The Kentucky AAU 15 and Under Tournament was played  from June 15th through June 18th, 2000. The games were played at Frankfort High School, Franklin County High School, and Western Hills High School, with the semifinals and finals at Western Hills High School in Frankfort.  There were several strong teams entered in the 27 team field:  Corbin, Ballard, Trinity, Highlands, St. Xavier, Adair County, Lexington Catholic, etc.

I managed to view several excellent games and some promising young players but unfortunately you can't observe every game.  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 June 16th

Louisville Trinity vs. Scott Co.  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Trinity finally subdued Scott County in an exciting game by a score of 66-63.  Trinity was led by 6-3 So. Chris McCoy with 22 points.  5-10 So. Teshawn McBroom and 6-3 Fr. Brian Brohm added 14 and 13 respectively.  Scott County was led by 6-0 Fr. Tyler Hicks with 22 points.  5-9 So. Nick Reed added 13 points and 9 rebounds.  6-2 So. Jeremy Nettles also tallied 8 points and 10 rebounds.

Barren County vs. Male  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Male overcame a 31-27 deficit at halftime to defeat Barren County 68-55.  Male was led by 6-2 Casey Shumate with 22 points.  Barren County was led by 6-2 So. Joey Wilson with 19.

Neon vs. Ft. Thomas Highlands  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Highlands claimed an easy 102-25 victory over Neon AAU.  Highlands was led by 5-10 So. Jonathan Klingenberg with 24 points.  5-10 So. Jeff Guidugli and 5-11 So. Kevin Gillis added 22 and 16 points respectively.  5-11 So. Ryan Gross added 14 points and 6-7 So. Ross Neltner tallied 12 points and 6 rebounds.  Neon was led by Jason Collier with 12 points.

St. Xavier vs. Sayre  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
St. Xavier defeated a scrappy Sayre team by a score of 51-44.  St. Xavier was led by 6-0 Michael Finnegan with 15.  Sayre was led by Elliott Newman with 14 and Garth Waterfield with 10.

Franklin Co. vs. Barren County  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Barren County defeated Franklin Co. 98-95 in overtime in a very exciting game.  The score was tied 84 at the end of regulation and Barren County's 6-2 So. Joey Wilson scored 8 points in overtime to lead Barren County to the win.  Barren County was led by Wilson with 36 points, 6-2 So. Trent Jones and 5-10 Fr. David Byrd each added 14 points.  Franklin County was led by 6-0 Daniel Moore with 26 points including six three-pointers.  6-2 Jason Mitchell added 15 points. 5-9 Troy Harris and 5-11 Bruce Bohman each added 11 points.

Corbin vs. Pleasure Ridge Park  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Pleasure Ridge Park defeated Corbin by a score of 75-56.  PRP was led by 6-1 Kevin James with 18 and Donte Sweatt with 13.  Corbin was led by Brad Mason with 11 and Tyler Henson with 10.
 

Championship Bracket

Barren County vs. Bardstown (Franklin Co. H.S.)
A very athletic Bardstown team defeated Barren County 89-63.  Bardstown was led by 6-1 Wesley Barnes and 6-3 Sean Hickman with 22 points each.  Barren County was led by 5-9 So. Kellen Smith with 34 points.  This included 10 three-pointers which broke the old record of 8 in this age division.

Saturday June 17th

Boyle County vs. Franklin County  (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Boyle County defeated a short-handed Franklin County team 78-56.  Franklin County only had six players available for the game.  Boyle County was led by 6-0 So. Josh Slone with 17 points and 5-7 So. Jacob Tamme added 15 points.  Franklin County was led by 5-10 Jason Sanderson with 19 points.

Lexington Catholic vs. Louisville Male   (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Catholic won by a score of 68-56.   The victors were led by 5-10 So. Brian Smith with 23 points. Harrison Morton, a 6-2 Fr., added 16 points and 8 rebounds.  Male was paced by 6-2 So. Casey Shumate with 22.  6-5 So. William Ford, added 19 points.

Louisville Ballard vs. Louisville Fairdale   (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Ballard easily took the measure of Fairdale, by a score of 90-72.  Ballard was led by 6-0 Dana Calhoun and 5-6 Jordan Whitaker with 24 and 20 points respectively.  6-2 Sean Booker chipped in with 17.  Fairdale was led by Antwan Moore with 22 points. Antwaun Hogue and Shannon Meux tallied 14 and 13 respectively.

Louisville Trinity vs. Western Hills   (Franklin Co. H.S.)
Trinity took a 22-7 first quarter lead and never looked back on their way to a 74-48 victory over Western Hills High School.  Trinity was led by 6-3 Fr. Brian Brohm with 17 points.  6-1 Fr. Ahmad Edmonson chipped in with 12 points.  Western Hills was led by Jordan Samuels and John Keen with 17 and 14 points respectively.

Quarterfinals
 

Ballard	96		Corbin	66
Lexington Catholic	67		St. Xavier	54
Trinity	45		Ryle	42
Highlands  defeated Adair County

Sunday June 18th

Semifinal No. 1

Lexington Catholic vs. Ballard  (Western Hills H.S.)
Lexington Catholic stormed out to a 36-4 first quarter lead and cruised to a 101-58 win over a good Ballard squad.  Catholic was led by 6-2 Fr. Harrison Morton with 24 points and 9 rebounds.  6-3 Fr. Demetrius Green and 5-10 So. Brian Smith added 19 and 16 points respectively.  6-0 Fr. William Graham added 10 points.  Ballard was led by 6-0 Dana Calhoun with 18 and 6-2 Sean Booker with 13.  Ballard had a nice run in the tournament but at least today Catholic's relentless press was too much for the Louisville squad.
 

Lexington Catholic	36	29	20	16	-	101
Ballard	4	22	15	17	-	58

Lexington Catholic	(101)	-	C. Hillenmeyer 3, Green 19, H. Morton 24, Graham 10, Smith 16, Doss 8, Delucca 4, D. Morton 2, Bowen 4, Williams 2, Noble 2, Worthington 2, Cooke 3.
Ballard	(58)	-	Miller 8, Hedges 9, Calhoun 18, Booker 13, Whitaker 2, Hall 6, Durham 2.

Semifinal No. 2

Louisville Trinity vs. Ft Thomas Highlands  (Western Hills H.S.)
Highlands led by 19 in the final period but a furious rally by Trinity cut the lead to 52-50 with 12.6 seconds remaining on the clock.  Highlands' Jonathan Klingenberg hit two key free throws to close out the scoring and give Highlands a 54-50 win.  Highlands was led by 6-7 So. Ross Neltner with 14 points and 7 rebounds.  5-10 So. Jonathan Klingenberg added 13 points.  Trinity was led by 6-3 Fr. Brian Brohm and 6-1 Fr. Ahmad Edmonson with 12 points each.
 

Trinity	8	6	12	24	-	50
Highlands	14	8	21	11	-	54

Trinity	(50) -	McCoy 9, Brohm 12, Thiry 4, McBroom 7, Edmonson 12, Walsh 4, Mudd 2.
Highlands	(54) -	Gross 11, Witte 2, Neltner 14, Guidugli 7, Klingenberg 13, Gillis 7.

Championship Game

Highlands  vs. Lexington Catholic   (Western Hills H.S.)
Lexington Catholic used their pressure defense and athleticism to defeat Highlands 64-66.  Catholic was led by 6-2 Fr. Harrison Morton with 32 points. Highlands was led by 5-11 Kevin Gillis with 14 and Jeff Guidugli with 11 points.  6-7 Ross Neltner added 6 points and 7 rebounds. Neltner is an excellent passer and sees the floor extremely well.
 

Highlands	11	8	14	13	-	46
Lexington Catholic	11	16	18	21	-	66

Highlands	(46) -	Gross 6, Gillis 14, Neltner 6, Guidugli 11, Jager 8, Scarlotto 1.
Lexington Catholic	(66) -	Green 10, Hillenmeyer 6, H. Morton 32, Smith 6, Graham 7, Allen 5.

All Tournament Team
 

Brian Brohm	Trinity
Teshawn McBroom	Trinity
Sean Booker	Ballard
Dana Calhoun	Ballard
Kevin Bridgewater	Adair Co.
Michael Finnegan	St. Xavier
Joseph Mahan	Corbin
Sean Doleman	Ryle
Harrison Morton	Lex. Catholic
Ryan Gross	Highlands
William Graham	Lex. Catholic
Jonathan Klingenberg	Highlands
Demetrius Green	Lex. Catholic
Ross Neltner	Highlands
Brian Smith	Lex. Catholic

Conclusion

The only regrets I have about this tournament is that I could not see all the teams and players.  Congratulations to the champion Lexington Catholic and their coach Brandon Salsman who did an excellent job directing this very talented squad.  There was some excellent coaching in this tourney -- John Berry of Louisville Trinity comes to mind.

There was also an exciting array of players in this tourney.  6-7 1/4 So. Ross Neltner of Highlands has excellent low post moves as well as exceptional court awareness.  Lexington Catholic's 6-2 Fr. Harrison Morton and 6-3 Demetrius Green make a formidable duo.  Ballard continues to crank out the athletes -- Sean Booker and Dana Calhoun, etc.  Two young point guards in training, Catholic's Brian Smith and Scott County's Tyler Hicks, displayed their wares this week.

Barren County's 6-2 Joey Wilson can take you off the dribble as well as shoot the "3". He lit up the scoreboard for 36 in one game.  His teammate 5-9 Kellen Smith hit a Kentucky AAU 15 and Under record 10 three-pointers in one game and ended up with 34 points.  Trinity had a nice team with several players capable of putting the ball in the basket.  While Male's Mike Bush deserves all the attention he receives, 6-2 Casey Shumate gets the job done and usually ends up around 20.

PRP's Kevin James and Donte Sweatt show potential and Franklin County's Daniel Moore shot the ball well in the tournament.  While there were too many players to mention here, and I missed seeing several teams, we should be reading about and watching many of these players during  the 2000-2001 roundball season.