A handful of teams from northern Kentucky made their way to Shelbyville for the KABC Titans Shootout, an NCAA-certified event that had 128 teams participate from all over the state and other states including Ohio, Indiana and Florida.
Three different brackets were part of the tournament that had a three-game guarantee, the 64-team bracket from Friday-Sunday, a 32-team bracket from Friday-Saturday and another 32-team bracket from Saturday-Sunday.
College coaches from all over the country made their way to the event including Michigan State, Missouri, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Notre Dame and Wisconsin, to name a few according to the event’s website.
Newport, Lloyd Memorial, Ryle, Simon Kenton, Newport Central Catholic and Walton-Verona all participated from the local area.
Newport made it all the way to the championship game in the 64-team bracket before losing to Fishers (IN) in the final. The Wildcats had beaten Butler, St. Xavier (KY), Lloyd Memorial, Great Crossing and Woodford County on their way to the title tilt, going 5-1 in the tournament.
The defending 9th Region champs have posted a solid summer, winning a 20-team tournament in Lawrenceburg, Indiana last week. They’ve also played in Covington Catholic’s summer league and quite a few teams in the greater Cincinnati area including St. Xavier (Ohio), Moeller, LaSalle and Lakota West.
The Wildcats are poised to return four of five starters from last year’s 28-7 campaign, the only departure Marquez Miller, who will be taking his talents to Georgetown College. The addition of transfer Deshaun Jackson from Taft already bolsters a strong backcourt, paired with Taylen Kinney and Jabari Covington. Kinney has seen his stock continue to rise, picking up offers from Louisville, Illinois, Xavier, Cincinnati, Texas A&M and others as the rising sophomore continues to impress.
Another rising sophomore is also catching the college coaches’ eyes in rising sophomore James Turner, who added an offer from Kent State this past week. Jackson picked up an offer from University of Pikeville.
“We want to get these kids as many college opportunities as possible,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “They’re playing hard and catching eyes.”
Summer time is also a time for development and Snapp feels confident that they’re developing some depth, an issue last season, as Noah Silverton, Amonte Lowe and Keegan Farrell have received some quality playing time.
The Sweet 16 matchup with Lloyd Memorial was a rematch from the 9th Region semifinals, the Wildcats coming away with a 65-42 victory to make it to the quarterfinals. Great Crossing was the quarterfinal opponent and widely regarded as a top 10 team in the state last season, the Wildcats earning a 57-45 victory over the Warhawks. Woodford County was the semifinal matchup, a team that made the state semifinals a season ago.
“We learned this weekend we feel we can play with anybody in the state,” Snapp said.
Newport disposed of them 53-41 before dropping the finale to Fishers, 68-51. Fishers features one of the top players in the country in the 2025 class in prospect Jalen Haralson.
“We also learned that if you play an elite team and try to play one-on-one, you’re going to get beat. We learned that in the final,” Snapp added.
Lloyd Memorial got to the Sweet 16 matchup with Newport by knocking off Henry Clay and Eastern. The Juggernauts will be a bit younger next year without the likes of Jeremiah Israel and Joe Cooley, but do return three starters headlined by E.J. Walker and experience from Elijah Collins, Isiah Sebastian and Anthony Blaackar.
Walton-Verona also advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 64-team bracket with victories over Roger Bacon and DeSales before losing to Fishers. The Bearcats return four of their starting five and should be one of the contenders in the 8th Region come winter.
Ryle made a nice run in the consolation bracket of the 64-team bracket after an opening round loss to Jeffersontown, defeating Paul Laurence Dunbar, Green County and North Hardin before losing to South Oldham in the consolation semifinals. The Raiders also return a bunch from last year and look to show a marked improvement from last season’s 10-18 squad.
Simon Kenton competed in the 32-team bracket, starting play on Saturday with victories over Danville Christian and Pulaski County before losing to Madison Southern in Sunday’s quarterfinals. The Pioneers are facing life without 7-foot-3 big man Gabe Dynes, who graduated and is headed to play at Youngstown State. They do return leading scorer Travis Krohman and point guard Jay Bilton to start with a formidable core.
Newport Central Catholic played in the Friday-Saturday 32-team bracket, dropping their opening round contest to LaRue County before picking up a victory against Augusta and then losing to Butler County in the consolation bracket quarterfinals. Despite the loss of leading scorer Coby Kramer to graduation, the Thoroughbreds return three of their top four scorers from last season in Ian Mann, Jase Iles and Caleb Eaglin.
This is the last week for team’s to get action in before the dead period begins on Sunday and runs through July 10.