The ball barely leaves his hand before the Covington Catholic student section erupts. One jab step sends his defender stumbling. A shoulder dip buys him a sliver of daylight, and Athens McGillis glides into the lane with an unhurried confidence that makes the whole gym lean forward.
He hangs, adjusts midair, and flips in a soft, off‑balance finish as the CovCath Crazies detonate behind him. It’s a small moment of control in a packed gym that expects him to deliver and watches, delighted, as he does.
Plays like that are routine for McGillis now, but the story behind how he became this player starts with his name.
His father named him Athens after watching the film 300, which spawned the sequel 300: Rise of an Empire. The Athenians and Spartans he saw on screen embodied two complementary modes of excellence — strategy and defiance — and the name stuck.
Almost two decades later, Athens McGillis carries that same spirit onto the high school basketball court. He’s disciplined and fearless. He’s unshakably composed, averaging more than 23 points per game for a Covington Catholic squad steamrolling Kentucky.
“I’m just me being me,” McGillis said.
His name suggests something different. It’s a nod to the ancient city known for intellect, leadership and strategy. But the way McGillis works the ball blends both sides of Greek history. He plays with the poise of Athens and the relentlessness of Sparta, reads defenses like a scholar, and attacks them like a soldier. He rarely looks rattled while CovCath wins by an average of 34 points a night.
But Athens McGillis’s name isn’t a metaphor delivery system. His game is a delivery system.
“He delivers, alright,” said teammate Cash Harney, another uniquely named Colonel. “He’s our guy.”
Truly a special player
Ask anyone else around the program and you’ll hear the same thing. Scoring, defending, facilitating — McGillis does all of it. His coach calls it maturity. Teammates call it trust. Opponents call it a problem.
“Put two defenders on him and he sees the open guy,” Harney said. “We have a lot of other great players on our team and Athens knows how to find them. And they know how to find each other.”
Coaches are on board with the assessment and are leveraging the team’s unusual dynamic behind its unusually dynamic star.
“Athens is truly a special player. His basketball IQ and understanding of the game are the highest I have seen, and I’ve coached players who are currently in the NBA,” said Jake Thelen, himself a former CovCath great. “He has an unbelievable ability to get to his spots on the floor and consistently make the right decision. He won’t be denied.”
What’s undeniable is the way McGillis anchors a 19–1 start that has turned CovCath into a weekly demolition crew. Blowouts pile up and the guard remains the calm center of it all, never forcing, never chasing, always dictating. There’s a quiet authority to the way he plays. It’s the kind that comes from hours of repetition and a mind that sees the floor a beat ahead.
Maybe that’s the real connection to his name. His father was inspired by Athenians and Spartans brought to life on a movie screen. But the son has grown into something more layered. He’s a player who combines discipline with the clarity and control of the city he’s named for. A player who doesn’t just score — he shapes the entire game around him.
“We were going to name him Rome,” said his father, Rich McGillis. “But we liked Athens better.”
Everybody likes Athens.
“He’s one of my best friends,” said teammate Donovan Bradshaw. “We’ve been playing basketball together since third and fourth grade.”
What’s not to like?
McGillis is averaging 23.8 points, 4.5 assists, 2.9 steals and nearly three rebounds a game. He’s shooting 57% from the field, 42% from 3-point range and 76% on free throws. He scored a game-high 29 points last Friday in a home win over Louisville Trinity. He put up 25 the previous game vs. McNicholas. McGillis scored 30 vs. Beechwood, a season-high 35 vs. Louisville Male and 34 in the season opener against a team from Australia.
He’s already fifth on CovCath’s all‑time scoring list with 1,728 points, and he’ll slide past Andy Listerman any day now. At this pace, he’s headed for more than 2,100 — a finish that would make him the second‑leading scorer in program history, tucked between Evan Ipsaro and all‑time leader Cole VonHandorf. The numbers don’t tell the whole story. They never do.
His teammates say the part that doesn’t show up in the box scores is how much of CovCath’s world orbits around McGillis. Not because he demands it. Because he earns it. Bradshaw, a 6‑foot-5 senior who does the bruising work inside, averages 11.8 points and leads the Colonels with 6.2 rebounds, but he’ll say a lot of growth came via the guy who stands five inches shorter.
“What’s not to like? Every year, he keeps getting better,” Bradshaw said of McGillis. “He’s really all for the team. He makes sure we can win. We lose a scrimmage, he’s on me. I like that. That makes me better.”
That’s the thing about this CovCath team: the best player is also the connective tissue.
His other longtime friend, the bruising Harney, is an unselfish, defensive-oriented guard. He’s averaging nearly 10 points per game after putting up 15 last season. He talks about the team like it’s a family he grew into, not one he simply joined. “We’re close because we know each other,” Harney said. “We got close with our new guy, Braeden Myrick. He’s helped build a stronger connection. We’re all with each other.”
Myrick, a junior transfer from Mason County, averages 17 points and ranks third in rebounding. On most teams, he’d be the headliner. On this one, he’s another piece of a machine that seniors McGillis, Bradshaw, Harney and Dylan Gaiser are working hard to make greater than the sum of the parts while juniors Teegan Stava, Carson Bode and John Brecount add impressively to depth.
“I’ve worked hard my whole life,” McGillis said. “Even when I was younger, I was always playing up. I went to CovCath open gyms. I don’t see their age or how strong they are when I’m on the court. I’m used to it. I’m trying to work with my team.”
One-workout wonder
McGillis is one of six boys — no sisters; just a house full of competition. His older brother Kascyl, a 2023 CovCath grad, was the one who dragged him into the gym before sunrise. He kept him there long after everyone else left.
“He lived in the gym,” Athens said. “When he started driving, he took me to school and took me home. Sometimes we got to school really early and we stayed late. He worked hard. He was my ride, so I took a lot of shots in the gym.”
That’s part of the story, too. Not just the movie and not just the name, but the shots and all the hours. And then there’s the coach who saw all of it crystallize.
“Everything he’s doing this year, everything he’s learned is paying dividends,” said Thelen, now in his second season back with the program. “He’s a three‑level scorer and he’s unselfish. He’s always been unselfish.”
Thelen marvels at how everything changed when McGillis stopped being a promising player and became a force. “There wasn’t a day he wasn’t in the gym,” the coach said. “He got stronger and he got sharper. He got better at everything.”
That’s why Nova Southeastern University, one of the top NCAA Division II programs in the country, offered him a scholarship after a single workout. The team had never seen him play in person. After the workout, the head coach called Thelen and said, “He’s ready.”
That’s McGillis. Not the tallest. Not the strongest. But the most impactful on a state-championship-caliber team. CovCath plays Campbell County next, then Conner. There are more games. More points. More chances for the senior to shape the floor around him.
“I just want to keep this going,” McGillis said. “We’re not done.”