The Kentucky AAU 14 and Under Tournament was played  from April 14th through April 16th, 2000. The games were played in Woodford County, Scott County, and Lexington, with the semifinals and finals at Paul Dunbar High School in Lexington.  There were several strong teams entered in the 72 team field:  Mason County, Trinity Western Ky. Stars, Ft. Knox, Lexington Express, Team Louisville, Scott County Red, Lexington Catholic, etc.

I managed to see several excellent games and many promising young players in this tourney but unfortunately you can't catch them all.  I did manage to catch two quarterfinals, the semifinals, the third place game, and the championship.  I will attempt to give a brief recap of the games I did see and apologize for the games and fine players I missed in the tourney.  The stats are unofficial but recorded by me personally.

Pool Play

Friday April 14th

Lexington Express vs. Campbell Co. (Scott Co. H.S.)
Lexington Express won this one by a score of 51-40.   The victors were led by 6-0 Keith Fulz, 6-3 Nick Mullins, and 5-6 Margee Faulkner with 12 points each.  Campbell County was led by  6-1 Chris Cornetet, 5-11 Zachary Rizzo, and 5-10 David Emrath with 8 points each.

Northern Kentucky Rockets vs. E-town East/West (Scott Co. H.S.)
Northern Kentucky won this thriller by a score of 35-34.   They were led by Hudgens with 11, and Steffen with 9 points.  E-Town East/West was led by  6-1 John Hollingsworth with 19 points.

Scott Co. Red vs. Hazard (Scott Co. H.S.)
Scott Co. Red won this game by a score of 67-41.   The victors were led by a very athletic "C-2" Washington with 15 points. Pat Jarvis added 13 points, and 6-0 Tyler Hicks added 10 points.  Hazard was led by 6-0 Jon Housley  and 6-1 Parker Carter with 13 and 11 points respectively.

Scott Co. White vs. Marion Co. II (Scott Co. H.S.)
Scott Co. White cruised to a 82-22 win in the nightcap as 5-11 Ryan Bailey poured in 37 points.  Marion County was led by Jonas Murriel with 6 points.
 

Saturday April 15th

Augusta vs. Perry Co. Central  (Lexington Catholic H.S.)
Perry Co. Central used their size and quickness to win this game by a score of 67-40.   Perry Co. Central was led by 6-1 Brandon Campbell with 22 points and 5-10 Jordan Shepherd with 15.  Augusta was led by  6-0 Tom Appelman with 16 points.

Lexington Catholic  vs. Marion Co. I  (Lexington Catholic H.S.)
Lexington Catholic earned an easy victory with a score of  74-36.   Catholic was led by 6-2 Harrison Morton with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Seth Hill added 12 points.  Marion Co. was led by  Blake Smalley with 7 points.

Mason Co. Hornets  vs. Northern Ky Floyd Construction  (Lexington Catholic H.S.)
Mason Co. won this game by a score of 63-34.   They were led by 6-2 Chris Lofton with 12 points.  Northern Ky was led by 5-9 William O'Reilly with 17 points, all in the second half.

Bowling Green Raptors vs. Team Louisville  (Lexington Catholic H.S.)
Team Louisville totally dominated in this game winning by a score of  90-31.   6-6 Robert Simpson led Louisville with 20 points and 11 rebounds.  5-10 Isaiah Britt and Porterfield added 17 each.  Multi-talented 5-10 point guard Rajan Rondo added 16 points.  The Raptors were led by 6-3 Matt Moresca with 6 points.

Johns Creek  vs. Lexington Catholic  (Lexington Catholic H.S.)
Lexington Catholic utilized the inside play of 6-2 Harrison Morton to win by a score of  58-44.  Morton tallied 27 points and 16 rebounds.  Johns Creek was led by 5-9 Paul Howard  and 6-2 Jan Johnson with 13 and 12 points respectively.

Paul Dunbar vs. Bowling Green Bearcats  (Dunbar H.S.)
The score in this game was tied 44-all at the end of regulation and Bowling Green pulled away to win 53-49 in overtime.  Bowling Green was led by 6-0 Tyler Blaine with 15 and Dunbar was led by Milton Marshall with 16 points.
 

Championship Bracket

Scott Co. Red vs. Perry Co. Central   (Dunbar H.S.)
Scott Co. Red overcame a 53-42 deficit going into the final period to nip Perry Co. Central by a score of 61-58.   Scott Co. was led by 6-0 guard Tyler Hicks with 23 points and 5-11 "C-2" Washington added 15 and did a nice job on the boards.  Perry Co. Central  was led by 5-10 Jordan Shepherd with 14 points.  6-3 Jason Miller  and 5-11 Allan Holland added 13 and 12 points respectively.

Bowling Green Bearcats vs. Ft. Knox  (Dunbar H.S.)
Ft Knox advanced with a 55-49 victory.  Ft Knox  was led by 6-1 Daniel Fountain with 14 and 6-2 Craig Howard added 12.  Bowling Green was led by 5-8 Cornelius Bowman and 5-9 Ben Sowders with 13 and 11 points respectively.

Lexington Express vs. Scott Co. Red  (Dunbar H.S.)
Lexington Express overcame a 43-36 deficit entering the fourth quarter to defeat Scott Co. 58-51.   Scott Co.'s talented point guard Tyler Hicks fouled out with 4:30 remaining and Scott Co. clinging to a 45-41 lead.  The Express then outscored Scott Co. 17-6 the rest of the way to claim the victory. The victors were led by 5-9 William Mays with 24 points.  Scott Co. was led by Ross Bowen with 13 points. Tyler Hicks and Zack Montgomery each added 9 points.

Sunday April 16th

Quarterfinals

Trinity vs. Mason Co.  (Dunbar H.S.)
This was an extremely well played game with Mason Co. pulling away in the final minute to win by a score of 49-42.   Mason Co. was led by 6-0 Dustin Grutza with 21 points.  Grutza scored on a variety of moves inside as well as displaying a deft touch for the three point line.  Trinity was led by 6-0 Armond Edmondson with 11 and 6-2 Brian Brohm with 9
 

Trinity	7	12	14	9	-	42
Mason Co.	7	15	12	15	-	49

Trinity	(42) -	Nix 8, Edmondson 11, Wright 2, Coffee 5, Brohm 9, Haliburton 2, Brady 5.
Mason Co.	(49) -	Lofton 6, Grutza 21, Litzinger 12, Poe 4, Gulley 2, Rice 4.

Lexington Express vs. Team Louisville  (Dunbar H.S.)
Team Louisville totally dominated the Express in the second half to win by a score of 43-20.  5-10 point guard Rajan Rondo led Louisville with 20 points and 6-0 Keith Fulz led the Express with 11 points.
 

Lexington	8	6	6	0	-	20
Louisville	15	6	16	6	-	43

Lexington	(20) -	Fender 1, Mays 2, Fulz 11, Barron 6.
Louisville	(43) -	Cofer 2, Simpson 4, Rondo 20, Hall 8 Redmon 2, Britt 7.

Semifinals
 

Lexington Catholic vs. Mason Co.  (Dunbar H.S.)
Lexington Catholic advanced to the championship game by a score of  58-50 behind the heroics of 6-2 Harrison Morton.   Morton tallied 28 points and 21 rebounds and Catholic needed them all to offset a sparkling 25 point performance by Mason County's Dustin Grutza.  Catholic also got a 16 point performance from guard Drew Morton.
 

Lexington Catholic	18	12	17	11	-	58
Mason Co.	18	7	13	12	-	50

Lexington Catholic	(58) -	Balthrop 2, Noble 4, H. Morton 28, D. Morton 16, Hill 3, McGrath 4.
Mason Co.	(50) -	Lofton 10, Grutza 25, Litzinger 7, Poe 1, Gulley 4, Rice 3.

Ft. Knox vs. Team Louisville  (Dunbar H.S.)
Team Louisville finally subdued a determined Ft Knox squad to win 43-39 in overtime.  Louisville led 26-18 at halftime but Ft. Knox's tight zone defense slowed down Louisville and allowed them to get back in the game.  6-2 Demetrius Goins tied the game at 37 with 1:57 remaining.  Louisville worked the clock but 5-10 Rajan Rondo missed a shot at the buzzer.  Team Louisville regained control in overtime to claim to the victory.

Team Louisville was led by 6-1 Stephen McKinney with 13 and Rajan Rondo with 11 points.  Ft Knox was led by 6-3 Robert Broughton and 5-8 Jerry Turner with 12 points each.
 

Ft. Knox	11	7	11	8	2	-	39
Louisville	17	9	7	4	6	-	43

Ft. Knox	(39) -	Broughton 12, Guions 4, Ewing 4, Fountain 7, Turner 12.
Louisville	(43) -	McKinney 13, Cofer 6, Simpson 6, Rondo 11, Hall 4, Redmon 2, Britt 2.

Third Place Game

Ft. Knox vs.  Mason Co.  (Dunbar H.S.)
Ft. Knox jumped out to a 14-2 lead and survived a rally by Mason County early in the fourth quarter to win by a score of 50-37.  Ft. Knox  was led by 6-1 Daniel Fountain with 16 points. 5-8 Jerry Turner and 6-3 Robert Broughton added 13 and 11 points respectively.   6-2 Chris Lofton led Mason County with 16 points.
 

Ft. Knox	16	12	10	12	-	50
Mason Co.	9	9	11	8	-	37

Ft. Knox	(50) -	Broughton 11, Guions 6, Ewing 2, Fountain 16, Turner 13, Howard 2.
Mason Co.	(37) -	Lofton 16, Grutza 8, Poe 6, Gulley 1, Rice 4, Griffin 2.

Championship Game

Team Louisville  vs. Lexington Catholic   (Dunbar H.S.)
Lexington Catholic won a thriller over Team Louisville in what would have to be considered an upset. 6-2 Mark Balthrop hit a three-pointer with 7 seconds remaining to give catholic the 41-39 win.  Louisville led 23-15 at halftime and 6-2 Harrison Morton, who had dominated in the tourney, was totally frustrated by 6-6 Robert Simpson and 6-5 Nick Redmon.  Mike McGrath came off the bench to score 6 first half points to keep Catholic in the game.

David Noble scored 10 points in the third quarter to help Catholic pull within 2 (31-29) at the break.  Harrison Morton made some big plays down the stretch and Balthrop hit two late three-pointers including the winning basket to give Catholic the championship.

Lexington Catholic was led by Mark Balthrop with 13 points and David Noble added 10.  Rajan Rondo led Louisville with 10 points. Robert Simpson added 6 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
 

Louisville	11	12	8	8	-	39
Lexington Catholic	9	6	14	12	-	41

Louisville	(39) -	McKinney 6, Simpson 6, Rondo 10, Hall 3, Redmon 8, Porterfield 4, Cofer 2.
Lexington Catholic	(41) -	Balthrop 13, H. Morton 8, D. Morton 2, Noble 10, McGrath 6, Lattner 2.

Conclusion

This was an exciting tournament with several promising young players in the field.  I wish I could have seen all the games but that was impossible.  Some observers stated that 6-6 Scott Green of Louisville Male had a good tourney and Coach Jeffrey Stowers always brings down a good team from Northern Kentucky.  Team Louisville's 6-0 guard Jermaine Bentley, another outstanding player on that team, missed the tourney with an injury.

Rajan Rondo looks to be the point guard of the future in Louisville.  He has amazing quickness and can take most people off the dribble.  6-6 Robert Simpson rebounds well and intimidates on defense.  Catholic's Harrison Morton had a great tourney and after recovering from the shock of playing against the huge front line of Louisville responded well down the stretch.  Mason county has a couple of  nice players in Craig Lofton and Dustin Grutza - remember the names .  Scott County's Tyler Hicks and C-2 Washington played well despite foul problems.

There were too many players to mention here an there were also some nice coaching jobs in the tournament. The Lexington Catholic coaching staff did an excellent job in the title game.  Several players in this tourney should be competing for varsity playing time this season.