42nd to none: Sold out gyms, epic games, top players. This district has it all

In Kentucky, love for high school basketball spans beyond its mountains and farms.

Folks might expect capacity crowds in rural school gymnasiums like a scene from a movie.

But around Lexington, especially in recent years, basketball devotion has run deeper than a 3-pointer from the logo.

Here, there are places where makeshift signs have told fans the gym is full for a regular season rivalry game.

They come to watch some of the best teams and players the commonwealth has to offer.

Believe it or not, Bryan Station, Frederick Douglass and Henry Clay, along with Sayre and Scott County have packed those houses and set those scenes.

They are the 42nd District.

And their passion for high school hoops ranks second to none.

Sensational players at the heart

Bryan Station’s Amari Owens, Frederick Douglass’ DeMarcus Surratt and Henry Clay’s Jackson Stephan haven’t just ridden this recent wave of enthusiasm about high school basketball in Lexington, they’ve helped build it to its present frenzy.

While Henry Clay begins this season unranked, the Herald-Leader Preseason Boys Basketball Top 25 has Douglass as the No. 2 team in the state and a favorite to win the 11th Region. Bryan Station is No. 7.

In the Herald-Leader’s preseason player rankings, Owen is No. 3, Surratt is No. 4 and Stephan is No. 23, putting them each in the early conversation for the commonwealth’s highest individual honor for a senior — Mr. Basketball.

Owens, a 6-foot point guard who’s signed with Eastern Kentucky, has electrified audiences with his fearless drives into the lane and ability to make seemingly impossible shots. His 1,838 points in three seasons leave him just shy of the Herald-Leader’s top 10 list of Lexington’s most prolific scorers.

“I’ve never coached against a young man, college or high school, that is such a dynamic, downhill scorer like Amari,” Douglass coach Murray Garvin said. “It’s almost impossible to keep him from getting to the rim. You just have to do the best you can to make him score tough buckets.”

Surratt, a 6-3 wing signed with Bellarmine, can shoot the three or drive the lane for a dunk. He led the Broncos with 15.9 points per game last season for a team that came within a missed buzzer-beater of ending eventual state champion Great Crossing’s season early.

“He’s really good on the defensive end and he can score in so many different ways,” Henry Clay coach Daniel Brown said of Surratt. “He’s got unbelievable athletic ability … Yeah, you can stay in front of him at times, zone and make him shoot it. But he finds other ways to do whatever helps his team win.”

Stephan, a 6-5 small forward committed to Air Force, has led the Blue Devils in scoring each of the past two seasons and poured in 26 points in an 83-72 upset of then-No. 3 Douglass in February. Henry Clay nearly upset then-No. 4 Bryan Station three nights later, falling 55-54.

“Henry Clay is always going to be in the mix. They’re always a tough out,” Bryan Station coach Champ Ligon said. “And Jackson Stephan is a classic Henry Clay player — very hard-nosed, but at the same time a very good kid. He can shoot the lights out. He can rebound. He’s just a tremendous player all-around.”

Epic showdowns in packed houses

Douglass and Bryan Station played each other four times last season. Douglass won Lexington Catholic’s holiday tournament championship over the Defenders and both regular season matchups.

In their February meeting at Bryan Station, each was ranked in the media poll top five. Douglass trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half. The Broncos took the lead on a Tate Robinson 3-pointer with 30.3 seconds left and held on for a 49-48 win.

A year earlier, Bryan Station swept its regular season showdowns with Douglass only to lose the district championship. In the Defenders’ 67-64 win Jan. 26, 2024, they faced a 10-point deficit with 3:42 to play.

“If you’re playing a really good team, man, there’s never a big enough lead,” Ligon said. “You’ve got to just keep playing. If you let up, you’re going to get hurt. … The credit goes to the kids and their heart and their willingness to keep playing no matter what the score is.”

Bryan Station showed its heart in the 42nd District championship a month later by erasing a 14-point second half deficit to exact its revenge. The 59-56 victory over the Broncos earned the Defenders the school’s first district crown since 2008.

“We have a tough district, and the final didn’t go how we wanted it to,” Surratt said. “There was a lot to learn. Hopefully, we can come back this year and get it right.”

Henry Clay has been in its share of thrillers as well. The Blue Devils started the 2023-24 season 16-0, climbing from unranked to No. 22 in the state. Their first loss came at No. 15 Bryan Station, where there was already a considerable buzz about Owens, the Defenders’ then-sophomore guard.

A month later, Henry Clay earned payback by toppling a still-ranked No. 15 Bryan Station 63-58.

That same week, unranked Sayre toppled then-No. 14 Frederick Douglass 62-60 in overtime. Douglass blew a 17-point lead in that game in Sayre’s gym, which has less than half the seating capacity of its district rivals.

Each of those games carried one common denominator: Seats filled to the rafters.

“It’s always good to play these guys,” Owens said in a recent joint interview with Surratt and Stephan. “The competition is great. And having a great environment like we’re having is always good.”

“It definitely gives you something to look forward to, something to work for,” Stephan said. “It’s always fun to play in front of a big crowd.”

No games off in the 42nd District

Sayre, a small private school, has a fraction of the enrollment of its 42nd District rivals with a considerably smaller gym to match.

But the Spartans can’t be taken lightly, especially in the friendly confines of their C.V. Whitney Gymnasium, where it only takes about 1,000 fans to put the “The Whit” on tilt.

“My goal when we got here was to compete at a high level, and being in this district forces your hand to do that,” said Sayre coach Rob Goodman, whose teams have won the past two All “A” Classic region titles and claimed four wins in the district each of the past three years. “This district right now is just unbelievable, and the games have been so much fun and so intense. That’s what you want.”

No story about the 42nd District can leave out Scott County’s dominant run during the late Billy Hicks’ coaching era.

When the Cardinals moved from the 8th Region to the 11th Region’s 42nd District in 2005, they immediately took over the role of bullies on the block by winning nine district titles and eight region crowns through 2020, the year after Hicks retired as the state’s winningest boys high school basketball coach.

But in the years since that 2020 region win, the Cardinals have recorded five consecutive losing records.

Sean Woods, the University of Kentucky “Unforgettable” and former college coach, was hired earlier this year to get Scott County back on track.

“They welcomed me with open arms, and they want to get it back,” Woods said. “Everybody’s all-in with two hands and two feet and that’s what you want in a program. ... These kids are working probably harder than anybody in the state, and now, it’s getting them to believe they’re worthy.”

Woods got introduced to the 42nd District as on-air analyst for Glicod.com, a high school sports streaming company that showcases games around Lexington and Louisville. He covered the 42nd often and was impressed.

“Each team had a marquee player, and the coaches are very, very good and very underrated,” Woods said. “It’s the most competitive region and probably the most competitive district in the state.”

It’s true that aside from Scott County’s 2007 Boys Sweet 16 title, the 42nd District’s teams haven’t matched the recent state tournament success enjoyed by the 41st District’s Great Crossing last year, the 43rd District’s Paul Laurence Dunbar in 2016 or 44th District’s Madison Central in 2013.

But 42nd District teams have reached the region finals more in the past two decades than any of their rivals with 19 appearances and 10 region championships. The 11th Region finals have featured 42nd District teams head-to-head three times in that span, a stat matched by none of the others.

An appreciation from one era to another

UK Sports Network radio analyst Jack “Goose” Givens played high school basketball at Bryan Station in the early 1970s, a drastically different era than today in many ways and one in which following high school basketball in Lexington and around the state was a matter of course.

“I take great pride in my high school career. There’s no question about that. That laid the foundation for everything that’s happened since,” said Givens, who helped win a national championship at Kentucky before an NBA career that led him into sports commentating. “Most of our games, just about everywhere, had crowds that were maxed out, and they turned many fans away.

“The interest is what I’m most proud of — that people wanted to see us play any time two of the Lexington schools got together. And teams from out of town would bring a lot of fans with them, too.”

Givens played with and against some of the state’s basketball legends, like James Lee of Henry Clay, who would become a UK teammate. Givens noted interest in high school basketball was far more intense in his day, but he’s glad to see the excitement returning to Lexington’s gyms at his alma mater and others.

“I wouldn’t be upset if it maxed out over what our interest was, because I think it’s good for the athletes,” Givens said. “I also think it’s good for our community to attend the games and be a big part of what basketball in the city of Lexington is and should be.”

11th Region boys championships from teams now in the 42nd District

• Henry Clay^ — 17 (1932, 1934, 1941, 1943, 1949, 1952, 1962, 1968, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1983*, 1984 1988, 2003, 2014 2022).
• Scott County** — 8 (2007*, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).
• Bryan Station — 5 (1972, 1974, 1981, 1982, 1989).
• Frederick Douglass — 1 (2023).

*State championship year. ^Henry Clay, in the KHSAA record book as “Lexington” from 1923 to 1925, won 8th Region titles from 1923 to 1926, and won one of its state titles from there in 1924. **Scott County has 10 8th Region championships spanning from 1983 to 2004 and won a state title from the 8th in 1998.

Boys’ Sweet 16 champions from the 11th Region

• Henry Clay, 6 (1918*, 1919*, 1920*, 1922*, 1924*, 1983).
• Lafayette, 6 (1924, 1942, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1979, 2001)
• Scott County, 2 (1998*, 2007); *8th Region champion
• Paul Laurence Dunbar, (2016)
• Lexington Catholic, 1 (2002)
• Madison Central, 1 (2013)
• Great Crossing, 1 (2025)

* As “Lexington”

Lexington boys all-time leading basketball scorers*

• Rank Player School (Grad year) Points
• 1. Julius Berry, Lexington Dunbar (1959), 3,000
• 2. Kyle Rode, Lexington Christian (2019), 2,517
• 3. Taveion Hollingsworth, Paul Laurence Dunbar (2017), 2,495
• 4. Mike Allen, Bryan Station (1989), 2,408
• 5. Ben Johnson, Lexington Catholic (2021), 2,354
• 6. Jackson Davis, Lafayette (2014), 2,343
• 7. Mike Smith, Sayre/Dunbar (2013), 2,324
• 8. Darnell Burton, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1993), 2,192
• 9. Demetrius Green, Lexington Catholic (2004) 2,144
• 10. Jaron Brown, Bryan Station (1998) 2,066

*Bryan Station senior Amari Owens has 1,838 career points.

Big games on tap

Here’s a look at some of the important boys basketball games coming up this season featuring Lexington schools.

Holiday tournaments

Dec. 18-22: The King of the Bluegrass at Fairdale in Louisville features No. 2 Frederick Douglass in addition to No. 1 St. Xavier, No. 3 Trinity, No. 5 Madison Central No. 6 North Laurel and five other ranked teams.

Dec. 27-Dec. 30: The White, Greer & Maggard Orthodontics Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic features the No. 21 Knights as host, No. 6 North Laurel, No. 7 Bryan Station, No. 11 Caverna, No. 12 North Oldham, No. 20 Boyd County, No. 23 Marshall County and No. 25 Great Crossing.

LEXINGTON’S 42ND DISTRICT SHOWDOWNS

Jan. 2: Henry Clay at Sayre; Jan. 13: Bryan Station at Frederick Douglass; Jan. 16: Henry Clay at Bryan Station; Jan. 20: Frederick Douglass at Henry Clay; Jan. 22: Sayre at Henry Clay; Jan. 27: Bryan Station at Sayre; Jan. 30: Frederick Douglass at Bryan Station; Feb. 3: Frederick Douglass at Sayre; Feb. 13: Sayre at Frederick Douglass; Feb. 6: Sayre at Bryan Station; Feb. 10: Henry Clay at Frederick Douglass; Feb. 13: Henry Clay at Bryan Station.

LEXINGTON MATCHUPS AGAINST H-L PRESEASON TOP 25

Bryan Station: Dec. 6 vs. No. 14 Jeffersontown at George Rogers Clark; Dec. 12 vs. No. 5 Madison Central at Montgomery County; Jan. 6 at No. 15 Montgomery County.

Frederick Douglass: Dec. 2 vs. No. 25 Great Crossing; Dec. 12 at No. 15 Montgomery County; Jan. 10 vs. No. 4 George Rogers Clark; Jan. 23 at No. 5 Madison Central; Feb. 14 at No. 21 Lexington Catholic.

Henry Clay: Dec. 6 vs. No. 16 Trinity at George Rogers Clark; Jan. 6 at No. 5 Madison Central; Jan. 24 at No. 14 Jeffersontown; Feb. 3 at No. 25 Great Crossing.

Lafayette: Dec. 8 vs. No. 21 Lexington Catholic; Jan. 3 vs. No. 7 Bryan Station; Jan. 27 at No. 21 Lexington Catholic.

Lexington Catholic: Dec. 2 vs. No. 6 North Laurel; Dec. 6 vs. No. 3 Covington Catholic; Dec. 27-30: WGM Orthodontics Holiday Classic; Feb. 3 vs. No. 4 George Rogers Clark; Feb. 6 at No. 16 Trinity; Feb. 9 vs. No. 5 Madison Central; Feb. 14 vs. No. 2 Frederick Douglass.

Lexington Christian: Jan. 6 at No. 12 North Oldham; Jan. 15: 11th Region All “A” Classic host; Jan. 30 at No. 21 Lexington Catholic; Jan. 31 at No. 25 Great Crossing; Feb. 13 vs. No. 21 Lexington Catholic.

Paul Laurence Dunbar: Dec. 5 vs. No. 7 Bryan Station; Dec. 12 at No. 21 Lexington Catholic; Jan. 6 vs. No. 2 Frederick Douglass; Jan. 24 vs. No. 21 Lexington Catholic.

Sayre: None outside 42nd District rivals; Jan. 15 — 11th Region All “A” Classic vs. TBA at Lexington Christian.

Tates Creek: Jan. 8 vs. No. 7 Bryan Station; Jan. 21 at No. 21 Lexington Catholic; Jan. 20 at No. 4 George Rogers Clark; Feb. 11 vs. No. 21 Lexington Catholic; Feb. 19 at No. 2 Frederick Douglass.

This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

Jared Peck

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-488-2883

Jared Peck, the Herald-Leader’s Digital Sports Writer, covers high school athletics and has been with the company as a writer and editor for more than 20 years. Support my work with a digital subscription