Nearly 100 years since its first Sweet 16 appearance, Highlands boys basketball wins KHSAA state title
FORT THOMAS, Ky. (BVM) — Highlands High School has been waiting for this moment for a long time — 98 years to be exact. When the state of Kentucky began its boys basketball state tournament in 1918, it only took five years for the Bluebirds to make the field in 1923 and since then they had made the field an additional 12 times including this past season. However, unlike some other teams who had appeared in the tournament since then (of the 16-team field this season only Ashland Blazer and George Rogers Clark had an earlier appearance in the tournament than the Bluebirds, both in 1920), Highlands was never able to hoist a state championship trophy.
However, that all changed this year.
On April 3 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., the Bluebirds won the program’s first-ever KHSAA state championship when they defeated Elizabethtown 79-60 in the title game. Led by the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, senior guard Sam Vinson, the Bluebirds used a barrage of three-pointers to propel their way through the tournament and to the podium.
“It is special regardless of what school you’re at in addition to the fact that we only have one state champion, so that in and of itself is a major honor,” Highlands head basketball coach Kevin Listerman said. “To do it here at Highlands with the history of excellence we have in sports like football, track, cross country, baseball and soccer, to bring home a state championship to this community just means an awful lot.”
The Region 9 champions came into the tournament as one of the most historically successful programs in the field. Only George Rogers Clark, Oldham County, Ballard, Bowling Green, Ashland and Bullitt East had made the tournament more times than the Bluebirds’ 13 appearances, which tied Knott County Central. Of those teams, only Oldham County and Knott County Central had more or the same amount of appearances without a state title, with 17 and 13 appearances respectively.
“I don’t know if we ever felt any additional pressure,” Listerman admitted. “Our region, the ninth region, has had a lot of success recently in the Sweet 16 so I think we wanted to go down there and represent our region and our school.”
The Bluebirds handled their business using a strong offense and efficient defense as the team scored an average of 74 points on 53.9% shooting from the field over its four games while giving up only 55.8 on 43.5%. The Bluebirds’ best weapon was the team’s ability to hit from deep as the team shot an impressive 49.4% from the field, converting 38 3-point shots, setting a new Sweet 16 record.
“This team’s ability to shoot the ball and shoot it at a very high percentage from three is uncanny,” Listerman said. “We jokingly refer to ourselves as the most efficient team in the world. That’s a moniker to us and a testament to our kids and how unselfish they are, how much they share the basketball and how much they understand what we’re trying to talk about about making the extra pass and playing for the guy next to you.”
The path to the championship was not an easy one. The Bluebirds first took on a one-loss Muhlenberg County team that won the Region 3 championship in the tournament’s opening round and were able to come away with an 88-60 victory. In the next round, Highlands faced a McCracken County team fresh off of a 68-53 win over Bullitt East and led by all-tournament team member Noah Dumas, but were able to hang on to a slim fourth quarter lead to win the game 63-53.
“I felt like we had a very good shot to get to Saturday morning,” Listerman said. “In my mind I broke it down that we have a four-team tournament to win to get to Saturday morning and once we got there it was another four-team tournament. I felt once we got to the Sweet 16, once we got out of our region, that we were battle tested and if we shot it well we’d have a heck of a chance to make a deep run.”
The next game would be the team’s toughest matchup on paper, facing an Ashland Blazer program a year removed from an undefeated season and winners of their first two contests by a margin of at least 18 points. The Bluebirds were able to handle the Tomcats powerful offense with some great shooting of their own leading to a 66-50 victory and earning an appearance in their school’s first championship game in over 20 years.
“Ashland was awfully good and we played them early in the season and we knew what they were going to bring and they knew what we were going to bring so it turned out to be a heck of a ballgame,” Listerman said.
The team would face off against Region 5 champion Elizabethtown, which was seeking its first title since 2000. The Bluebirds came out of the gates fast, outscoring the Panthers 23-13 in the first quarter before shooting an impressive 67% from the field in the second quarter to take a 47-26 lead into the half.
It was much of the same in the third quarter for Highlands as the team went a perfect 8-for-8 from the line in the quarter and grabbed a 27-point advantage with 6:37 left in the quarter, their largest lead of the game. With a 66-45 lead to start the game’s final quarter and the game well in hand, the Bluebirds took their foot off the gas in the fourth being out-scored for the first time in a quarter the entire game, but came away with the convincing 79-60 victory and the school’s first trophy.
“With about a minute and a half, I went down the bench and kept repeating, ‘Can you believe it?’” Listerman said. “In that regard because we had really worked to keep the kids in the moment and play the game in front of them, it really started to sink in that we were going to be state champions.”
Welcome home, Champions. pic.twitter.com/MmDROhuOhd
— Fort Thomas Schools (@FTSchools) April 4, 2021
During the game, the Bluebirds would hit 10 3-pointers while shooting 45.8% from the field including 35.7% from deep. Five Bluebirds would score in double figures with Vinson leading the team with a double-double after scoring a game-high 20 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He would also add three blocks and a steal to cap his MVP performance. Three Bluebirds players would make the All-Tournament team, Vinson, Zachary Barth and Luke Muller.
“What doesn’t show up on [Vinson’s] statsheet is how good of a teammate he is and his willingness to share the basketball,” Listerman said. “There are a lot of guys that are very talented that look to put the team on their shoulders and try to do it scoring. Sam has the ability to make the right decision. If it’s open for him to score, he takes it and scores. If it’s the right play to drop it off and set up a teammate for an assist, he does that.”
For Listerman, the trophy meant a bit more than just another accomplishment. Listerman knows the history of the Bluebirds being close and not winning the title, his father was the team’s head coach as was his godfather and eventual college coach. Each had varying levels of successes with the Bluebirds, but all had one thing in common: no state title. Now, Listerman holds the trophy proudly not just for himself, but for those before him.
“To do it here means an awful lot to me,” Listerman said. “The saying of if I see further, it’s because I stand on the shoulders of giants definitely rings true because those men were role models and giants for me. To do something one step further than they got it really is humbling and truly an honor.”
Though it may have taken a long time for Bluebirds fans to celebrate the school’s first state victory, it was well worth the wait. After going through a lost 2019-20 season and a turbulent 2020-21 campaign, the championship victory tastes that much sweeter for the Bluebirds and their supporters.
VIDEO:@bluebirdhoops and the Highlands basketball team returned from Lexington this morning with a first-ever state championship trophy from the Sweet 16.
We are so proud! What a run.
@FTISSuper @fthhsathletics @FTHighlandsHS @mcbertasso @sam_vinson3 @lukemuller71 pic.twitter.com/b5WfZuBXn2
— Fort Thomas Schools (@FTSchools) April 4, 2021
