Bracken County’s Devante Jefferson (left), Blake Reed (center) and Cayden Reed (right) celebrate after winning at the All “A” state tournament at EKU’s McBrayer Arena. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
ALL “A” STATE TOURNAMENT
Bracken County wins first ever All “A” state tournament game
Bracken County’s Blake Reed waves his hands in the air to the Bracken County faithful that attended Thursday’s game in Richmond. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
RICHMOND — Blake Reed and Cayden Reed are names people know when associating Bracken County with basketball currently.
A lot just found out who Payton Gilvin was.
Gilvin’s steal and layup in the closing seconds of overtime gave the Polar Bears their first ever All “A” state tournament win in program history as they topped Walton-Verona, 78-76.
Gilvin, a senior, didn’t play his junior season as he wanted to focus more on football.
He used all of that football strength and then some to rip the ball out of Cameron Christy’s hands on a loose ball rebound, go up for a layup and provide the game-winning basket.
“Just saw it coming down, Jushod was getting was boxed out so I had to be there. Kind of last resort, 15 seconds left we had to do something so I just ripped the ball and had a easy layup,” Gilvin said. “Being bigger than everyone else pays off sometimes. Not height, but just stronger than everybody else.”
His head coach couldn’t be happier Gilvin decided to put on the basketball shoes one more time for his senior season.
“Just a great kid. Payton saved us this year, him coming back and playing his guts out. Just being the kid that he is, the role model he is, he stepped up and won the game for us tonight. That’s what this is all about. Proud of him, excited for him,” Polar Bears coach Adam Reed said.
What a game it was leading up to that point that had seven ties with nine lead changes, the majority of them happening in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Polar Bears led by as much as 14 at one point when Blake Reed hit a 3-pointer from what seemed like Berea, the team coming out of the half on a 12-1 run to take a 40-26 advantage.
Adversity then hit as both Blake and Adam were hit with technicals, Blake’s coming first near the end of the third.
Adam’s came in the fourth, momentum clearly shifting to the Bearcats behind the scoring prowess of Brant Smithers, hitting one of two free throws to give the Bearcats a 58-57 lead with 3:19 to play.
“Adversity is something we’ve been dealing with the prior two seasons. Two technicals tonight, Blake’s technical was questionable, mine was questionable. I just basically said that’s got to be a push, but he told me I was yelling. I had to yell, you couldn’t hear anything in there so I had to yell. Me yelling wasn’t being hateful, just wanted to get my point across. My first technical of the year, guys responded and we got the win,” Reed said.
Carter Krohman’s triple gave Walton a 63-60 lead, Blake Reed responding on the other end with another deep one to tie it at 63.
Blake and Cayden Reed then split a pair of two free throw attempts to make it 65-63, Cameron Christy tying the game up in the closing seconds at 65.
A Polar Bears turnover followed by a desperation heave from Smithers got the game to overtime.
What started as promising with a 73-72 Polar Bear lead suddenly turned into a 76-73 Bearcat lead after four straight from Christy and then a Smithers layup.
Blake’s Reed putback with 54 seconds left got the Polar Bears within one, they then forced a turnover with one final chance with 24 seconds to play.
A draw up got Jushod Commodore free for a contested layup, but missed, Gilvin ripping the ball free from Christy to make it 77-76.
The Polar Bears then got a stop, but Tanner Thornberry was fouled on a loose ball rebound with :3.1 seconds remaining and the Bearcats in the double bonus. Thornberry missed both, Gilvin able to grab the rebound.
He was able to knock down one of two attempts from the line and for good measure, got the game-winning steal as well in the final second.
“I’m like the Dennis Rodman of the team. I’m a hustle guy, get rebounds, defense, boxing everybody out for everybody. What happened tonight at the end was a rare occasion, might happen again but just happy it did happen,” Gilvin said.
Blake Reed led the Polar Bears with 32 points, hitting 11-of-22 shots from the field. Younger brother Cayden Reed had 24 with seven steals, a menace on the defensive end all evening.
The win gets them to Friday’s quarterfinals, facing Harlan, who defeated Campbellsville 47-41 on Thursday.
Friday’s tip is set for 8 p.m.
Walton-Verona got 29 from Smithers, 17 of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime. Carter Krohman added 20, Christy with 12.
“We knew it was going to be a barnburner. They’re tough, Smithers is tough, Krohman is tough, Christy is tough. They got three options and coach did a good job spreading us out and got to the best option each time in the game,” Reed said.
The Bearcats started 1-of-15 from the 3-point line, but hit 6-of-9 in the second half and overtime. The loss dropped them to 11-9.
Bracken County has now won eight straight, improving to 15-5. They had lost their previous two trips to the All “A” state tournament in 1992 and ‘98.
POLAR BEARS 78, BEARCATS 76 (OT)
BRACKEN COUNTY — 19-9-19-18-13 — 78
WALTON-VERONA — 11-14-11-29-11 — 76
Scoring
Bracken (78) — Blake Reed 32, Cayden Reed 24, Commodore 7, Gilvin 7, Norton 5, Reynolds 2, Jefferson 1
Walton (76) — Smithers 29, Krohman 20, Christy 12, Dixon 6, Montgomery 5, Gutman 4
Game Stats
Field Goals: Bracken 29/59, Walton 27/52
3-Pointers: Bracken 5/13, Walton 7/24
Free Throws: Bracken 15/22, Walton 15/32
Rebounds: Bracken 32 (Gilvin, Renolds, Jefferson 6), Walton 37 (Gutman 8)
Assists: Bracken 8, Walton 12
Turnovers: Bracken 13, Walton 21
Steals: Bracken 15, Walton 9
Personal Fouls: Bracken 22, Walton 22
Records: Bracken County 15-5, Walton-Verona 11-9
