).
14th Region: Evin Eversole, Hazard, 6-6 forward, 18.7 points (undecided).
15th Region: Jaden Stewart, Pike County Central, 6-5 forward, 28.5 points (undecided).
16th Region: Zander Carter, Ashland Blazer, 6-6 guard, 23.8 points (Liberty).
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 10:30 AM.
