Lexington coaches react to omission of Owens, Surratt from Mr. Basketball list
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Owens and Surratt omitted from 16 finalist list due to region vote
- One finalist per region this year limited finalists, causing notable omissions
- Process for nominating candidates for Mr. Basketball question. Award to go out March 22
In the same week Bryan Station’s Amari Owens became Lexington boys high school basketball’s greatest scorer of all time, the 6-foot-1 senior Eastern Kentucky commit missed out on recognition as a potential candidate for Mr. Basketball.
So, too, did Frederick Douglass guard DeMarcus Surratt, a Bellarmine commit who was one of Kentucky’s two McDonald’s All-America nominees this year.
When the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation and the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches unveiled their list of 16 region players of the year and finalists for Mr. Basketball, the sport’s highest individual honor, on Friday morning, Madison Central’s Jake Feldhaus was the lone representative from the 11th Region.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Bryan Station coach Champ Ligon said of his player’s omission. “He’s the all-time leading scorer in Lexington history. He brought back Bryan Station basketball. He’s a great kid. This is just like a slap in the face.”
Owens’ absence from Mr. Basketball consideration also stands out in light of his standing as the only junior to earn first team all-state honors from the Courier Journal last season and as someone who ranked at the top of the Herald-Leader’s 2025 all-state second team.
In the Herald-Leader’s preseason survey of coaches in December, Owens ranked No. 3 among the top 25 players in the state behind North Laurel’s Reece Davidson and Feldhaus and just ahead of Douglass’ Surratt. That survey reflected the opinion of 101 coaches statewide.
This year’s 11th Region player of the year vote for Mr. Basketball candidacy came from KABC members within the 11th Region’s 19 teams.
Surratt’s 19.8 points per game is tops for No. 7 Frederick Douglass, one of the favorites for this season’s region title.
“You’re telling me that there’s 16 players in the state that are better than DeMarcus Surratt and Amari Owens,” Douglass coach Murray Garvin said. “I don’t think that would pass the eye test. I don’t think it even touches the surface of what those young men brought to this state.
“Whoever is selected Mr. Basketball will be a very deserving young man, but he should have to go up against the best guys, regardless of whether they were region player of the year or not.”
Who are frontrunners and who was snubbed
Feldhaus, a 6-8 forward committed to Belmont, has had a breakout senior year for the No. 4 Indians, averaging a double-double with 20.8 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. Those numbers and Madison Central’s status as one of the best teams in the state, make Feldhaus one of the frontrunners for Mr. Basketball, which will be announced along with Miss Basketball on March 22 after a vote that includes the state’s coaches and high school sports media.
In addition to Owens and Surratt, players like Ballard’s Cole Edelen and Christian Academy Louisville’s Jayden Washington from the 7th Region were also left out. Edelen has committed to Western Kentucky. Washington was Kentucky’s other McDonald’s All-America nominee.
Having a single boys region player of the year in every region this season breaks from years of precedent. Finalists for Mr. Basketball have included sometimes multiple co-players of the year in each of the last 10 seasons and even included three co-players of the year from the 11th Region in 2019, the year Pendleton County’s Dontaie Allen won Mr. Basketball despite missing most of his senior year due to injury.
This year’s Miss Basketball candidates had two representatives from both the 7th and 10th regions.
“Why should it be the best players from each region, anyway?” Ligon asked. “It should just be the best players. It’s just crazy that you’re going to limit it to one player per region. … There’s a lot of great teams and great players all over the state. But if they all happen to be in the same spot? It’s just kind of devastating.”
Great Crossing coach Steve Page’s 2025 Mr. Basketball Malachi Moreno helped the Warhawks win last season’s Boys’ Sweet 16 state championship. Page said the omission of players like Owens and Surratt is due to the system in place.
“The goal of the voting I would think would be to get the best 16 or 32 or whatever players as part of it,” Page said. “The way we currently do it every year, you’re not getting the 16 best players. There’s always players in any region that’s probably more deserving than somebody from another region.”
Mr. Basketball’s process vs. Mr. Football’s
The KABC process for Mr. Basketball stands in contrast to the Kentucky Football Coaches Association’s vote for Mr. Football. The KFCA doesn’t narrow its Mr. Football field based on its other awards. Its 2025 Mr. Football, Owensboro’s Evan Hampton, did not win its Class 5A player of the year award.
Owens has averaged 25.8 points per game this season for a Bryan Station team that has been ranked on and off throughout the year and is the second seed in next week’s 42nd District tournament.
That’s more points than the scoring averages of all but Boyd County’s Jacob Spurlock among the Mr. Basketball finalists.
On Tuesday, Owens became the only verifiable all-time scoring leader in Lexington boys’ high school basketball history in a 77-62 win over Grant County when he topped the previous mark of 2,517 points by Lexington Christian’s Kyle Rode.
Through Thursday’s win over Danville Christian, Owens’ has 2,563 points, more than all nine of Lexington’s past Mr. Basketball winners, who include Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Taveion Hollingsworth and Lexington Catholic’s Ben Johnson in recent years.
The old Dunbar High School’s Julius Berry is the only Lexington player who could possibly rank above Owens on Lexington’s all-time list, but the 3,000 points he is credited for in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s record book have not been verified.
The KHSAA acknowledged that fact this week, making Owens Lexington’s “official” all-time leading scorer. When he passed Rode’s mark Tuesday, Bryan Station celebrated him as such.
Regardless of Friday morning’s disappointment, the accomplishments of both Owens and Surratts will be remembered.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 1:57 PM.
