Evangel takes battle of Louisville to secure final spot in Sweet 16 semifinals
Kentucky this year will crown a first-time champion in boys basketball.
No. 2 Evangel Christian defeated Trinity 57-46 in the quarterfinals of the UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 on Friday night, advancing to meet Harlan County in the 1:30 p.m. semifinal Saturday at Rupp Arena.
No. 1 Great Crossing was to get No. 3 Lyon County in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. Three of the four remaining schools — all except Lyon County, who also advanced to the final day last year — are in the Sweet 16 field for the first time. Evangel Christian is the only private school left after eliminating the only other such participant Friday.
Evangel Christian (31-6) isn’t a newer school, like Great Crossing (opened in the 2019-20 school year) and Harlan County (2008-09), but its basketball history was filled mostly with futility before the 2021-22 season, when Larry Miller took the reins. The Eagles had never played in a region finals before defeating Fairdale, 64-54, in the Sixth Region championship on March 12. They were 0-4 all-time against Trinity (27-8), a Louisville juggernaut with two state titles to its credit.
The two hadn’t played since 1994.
“We just knew what we had to do coming into the game, and that’s play hard,” senior Christian Doerr said. “When you play hard, it’s hard to be nervous. That was our mindset going into the game.”
Andrae Vasser, Trinity’s leading scorer (14.2 ppg), left the game with leg injury at the 5:23 mark of the third quarter. Alex Johnson had 15 points to lead the Shamrocks, who pulled within 44-40 with 2:22 to play. Evangel closed the game on a 7-2 run.
“We’ve never been here before, so I feel like we don’t have anything to lose as players,” said senior Kyran Tilley.
About Evangel
Miller, 68, in 1989 coached Cincinnati’s Woodward High School to an Ohio Division I state title. But a Kentucky Sweet 16 trip eluded him during stops at Male, Moore and Hopkinsville.
“That’s a lot of years,” Miller said with a laugh. “That’s a lot of bus rides. That’s a lot of uniforms to wash.”
Evangel’s high school enrollment — 37 — was the 10th lowest in the state at the start of this school year. Ten of them play basketball. Two of them, Doerr and Kyran Tilley, averaged 17 points per game this season, and exceeded those marks Friday night. Doerr had 19 points (3-for-4 from behind the arc) and five assists while Tilley posted a game-high 20 points and had four steals. Ben Mukadi, a junior, had a game-high 11 rebounds, prompting Miller to call it “the best game of his career.”
“I just played hard,” Mukadi said. “Real hard.”
A school from the Sixth Region, one of two regions made up from schools in Louisville, hasn’t won a state title since Fairdale in 1994. Evangel Christian lost to Newport (eliminated Thursday) in the All “A” Classic state classic finals, 69-62 in overtime. Since that game in the small-school state tournament, Miller says his team has been looser.
“These guys have played with confidence all year,” Miller said. “I was very, very, very, very hard on these guys up until the All ‘A’ finals. In the All ‘A’ finals we went from a coach-led team to a player-led team, and since then it’s just been a lot of fun 99.9 percent of the time. Young people, there’s always gonna be bumps in the road, but they’ve made me a happy person. They’ve added to my life.”
‘He became a legend tonight.’ Harlan County’s Trent Noah scores 48 in stunning comeback.
‘Shot out of a cannon.’ Lyon County rides huge third quarter to Sweet 16 quarterfinal win.
Boys’ Sweet 16: Magoffin County runs into Great Crossing ‘buzzsaw’
Campbell County stifles Newport in Boys’ Sweet 16 upset to close first round
Boys’ Sweet 16: Trinity overpowers Pulaski with inside game down the stretch
Boys’ Sweet 16: Evangel Christian locks down Butler County star, grinds out first-round win
Harlan County knocks out defending champs in school’s first Boys’ Sweet 16 win
Boys’ Sweet 16: Great Crossing denies Spencer upset bid. ‘We didn’t expect it to be easy.’
Hot start, hotter finish pushes Adair County past Marshall County in Boys’ Sweet 16
‘There’s no way it’s going to end like this.’ Travis Perry sparks Lyon County comeback.
‘What a second-half effort.’ Magoffin ramps up defense to win first-ever Sweet 16 game.
How to follow the 2024 Kentucky Boys’ Sweet 16 basketball state tournament
‘It takes a lot of people to win this.’ Travis Perry, Trinity Rowe are Mr. and Miss Basketball
