Great Crossing’s taking Boys’ Sweet 16’s ‘big ol’ trophy’ home to Georgetown
There’s a new state champion off the bypass in Georgetown.
The Great Crossing Warhawks, led by Kentucky signee Malachi Moreno, defeated Bowling Green 71-61 Saturday night in the UK Healthcare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 championship game at Rupp Arena in front of 12,222 fans.
“I wanted to end my high school career on this floor holding a big ol’ trophy. And I know it wasn’t my last time on this floor, but it was my last time in a Great Crossing uniform,” said Moreno, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player for an effort that included 24 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks against the Purples. “Coach is going to have a tough time taking this jersey away from me.”
Playing its third game in less than 24 hours due to the luck of the draw and the rigors of the state tournament schedule, Great Crossing built a 24-point lead in the third quarter without its starting point guard, LJ Holman, who was injured in Friday’s quarterfinals. Morehead State signee Vince “Tre” Dawson III converted a four-point play on a 3-pointer and foul to put Great Crossing up 41-17 with 5:51 to play in the third.
But the Purples did not go down quietly, stepping up their defensive pressure to mount a 31-13 run over a span of eight minutes to turn a Warhawks rout into a fright.
Bowling Green trimmed its deficit in half by the end of the third quarter with a combination of hot shooting and Great Crossing misses and turnovers. That momentum continued into the fourth quarter.
Another Warhawks turnover set loose Kayden Carpenter for a fast-break layup to cut the margin to 54-48 with 5:46 to go. Carpenter led the Purples with 19 points. Jace Wardlow added 13, Joe Hurt scored 11, and two-time state champion football quarterback Deuce Bailey had 10.
“A lot of teams would have folded up. We just dug down and found another gear,” Bowling Green coach D.G. Sherrill said. “We needed to get that thing down to four or five points. We showed a lot of moxie, a lot of character. … They’ve got a 7-foot guy, a 6-6 guy and we’ve got 6-2, 6-foot guys. So, we knew we had a challenge in there.”
Bowling Green got no closer as the Warhawks settled down and eliminated their turnovers while missing only two of their last nine shot attempts. One of those misses was tipped back in by Moreno.
With Holman out of the lineup, Dawson took on most of the ball-handling duties. Fellow senior Gage Richardson chipped in. Neither had much practice at the task but made it work. Dawson finished with 18 points. Richardson scored 15. Both had three assists. Junior guard Travanti Cooper led the Warhawks with six assists off the bench in just over 19 minutes of action.
“I’ve got a lot of people around me, so it made it a lot easier,” Dawson said. “In the third and fourth quarter, legs were getting tired, fatigue started being a factor and it showed a little bit. But in the end, Coach has faith in me to run the point guard as does the rest of the team.”
Page attributed Bowling Green’s second-half run more to a lapse in Great Crossing’s defense than its trouble with the Purples’ pressure.
“We got tired a little bit in the third quarter and stopped defending a little bit,” Page said. “We defended so well for two and a half quarters to get that large lead. Then we persevered at the end.”
In a nod to the late Scott County High School boys coach Billy Hicks, Page and his assistant coaches all wore commemorative pullovers from the annual Billy Hicks Classic that’s held each December in his honor.
Hicks, the state’s all-time boys coaching wins leader, led the Cardinals to state championships in 1998 and 2007 and state finals appearances in 1999, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019. Hicks will enter the KHSAA Hall of Fame this year and was recently honored with the national Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Morgan Wootten Award, a lifetime achievement honor.
“Obviously, he was instrumental in our community and meant a lot to all these kids growing up,” Page said.
When Scott County High School’s enrollment grew too large for its campus to contain, the school district built Great Crossing to split its student population in 2018. Page, who coached many of his current players at Scott County Middle School, was named the new school’s first boys coach.
“I never thought I’d be at Rupp Arena and winning a state championship,” Page said. “For a little boy growing up in this community, you just can’t beat it.”
Both Moreno and Richardson have ties to past Scott County teams. Moreno’s older brother, Michael, who went on to play at Eastern Kentucky, starred for the Cardinals’ 2018 and 2019 state runners-up.
“I’m definitely going home with bragging rights,” Moreno said. “Watching him kind of go through the process just set a dream in the back of my head that I wanted to be here. I wanted to make it to this day.”
Richardson has two older brothers who reached the finals with the Cardinals — Elias in 2019 and Quin in 2012.
“I can kind of rub it in their face now, but I know they’re proud of me,” Richardson said. “They’re here tonight, and I’m thankful for them.”
Moreno becomes the 18th Mr. Kentucky Basketball and second in a row to win a Boys’ Sweet 16 title in the same year he also earned the award for the state’s most outstanding senior. Kentucky guard Travis Perry did the same for Lyon County last year. They are two of eight UK signees to do both.
All Boys’ Sweet 16 Team
Zander Carter, Ashland Blazer; Dayvonne Harrison, Jeffersontown; Reece Davidson, North Laurel; Andy Johnson, Cooper; Julian Miles and Kolton Wuchterl, South Oldham; Cayden Reed and Luke Fawns, Montgomery County; Deuce Bailey, Kadyn Carpenter and Luke Idlett, Bowling Green; Vince “Tre” Dawson III, Gage Richardson and Malachi Moreno (MVP), Great Crossing.
This story was originally published March 30, 2025 at 9:16 AM.
