LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — You’ll have to understand if the people of Breathitt County are going to take this one in stride and not be too disappointed. After all, a loss in the Sweet 16 of the KHSAA basketball tournament is not even close to being the worst thing to have happened to these people in recent months.
“These kids have battled through COVID-19, battled through a ’21 flood, a historic 2022 flood, so just to be here today is a testament to how strong they are,” said Phillip Watt, the Breathitt County Schools superintendent.
In addition to living through that historic flooding last summer, the Bobcats lost their head coach in December when B.B. King passed away five days before Christmas. Head football coach Kyle Moore stepped in after King's death to coach the basketball team.
“Through all of the adversity and everything and them sticking together and actually having that true meaning of, one heart, one-team mentality, they came through,” said Amber Sewell, the mother of Breathitt County guard, Austin Sperry.
The Bobcats started well, opening up an early lead on Male High School, but Male went on a 43-10 run to close the first half essentially ending the dream here in the round of 16. It was the first time the program made it this far since 1996. Despite Thursday’s result, the ride back to Jackson really won’t be all that bad.
“These boys, every one of them, helped in some aspect to help get our community back on their feet. Everybody believed in them for a really long time. The whole community is behind them,’ Miss Sewell added.
