[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING THE OWENSBORO HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' BASKETBALL TEAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, basketball is very important to us in 
my home State of Kentucky, and that is why I am so honored and pleased 
to recognize the winners of the Kentucky High School Athletic 
Association (KHSAA) State Basketball Championship for boys. The 
Owensboro Red Devils won a decisive 74-58 game over rival Bowling Green 
this March 22.
  It is the fourth State championship for Owensboro High School, and 
the first since 1980 for the Red Devils. Owensboro came into the 
tournament having shot 55 percent from the field during the first three 
rounds of the tournament. During the championship game, they never 
trailed.
  Owensboro is only the seventh school in State history to win the 
championship four times. And Owensboro's head coach, Rod Drake, was a 
senior on the Owensboro 1980 championship team. A crowd of over 11,000 
saw Owensboro clinch the win inside of Lexington's legendary Rupp 
Arena.
  I want to recognize every member of this championship team that is 
bringing the KHSAA trophy back to Owensboro. Team members include 
Darius Brown, Deonte Douglas, Gabe Fillman, Jacoby Harris, Aric Holman, 
James Howard, Darion Marrow, Justin Miller, Ishawn Murphy, Shawn 
Pendleton, Airius Phillips, Dylan Sanford, Trevor Washington, and 
Rashai Wimsatt. Matthew Cook and Seth Garrard are student managers. Rod 
Drake is the head coach and he is assisted by Chad Embry, Zach Erwin, 
Scott Hogg, and David Phillips.
  The Lexington Herald-Leader recently published an article about the 
Red Devils' victory. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Herald-Leader, March 22, 2015]

    Owensboro Boys Win Their First State Basketball Title Since 1980

                           (By Mark Maloney)

       It was a long time coming, but Owensboro finally snatched 
     its fourth state championship Sunday.
       The Red Devils led wire-to-wire in downing Bowling Green 
     74-58 in the finals of the 98th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 
     Sixteen in Rupp Arena.
       Owensboro, playing in its record 43rd State tournament, 
     also won in 1949, '72 and '80.
       Dylan Sanford led a balanced scoring attack with 21 points, 
     hitting all four of the Red Devils' three-pointers.
       ``My teammates got me the ball right where I needed it,'' 
     said Sanford, a 6-foot-1 senior. ``Everybody knows I'm a 
     shooter, and they got me the ball in the pocket and I hit 
     some shots.''
       Then there was the inside tandem of senior big fellas Aric 
     Holman and tourney MVP Justin Miller.
       ``He dominates,'' Coach Rod Drake said of Holman. ``He gets 
     there, and he changed the game.''
       Holman, a 6-9, 185-pounder, netted 20 points, 14 rebounds 
     and eight blocks.
       ``It feels amazing,'' Holman said. ``Especially when you 
     work your butt off, you and your teammates. You do everything 
     together, and when you work as hard as we do, we knew what 
     our goal was. And we're just glad we accomplished it before 
     we left.''
       Miller, a 6-7, 290-pounder, played through what he called a 
     groin/hamstring injury and finished with 11 points, 10 
     rebounds and five assists.
       ``I was about 30 percent, honestly,'' Miller said. ``But I 
     wasn't going to let that stop me from playing my last game 
     with my brothers, so I'm just glad we got it done.''
       Jacoby Harris, a 5-10 sophomore, added 14 points and five 
     assists as the 3rd Region team won its seventh game in a row.
       The Red Devils (31-4) beat Bowling Green twice during the 
     regular season--79-71 on Jan. 3 and 69-66 on Feb. 10. But 
     that didn't make them overconfident.
       ``To be honest, we had a little doubt,'' Holman said. 
     ``Because to beat a team three times in a row is pretty hard. 
     So we just took it as we never played them before. . . . Took 
     it back to square one, and that's how we got here now.''
       This marked the first finals between Western Kentucky 
     schools since 4th Region Edmonson County beat 2nd Region 
     Christian County in 1976.
       Fourth Region champion Bowling Green (31-6), in its first 
     State finals and 15th tourney, was led by Terry Taylor with 
     16 points and nine rebounds. Tucker Sine had nine points and 
     seven boards, and Kyran Jones netted eight points and eight 
     caroms.
       ``Coming into this tournament, we were playing as well as 
     anybody,'' Purples Coach D.G. Sherrill said. ``And in this 
     championship game, we just kind of ran into a buzz saw. We 
     ran into a team that shot a little better, they fought around 
     the rim a little harder, they hit their free throws (20 of 
     23), and it was just a tough game for us. But we got beat by 
     a bunch of good players and a great coaching staff over in 
     Owensboro.''
       Owensboro jumped to a 4-0 lead to start.
       Ahead 4-3, the Red Devils went on a 9-0 run, only to see 
     the Purples come back with a 9-0 rally to leave the score 13-
     12.
       Owensboro led 16-12 through one quarter and 27-23 at 
     halftime.
       The Devils opened the third quarter with a 7-1 run to push 
     the lead to 34-24.
       Then, a 9-0 blitz widened the gap to 43-26.
       Holman started the action by converting a three-point play 
     for a 37-26 lead.
       Darion Marrow, who finished with six points, hit a short 
     jumper.
       Sanford scored on a fast break, and Marrow flipped in a 
     shot from the lane.
       The lead was 49-33 through three quarters.
       The closest Bowling Green came from there was 61-49 with 
     3:06 left, when Taylor scored on a put-back.
       Both teams came into the finals having shot 55 percent from 
     the field during the first three rounds of the tourney.
       Owensboro nearly matched that Sunday, going 25 of 48 (52.1 
     percent), but Bowling Green came in 23 of 64 (35.9 percent).
       ``Defensively, it's all about heart,'' Sanford said. ``And 
     our team has a lot of heart.''
       ``The basket got a little small for us tonight,'' Sherrill 
     said. ``We picked a bad game to have one of our lower 
     performances in the shooting from the field. But to come in 
     here and play in a state championship time for the first time 
     in Bowling Green history . . . I'm still so proud of them. 
     We're taking home a big old silver ball tonight. That means 
     we accomplished something up here.''

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