‘This is something new.’ How Jeffersontown took down No. 1 St. Xavier in Boys’ Sweet 16
The Jeffersontown Chargers read the stories. Their first-round opponent, No. 1 St. Xavier, was supposed to inevitably make its way to Saturday’s night state championship game.
In contrast, J-Town had been selected by very few to even win its 6th Region Tournament, much less a game against the top-ranked Tigers in the 2025 UK Healthcare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena on Wednesday.
But after rallying from a 10-point third quarter deficit, it was the Chargers who came up with clutch plays late to knock off St. X 64-59 to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals.
“Everybody in the city and the state, they thought St. X was going to come here and beat us, like how they beat everybody else,” said sophomore guard Larron Westmoreland, who scored nine points and had a pair of offensive rebounds and a steal during Jeffersontown’s rally. “But we told the city, nah, this is something new.”
Senior forward Camron McDaniels scored eight of his 17 points in the final 1:05 of the game. His layup and foul shot at that mark staked the Chargers to a 59-54 lead.
When St. X tied the game at 59 on a jumper by Chance Dillingham and a 3-pointer by Jermaine “Chief” Cameron moments later, McDaniels drove into the lane, got his own rebound and put Jeffersontown back in front 62-59 on a tip-in and foul shot with 22 seconds left.
Then as St. X worked for an opportunity to tie it back up, McDaniels stole the ball at the left wing. Two fouls later, McDaniels sealed the win with a pair of free throws for the final margin with 3 seconds on the clock.
“Not a lot of people give me enough credit for my defense,” McDaniels said as J-town coach Richard Duncan laughed at the comment in acknowledging that he was one of those “people.” “But I think I play defense pretty well. I stay in front of my man. (His man) played good defense on me the whole game, so I had to just give it back to him, and it just happened to fall right in my lap.”
McDaniels struggled to find a rhythm through the game’s first three quarters. Going into the fourth, he was 1-for-14 from the field with four points. The 6-foot-5 senior forward made amends in the fourth, however, especially in the final minute.
“I didn’t have a good first half, but I know I wasn’t worried about it, because as a basketball player, you’ve just got to move on to the next next play, next play, next play,” McDaniels said. “But I put my faith in my teammates, and they can hoop. So, I knew we was going to get it done.”
Trailing St. X 44-34 after a Jeremiah Jackson layup with 2:38 to play in the third quarter, Jeffersontown held the Tigers scoreless for more than four minutes as it went on an 11-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Dayvonne Harrison. The second 3 put J-town up 45-44 with 6:42 left in the game.
Harrison and senior point guard Prince Kahnplaye also each scored 17 points for Jeffersontown (27-6). Kahnplaye added a team-high 10 rebounds.
“During a timeout, I told my team ‘they’re feeling game pressure. They’re feeling it.’” Duncan said. “They haven’t played against a lot of teams able to keep it close around the city. … So, I felt like if we could just keep it close, create a couple turnovers, we’d be all right.”
Dillingham, Jackson and Cameron each scored 11 points for St. X (31-3) who took over the No. 1 ranking after defeating preseason No. 1 Great Crossing on Dec. 15 and hadn’t lost to a Kentucky team all year.
“We had opportunities up eight in the third quarter with the ball, and just could never really get that next-level run that we’ve had all year,” St. X coach Kevin Klein said. “But J-town just kept chipping away … then they were relentless on the offensive glass late in the game. …
“It was two great teams for the city of Louisville. Unfortunately, one team has to lose.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 7:08 PM.
