Who are Kentucky’s top 25 boys high school basketball players for 2025-26?
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2025-26 Kentucky High School Basketball Preview
The Herald-Leader/Kentucky.com is publishing preview stories leading up to the start of the 2025-26 high school basketball season. You can read everything we’ve published by clicking on this drop-down list.
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Here is the Herald-Leader’s preseason Top 25 ranking of Kentucky high school boys basketball players for the 2025-26 season, as voted on by coaches in a statewide survey conducted by high school sports writer Jared Peck.
The poll asked every coach to rank their “top 10 players in the state.”
Tabulating the results, the Herald-Leader lists the overall top 10 along with No. 1 votes, school, grade level, height, last season’s points per game (in parentheses) and a brief comment. The next 15 players are listed with their school, grade level and last season’s points per game along with their choice of college, if known. All players appearing on at least two ballots received honorable mention.
Online, each top-25 player’s name has a link to his online highlight page or social media account.
THE TOP 10
1. Reece Davidson (58), North Laurel (6-8 Sr., 21.6 points): A three-star Liberty signee, Davidson is a cousin of former Jaguar and Kentucky Wildcat Reed Sheppard, now of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. But he has something over his cousin after North Laurel’s first state tournament victory last season, a narrow 54-53 over Breathitt County in which he scored 36 points. That’s a feat Sheppard’s teams missed out on twice.
He scored 41 of the Jags’ 66 points the next time out in a loss to Montgomery County, which included making four of his five 3-point attempts. Those performances helped put him front and center in the 2026 Mr. Basketball conversation. He was also the only junior to earn Herald-Leader first-team all-state honors last season.
A meniscus injury cost Davidson summer workouts with the team, but North Laurel coach Nate Valentine likes what he’s seen this fall. “He’s put on probably 10 pounds of muscle. He’s faster, more athletic and shoots the ball great. … I mean, he’s just a really good player.”
2. Jake Feldhaus (6), Madison Central (6-8 Sr., 22.0 points): With a grandfather and father being part of Kentucky basketball history (Allen Feldhaus Sr. and Deron Feldhaus, respectively), Jake Feldhaus is carving his own path as a Belmont signee after a standout junior season for the Indians that also included helping the golf team to a state championship. Feldhaus led Madison Central in scoring and rebounding (11.3 per game) last season and earned second-team all-state honors.
3. Amari Owens (11), Bryan Station (6-1 Sr., 22.5 points): An Eastern Kentucky signee and second-team all-state honoree, Owens has been the Defenders’ leading scorer since stepping onto the court his freshman year. He helped Station to its first 42nd District title since 2008 last season. Owens’ 1,838 career points put him on the verge of becoming one of most prolific boys basketball scorers in Lexington history.
4. DeMarcus Surratt (1), Frederick Douglass (6-3 Sr., 15.9 points): Named third-team all-state last season, Surratt signed with Bellarmine after leading the Broncos in scoring as a junior. He came over to Douglass from Lafayette as a sophomore and has averaged double figures each season.
5. Jonathan Moss (2), Daviess County (6-0 Sr., 19.5 points): A three-star Chattanooga signee, Moss has led the Panthers in scoring each of the last two seasons and helped them earn their first 3rd Region title since 2011.
6. Jeremiah Jackson (4), St. Xavier (6-4 Sr., 14.5 points): Jackson, a Southern Illinois commit, earned second-team all-state and King of the Bluegrass Tournament MVP honors last season.
7. Jacob Spurlock (2), Boyd County (6-4 Sr., 24.0 points): A Youngstown State signee, Spurlock is already the all-time leading scorer in Lions history. The second-team all-state honoree was also Boyd’s leading rebounder at 7.3 per game.
8. Josh Lindsay (1), St. Xavier (6-0 So., 7.4 points): Already rated a four-star recruit by 247Sports.com, Lindsay ranks as the No. 5 combo guard in the nation and No. 27 college prospect overall for the class of 2028.
9. Braxton Keathley (4), Martin County (6-5 Jr., 34.3 points): The leading scorer in the state for Prestonsburg last season, Keathley, a second-team all-state honoree last year, “can do it all,” Martin County coach Jason James said.
10. Montez Gay (1), George Rogers Clark (6-6 Jr., 12.7 points): Gay led Clark in rebounding with 7.4 per game and has college offers including Akron and Eastern Kentucky.
THE NEXT 15
11. Austin Sears (2), North Oldham (6-1 So., 16.2 points): Undecided.
12. Matthew Langhi (1), Marshall County (6-7 Jr., 20.3 points): Undecided.
13. Boogie Cook (0), Ballard (6-7 So., 10.1 points at Christian Academy-Louisville): Undecided.
14. Malachi Ashford (0), George Rogers Clark (5-10 Sr., 14.6 points): Undecided.
15. Cole Edelen (1), Ballard (6-2 Sr., 21.6 points at Male): Western Kentucky.
16. Keriawn Berry (1), North Hardin (6-5 Sr., 13.9 points at Avon, Indiana): Undecided.
17. Athens McGillis (1), Covington Catholic (5-11 Sr., 20.6 points): Nova Southeastern.
18. Mason Grivna (0), Ballard (6-10 Fr.): Undecided.
19. Tyce Jarvis (0), Montgomery County (6-6 Jr., 17.4 points): Undecided.
20. Jack Logsdon (0), Grayson County (6-7 Jr., 21.0 points): Western Kentucky.
21. Ja’Rye Brown (2), W.E.B. DuBois (6-2 Jr., 27.3 points): Undecided.
22. Jordan Mitchell (0), Male (6-4 So., 15.2 points): Undecided.
23. Jackson Stephan (1), Henry Clay (6-5 Sr., 17.1 points): Air Force.
24. Jaylin Craine (0), Caverna (6-0 Sr., 19.7 points): Undecided.
25. Tylin George (0), Adair County (6-5 Jr., 31.3 points at University Heights): Undecided.
HONORABLE MENTION
Bray Kirk, Lyon County; Armani Byrd, Warren Central; Dayvone Harrison, Jeffersontown; Jayden “JJ” Washington, Christian Academy-Louisville; Seth Caudill, Hazard; Trey Hillerich, Male; Taeshawn Adams, Bryan Station; Nolan Coffman, Lyon County; Geu Leek Ateny, Danville Christian; Jermaine “Chief” Cameron, St. Xavier; Walker Craig, Rockcastle County; Damian Jung, Eastern; Austin Davie, Campbell County; Anthony Blaackar, Lloyd Memorial; James Turner, Newport; DeAaron Watkins, Daviess County; Austin Slone, Johnson Central; Andrew Terry, Montgomery County; Gavin Lightning, Caverna; Blake Burnett, Bell County.
METHODOLOGY
Our annual survey was emailed to all 277 KHSAA boys basketball coaches in Kentucky using their email registered with the KHSAA. Multiple attempts were made to encourage every school to participate. Coaches were asked to select their top 10 players, and points were assigned based on a player’s position on the ballot (10 points for No. 1, nine points for No. 2, etc.). Some schools participated in the survey but declined to vote. A total of 101 coaches (36.4%) voted in our top-10 players poll out of the 178 coaches (64.3%) who responded to the survey and supplied information about their teams. Thanks to all.
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
