Boys' All 'A' Classic: Lexington Christian, Rose dunk Shawnee

FRANKFORT — It's been a fun day of basketball when your team wins by 31 points and the most probing question afterward is which of your dunks you liked best.

No wonder Matt Rose was smiling after leading Lexington Christian Academy to a 74-43 victory over Shawnee in the first round of the Touchstone Energy All "A" Classic on Thursday morning.

Rose, a 6-foot-7 senior who has signed with Samford, had 23 points, including four dunks.

His favorite slam?

It came late in the first quarter. Kyle Rode, on the left wing, floated an alley-oop pass toward Rose, who was on the right baseline looking toward the rim.

"He threw the pass a little bit high and I knew I had to stretch out to get it, and I got it, " Rose said.

The jam elicited more than a few "oohs" and "aahs" from the fans in the Frankfort Convention Center.

LCA Coach Nate Valentine said that a leaper like Rose opens up the perimeter because the other team has to "constantly worry about a guy flying to the rim."

Rose, who also led the way with eight rebounds, wasn't a one-man shows.

Drew Trimble, a 6-8 senior, had 14 points and five rebounds and Benton Nighbert, a 6-4 senior, had three three-pointers and nine points.

Rode, a 6-5 eighth-grader, had six points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

"(Shawnee) is so long and athletic, and they challenge every shot at the rim," Valentine said. "But I thought our guys did a good job for the most part handling the pressure."

Shawnee was led by 6-7 Joseph Jewell with 11 points and six rebounds.

Buckhorn 55, University Heights 51: Connor Hoskins had 22 points, including a layup with 1:40 left that put Buckhorn ahead to stay at 52-51. He added two free throws with 35 seconds left, and Ryan Boggs hit a foul shot with six seconds left to clinch the victory.

Boggs finished with 12 points and Josh Crank had 11.

UHA led 40-30 before going scoreless for almost 10 minutes. Buckhorn went on a 17-0 run to take a 47-40 lead.

UHA rallied behind Jonta Acree and Jaylen Sebree and was up 51-50 before Buckhorn prevailed.

UHA, an eight-time All "A" state champ, was led by Travion Hollowell's 18 points. Sebree had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Acree added 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Newport Central Catholic 67, Hancock County 31: Two-time defending champion NewCath led only 13-12 after one quarter over the Hornets, rated 16th in the field of 16 teams.

It wasn't close after that, though.

NewCath scored 20 unanswered points to start the second quarter, and that was part of a 37-2 avalanche that buried Hancock County.

Ben Weyer, Grant Moeves and John Ludwig had 12 points each for the winners. Drew McDonald had 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Elliott County 69, Kentucky Country Day 58: Korbin Spencer's 20 points (14 of 16 free throws) led the Lions.

Landon Griffith hit five of six three-pointers and had 17 points. Chase Porter, who hit a 35-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to win the 16th Region All "A" for Elliott County, added 12 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Elliott led 57-41 before KCD rallied to within 64-58.

Malyiek McCray, son of former Louisville star Scooter McCray, led KCD with 19 points and seven rebounds.

Shelby Valley 58, Campbellsville 46: Shelby Valley closed with a rush, outscoring Campbellsville 12-0 over the last four minutes.

Hunter Swindall, a 6-2 junior who led the Wildcats with 26 points, had a three-point play to put his team ahead to stay at 49-46.

Corey Hamilton had 12 points and five rebounds for the winners. Andrew Newsome added eight points and seven rebounds.

Shelby Valley forced 16 turnovers that it converted into 22 points. The Wildcats had only six turnovers.

Campbellsville was led by Blake Clark's 16 points.

Monroe County 63, Murray 55: The Geralds cousins led Monroe County to its 20th win of the season.

Dillon Geralds, a 6-3 senior, had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Cousin Skyler had 15 points and four assists.

The Geralds also were part of Monroe County's clutch free-throw shooting — 9-for-12 in the last two minutes.

Murray trailed by eight in the fourth quarter, but Preston English's three-point shooting rallied the Tigers to within 55-54 with 1:18 left. But Monroe County went on an 8-1 run to close it out.

Murray was led by James Boone's 17 points and seven rebounds.

The Tigers are coached by Bart Flener, who guided Glasgow to the 2001 All "A" title. He has also coached at Lexington Catholic, West Jessamine and Asbury.

This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Boys' All 'A' Classic: Lexington Christian, Rose dunk Shawnee."