Down 5 in the final minute, Lexington Catholic pulls 11th Region tourney stunner
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- Lexington Catholic rallied from a five-point deficit late to beat Bryan Station 42-41.
- Jacob Holland hit a late three and Hank Woodall scored the go-ahead layup.
- Knights advance to face Great Crossing in 11th Region semifinals Saturday.
Lexington Catholic has made seven consecutive trips to the 11th Region Tournament since 2020.
To say that fortune hasn’t smiled on the Knights over that span would be putting it mildly. Most of the losses over the previous six years have been downright cruel.
- Upset 65-62 in the 2020 finals by Scott County.
- Outgunned 101-97 in the 2021 quarterfinals at Madison Central, who shot an unreal 70.5% from the field with 15 3-pointers.
- Upset 70-58 at home in the 2022 quarterfinals by a Henry Clay team that went on to win the region.
- Taken down by Frederick Douglass, 43-41, in the 2023 finals on a late 3-pointer.
- Beaten at the buzzer, 56-53, in the 2024 finals by Great Crossing’s Vince “Tre” Dawson III, who knocked down his only two 3-pointers of the game in the last 32 seconds for the tie and the win.
Wednesday, Lexington Catholic trailed No. 16 Bryan Station 41-36 with under a minute to play in this year’s boys 11th Region Tournament quarterfinals.
But Knights coach Brandon Salsman certainly seemed due for a little luck. His players delivered luck, grit and the victory.
Lexington Catholic scored seven unanswered points over the last 2:04 to take down Bryan Station 42-41 at Eastern Kentucky University’s Baptist Health Arena and advance to Saturday’s 11th Region semifinals.
In Thursday’s semifinals No. 7 Frederick Douglass routed Franklin County 61-35 and No. 1 Madison Central fought off a tenacious Tates Creek squad 67-47 to set up Saturday’s 4 p.m. semifinal game between the 11th Region’s two best teams, according to the final Kentucky Media Elite 16 boys basketball poll.
However, Madison Central might be without third leading scorer Luke Asher, who went out with an injury in the first half against Tates Creek and did not return. Asher averaged 14.9 points per game.
LexCath’s comeback ‘It had to be everything’
“They battled,” Knights coach Salsman said of his team’s rally. “Everybody — the young guys, the old guys, the middle guys, the coaches, the staff — everybody gave everything they had. … It had to be everything.”
Trailing 41-40 with 14 seconds to play after a pair of missed Bryan Station free throws, Lexington Catholic swung the ball to senior center Hank Woodall on the right block. Woodall backed his man under the basket and turned for a left-handed layup of the glass for the lead with 3.9 seconds left.
“I’m just thinking ‘I’m not going to let this be my last high school basketball game,” Woodall said. “I knew that I had to score the ball there. I just did what I’ve learned to do. I work on it in practice — same move, every day. Repetition.”
Woodall’s go-ahead bucket seemed improbable less than a minute earlier.
He and Max Meagher each missed a free throw in the last 1:12, helping Bryan Station cling to a 41-37 lead with 39 seconds to go.
But after Bryan Station called a timeout to set up an inbounds play against Lexington Catholic’s pressure, Defenders senior guard Kamani Barbour traveled as he tried to gather a long throw in.
On the ensuing possession, Meagher handed the ball off to junior Jacob Holland on the left wing and set a screen. Lexington Catholic had only shot four 3-pointers all night against Bryan Station’s defense.
It hadn’t made any.
“I knew I needed to make a shot, and, you know, you might as well go down swinging,” said Holland, who drained the Knights’ lone three from beyond the college arc to trim their deficit to 41-40 with 26.5 second left. “They pressure and they’ve got so many good guards. Luckily, I was able to break free on the last one.”
Salsman called Holland’s shot “probably the biggest three of my career, which spans 35 years. That was a big one.”
The Knights fouled Bryan Station sophomore Torrence Sanford to send the Defenders to the free throw line, a solid strategy against a team that shoots just 61.9 percent from there. Sanford missed both. Station made only four of its 14 free throws for the game.
“We made some mistakes and Catholic made some really good plays, but the game really swung on free throws,” Bryan Station coach Champ Ligon said. “When you don’t make them, it’s kind of hard to hold onto a lead. It’s just like a turnover.”
Lexington Catholic played at a considerably more deliberate pace than normal and used a box-and-one defense to frustrate Bryan Station’s dynamic senior point guard Amari Owens.
Owens got loose for 12 points despite being face-guarded most of the game. When Station (22-9) was able to run, it proved devastating. An Oliver Kaiser putback and 3-pointer on back-to-back trips for the Defenders was followed by back-to-back layups by Owens that helped Station build a 35-27 lead with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.
“We had two or three chances to finish that game, but you’ve got to give Catholic credit. They kept fighting,” Ligon said.
The Knights (22-8) were led by Meagher’s 20 points. Woodall finished with 12.
‘Little ol’ Douglass’ ready to take its shot
To hear Douglass coach Murray Garvin tell it (tongue in cheek) his Broncos don’t have much of a chance against Madison Central in their 4 p.m. semifinal matchup at EKU on Saturday.
“Madison Central is the best team in the state. Everybody picked them. We’re just little ol’ Douglass. So, I just hope we have a chance on Saturday,” Garvin said, facetiously, during his post-game interview Thursday on the Glicod.com stream.
The top-ranked Indians have already beaten Douglass twice — a 72-61 win in the Dec. 22 King of the Bluegrass third place game, and a 69-66 win at home in Richmond on Jan. 23 in a game that tightened up at the end thanks to some Madison Central miscues.
Garvin spoke more earnestly after his jest.
“If it’s Madison Central, you know the saying, ‘It’s hard to beat teams three times.’” Garvin said. “They’re going to have to beat little ol’ Douglass three times. And I wish them the best. And I just hope we can stay on the court with them.
Madison Central coach Allen Feldhaus Jr. gave a more sober assessment, due somewhat to the uncertainty over Asher’s injury.
“It’s a challenge because they’ve (the Broncos) got so much depth, and if Luke (Asher) is out, we go six deep,” Feldhaus said. “We might want to have to do what we did against CovCath. We might have to slow it down and turn our offense over and look to cram it inside, because they struggled with Jake (Feldhaus) in the last two games”
Feldhaus said he expected a good crowd Saturday and hopes the home team’s turnout helps make a difference.
“We’re not going to back down. I know my guys. I believe in them,” Feldhaus said. “We hope we have enough gas in the tank to hang in there. Really, we feel like the crowd will be on our side. I think it will be a good atmosphere in here Saturday.”
Farewell to one of Lexington’s all-time great players
Bryan Station’s Owens, an Eastern Kentucky commit, ended his high school career with 2,606 points. He ranks as the all-time leading scorer in Bryan Station and Lexington boys high school basketball history.
Salsman coached Owens in the junior all-star series last summer. Their post-game handshake turned into a heartfelt hug.
“I just told him he was a dog. I’m sorry I had to box-and-one him,” Salsman said. “I didn’t know what else to do to be able to stop him. … I’ve grown up in Lexington, and so I’ve seen all the great players of Lexington, and he’s definitely one of them.”
Next, Lexington Catholic will face Great Crossing, an 82-41 winner over Model in Wednesday’s other quarterfinals matchup.
Asked immediately after his team’s blowout win, Great Crossing coach Steve Page didn’t offer his opinion on who’d he’d rather face in Saturday’s 2 p.m. semifinal.
“Honestly, for all four teams on this side of the bracket, it was probably a good draw,” Page said with a nod to No. 1 Madison Central and No. 7 Frederick Douglass as the favorites in Thursday’s quarterfinals. “Any of the winners would want to play us. I’m not silly enough to know anything different. … We’ll be the underdog come Saturday.”
Recapping the other 11th Region quarterfinals
Frederick Douglass 61, Franklin County 35: The underdog Flyers (12-21) kept it close for more than a quarter, trimming their deficit to just 14-13 early in the second period, but the No. 7 Broncos (22-6) put together a 16-5 run over the rest of the first half to set sail on the rout.
DeMarcus Surratt, Dakari Talbert and Tate Robinson each scored 11 points for Douglass, who made 58.5 percent of its field goals while holding Franklin County to under 24 percent shooting. Douglass outscored Franklin County 28-18 in the paint and outrebounded them 41-17.
The Flyers were led by eight points each from Kaevin Russell and Aaron Jones.
Madison Central 67, Tates Creek 47: The No. 1 Indians (30-3) trailed Tates Creek 10-8 after a halting first quarter, but they responded with an 18-0 run over the next four-plus minutes to take control of the game despite losing senior forward Luke Asher to injury midway through the first half.
Jake Feldhuas, Madison Central’s 11th Region player of the year, led all scorers with 21 points to go with 14 rebounds, while sophomore teammate Grayson Burton chipped in 21 points and 11 boards. Cam Steele added 10 points and five assists. The Commodores (16-15) were led by A.J. Slaughter’s 14 points.
Great Crossing 82, Model 41: The Warhawks (21-11) jumped all over the 44th District runners-up from the tip, outscoring the Patriots 22-7 in the first quarter and pulling to a mercy-rule running clock margin with 3:10 left in the third.
Travanti Cooper and Brady Orem led the Great Crossing (20-11) with 17 points each. Colt Delimpo added 14 and Lincoln Moore scored 11 off the bench. Jayden Bingham and Riley Mollette each scored 15 points for Model (19-13).
Boys 11th Region Tournament
At Eastern Kentucky University’s Baptist Health Arena, Richmond.
Tickets: $10. Streaming: Glicod.com.
SATURDAY’S SEMIFINALS
2 p.m.: Great Crossing vs. Lexington Catholic.
4 p.m.: Frederick Douglass vs. Madison Central.
MONDAY’S FINAL
7 p.m.: Championship game.
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 1:52 AM.
