‘You guys can play with anybody.’ First Region champs had chance to make history.
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Sweet Sixteen stories
The 2020 Boys’ Sweet 16 was postponed before it began because of the coronavirus pandemic. The stoppage of our annual high school basketball state tournament denied 16 schools and their communities — for many — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for recognition on one of Kentucky’s most prominent stages. In the absence of basketball, the Herald-Leader is telling their stories. Click below to read the stories published so far.
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Editor’s Note: The 2020 Boys’ Sweet 16 was postponed before it began because of the coronavirus pandemic. The stoppage of our annual high school basketball state tournament denied 16 schools and their communities — for many — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for recognition on one of Kentucky’s most prominent stages. In the absence of basketball, the Herald-Leader is telling their stories.
There hasn’t been a state champion boys’ basketball team out of the 1st Region since 1959. And we might never know if McCracken County could have broken that string, but they had reason to believe they had a chance.
“We’ve had a lot of history made this season,” said senior Jackson Sivills, their leading scorer and a Murray State commit. “We had the toughest schedule we’ve ever played, and we still won 30 games. We’ve played against some of the top players in the state. In the past at McCracken, we haven’t really gone up to Lexington and Louisville and played those teams. But this year, we did, and I think this is probably the best or one of the best teams to ever play at McCracken.”
McCracken County’s history only dates to its 2013-14 consolidation, but that bold statement might apply to its precursors as well, excluding, of course, Heath’s 1929 state title, a 21-16 win over Corinth. Heath made five tournament appearances, all before 1933. Reidland and Lone Oak had one each.
“We thought we’d have a shot to be pretty good,” McCracken County Coach Burlin Brower said. “We had a good group of kids that just played their role. We weren’t very deep. We had to use a lot of young guys to fill in some gaps and by the end of the year, some of those guys were really producing for us.”
This season’s region title marks the Mustangs’ second crown and their best record yet, a 30-4 campaign that included a clean sweep of their 1st Region foes.
“I was planning on going up to state and making some noise, too, there. But we’ll see how that draws out,” said junior point guard Noah Dumas, the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.5 points per game.
Sivills, a 6-foot-6 small forward, averaged 21.4 points and 7.1 rebounds with a deft touch from three-point range, making 40 percent of his tries from deep.
“The Sivills kid is just a once in a lifetime type of kid to coach,” said Brower, who of course believes his guy should win Mr. Basketball.
McCracken County’s losses came in close contests to teams who would eventually win their own regions, including two defeats to Madisonville, a loss to Collins and a loss to regular-season No. 1 Male. All came down to the last few possessions.
The Collins loss, a bruising 63-59 affair on Feb. 8, seemed most instructional, Brower said, because it was the most physical and the referees seemed to let a lot go.
“You’re just going to have to be tough and play through that,” Brower said he told his team. “That game got us back to reality and showed we had to fix some things. … You have to attack the basket and go get easy buckets, because you’re not going to sit out there and live and die behind the three-point line (and win games).”
Through those key losses, Brower said he told his team something else: “You guys can play with anybody.”
But Marshall County, already a two-time loser to the Mustangs, would try to play spoiler. The Marshals and celebrated junior Zion Harmon met McCracken County in the 1st Region finals.
The back-and-forth game came down to the final moments. Marshall’s Tyler Powell hit a three-pointer from the right corner with 10 seconds left to put McCracken County down 42-41. The Mustangs had no timeouts.
Sivills threw the ball in to Dumas.
“I was actually looking for Jack to get open but he couldn’t get open, so I had to hurry up and do something with it,” Dumas said. “I was looking for him the whole time.”
Dumas drove the lane. He got fouled on a shot with 1.8 seconds left and was awarded two free throws with a one-point deficit.
“I had 100 percent confidence in him,” Sivills said. “He’s been through the fires with me. We’ve been playing together for years now, so I knew what to expect from him. He’s hit a lot of shots like that in the past. Obviously, it was a big situation, but I knew deep down, he had them.”
Dumas swished the first — tie game.
“I was nervous when I first stood up there, but I hit the first one and everything came together,” Dumas said. “The second one just came natural.”
Their tough schedule paid dividends. Of course, the Mustangs hoped to see a few more in Rupp Arena.
“It’s not so much about the game, the winning and losing, it’s about the experience,” Brower said. “There’s no guarantee you’ll ever get back. It’s hard to get to Rupp Arena. It’s really hard to get there. Even as a sophomore or even a freshman just to get there doing layups to say you made it one year, that’s the biggest part.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 7:34 AM.
