Maybe the hottest team in the state, Fern Creek holds out hope for a Boys’ Sweet 16
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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. Today’s story is the last in the series.. Visit Kentucky.com to read them all.
Talk about sticking the landing. The Fern Creek Tigers ended the year on a roll, winning their last 15 games, including a fourth straight victory over Jeffersontown, and earned the 6th Region title and a trip to Rupp Arena.
Of course, there was no trip to Rupp. Not this year. Not yet anyway. The coronavirus pandemic put the Boys’ Sweet 16 tournament on an elongated hold. And though James Schooler’s team is disappointed the excitement has been postponed, it’s thankful to be in position to board the bus.
“At the beginning of the year, we had some issues,” the Fern Creek coach said.
Not off-the-court issues so much as on-the-court issues. Players had to learn to follow directions. Players had to learn to play with other players.
“We had so many good guys playing with each other, understanding that individuals are great but teams win championships,” Schooler said. “Once they learned that, it was a fun, fun team to coach.”
The education process was made a little tougher by the strength of Fern Creek’s schedule, something Schooler has done most every season on the way to three region titles in the past four years.
“We had to trust and believe in the process,” the coach said. “We played at Ballard, at Male, at Trinity. We just kind of stacked up the schedule as tough as possible, knowing that we had some very strong talent on our team and if we could get these guys to mold together we could have something special at the end of the year.”
And, Schooler added, “That’s how it played out.”
It sure did. The Tigers started the year 2-3, losing at Ballard (76-70), at Male (67-61) and at Manual (69-61). They were just 7-5 when they lost 77-65 to Lutheran East out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in the Champions of Kentucky Hoopfest at North Oldham.
They would lose just one more game the rest of the season, however. That was a second loss to Ballard, 57-51 in the Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament title game on Jan. 18 at Valley. Four days later, when the Tigers trounced visiting Moore 89-67, the winning streak began. Not that it was a surprise.
“Coming into the season, I knew I had three really, really good players,” Schooler said. “I had three sophomores returning that were gearing up for a strong junior campaign.”
Start with Jaden Rogers, a 6-foot junior point guard who scored a game-high 15 points in the 48-43 win over Jeffersontown in the regional finals. Rogers even made a 55-foot shot at the end of the first quarter to give the Tigers a 13-12 lead.
“I’ve been around Jaden since he was 8 years old,” Schooler said. “I always knew he had special ability and was an ultimate team guy. He’s a special talent, man, definitely a Division I player and will help a high-level program in the near future.”
Zek Montgomery and Darius Washington made major contributions in the regional finals. Both are juniors. Washington scored nine points with seven rebounds. Montgomery had eight points and six rebounds.
“Zek Montgomery is the ultimate matchup problem,” Schooler said. “He can play anywhere from the point guard to the five (center). Having a guy like that on the court is a huge advantage for a coach.
“Darius Washington did his job. I’m very proud of him. I challenged Darius to be a force on the boards and be in the right place when we got the ball into the paint. And he did that.”
But the secret of Fern Creek’s success was getting good individual players to play as a team, something Schooler was able to do in 2017 when he took the Tigers to the state semifinals and 2018 when Fern Creek reached the quarterfinals.
“I loved coaching this team,” Schooler said. “It was a great group of young men. I know every coach out there loves their team, they spend so much time with their kids. But I had so much fun, even through the bad times and the good times, developing this team. Hopefully, we’ll get past all this and get back on the court and get back to doing what we love to do.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 7:34 AM.
