ATHLETICS
3rd Region
Boys Basketball By Mark Story Reprinted with permission from the March 27, 2020, Lexington Herald-Leader
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. Of the 16 teams that won regional championships in the 201920 Kentucky boys’ high school basketball season, it seems possible to identify the one riding the highest wave of euphoria. The stunning upset that made Owensboro Catholic the 2020 3rd Region champion is one giddy Aces fans will relish for all eternity. Going into Owensboro Catholic’s 3rd Region championship game matchup with crosstown rival Owensboro, the trends working against Coach Tim Riley’s Aces were severe. One of the most tradition-packed programs in Kentucky high school basketball history, Owensboro entered the game with 44 previous region titles. Owensboro Catholic entered the game with one all-time region crown - 2016.
22 points and 16 (in the 9th District championship). “Owensboro was a heavy favorite. And Owensboro was playing exceptionally well coming into the postseason,” says Jim Pickens, longtime sportswriter at the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. “What happened, no one saw it coming.” What happened was that Owensboro Catholic, defying history, tradition and this season’s prior results, took an early lead and never relented. The result, Owensboro Catholic 56, Owensboro 45, is the biggest boys’ basketball victory in school history for the Aces. “There had been a lot of bad nights for the Owensboro Catholic people against the Red Devils,” says Riley, the Catholic coach. “For all the old-line Owensboro Catholic people, a lot of demons were exorcised that night.”
Owensboro has four state titles and 47 all-time wins in the Sweet 16.
An Uphill Climb
Not only has Owensboro Catholic never won the boys’ state tournament, the Aces have never won a state tourney game.
Had the coronavirus pandemic and the efforts to contain it not intervened, Riley, 59, would have coached in his 10th state tournament March 19 when Owensboro Catholic (21-14) was
In three prior meetings between the teams in 2019-20, Owensboro had swept them all, winning the two previous games by
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THE GREEN AND WHITE n SUMMER 2020
