Travis Perry's pursuit of Kentucky's all-time scoring record

[Basketball Jones]

TRAVIS PERRY'S PURSUIT OF KENTUCKY'S ALL-TIME SCORING RECORD

 

Travis Perry, a Lyon County junior, needs 127 points to break Kelly Coleman's all-time state scoring record. Perry's team could be eliminated at any time in the postseason, forcing the chase into 2023-24. But it's possible that Perry plays at least another four games this season, which means he would need to average 31.75 ppg in those four games to break the record as a junior. He's averaging 31.9 ppg this season for the 5th District champion Lyons (27-5). Below is a breakdown of Perry's season to date. This will be updated after each game.

 

KENTUCKY'S ALL-TIME SCORING LIST

1. 4,337 Kelly Coleman (Wayland) 1953-56

2. 4,211 Travis Perry (Lyon County) 2018-present

 

PERRY'S 2022-23 GAME-BY-GAME POINT TOTALS

 

Game total/Opponent/Career total

24 Ohio County........................3,213

36 South Warren......................3,249

28 Mason County.....................3,277

24 Livingston Central..............3,301

27 Crittenden County.............3,328

41 Christian County.................3,369

38 Trigg County.......................3,407

26 Hopkins County Central....3,433

29 Harlan County....................3,462

34 Larue County......................3,496

25 Great Crossing...................3,521

28 North Oldham.....................3,549

25 Cov. Holy Cross..................3,574 passed Harry Todd for 4th all-time

37 Ballard..................................3,611 passed Cameron Justice for 3rd all-time

27 Lexington Catholic..............3,638

31 Mason County.....................3,669 passed Charlie Osborne for 2nd all-time

30 Livingston Central

45 North Laurel

21 University Heights

33 Webster County

31 Trigg County

30 Hopkinsville

29 Crittenden County

37 Caldwell County

33 Madisonville-North Hopkins

32 John Hardin

32 Bracken County....................reached 4,000 in his career (4,022)

34 University Heights

43 Trinity (Whitesville)

61 Dawson Springs.....................971 season total

31 Crittenden County.................1,002 season, 4,191 career

20 Trigg County..........................1,022 season, 4211 career, needs 127 for new record

--- Hopkins County Central (2nd Region)

--- Christian Co. or Webster Co. (2nd Region)

--- Regional final

--- State tournament first round

 

PLAYERS PERRY HAS PASSED THIS SEASON ON THE ALL-TIME LIST

 

3. 3,647 Charlie Osborne (Flat Gap) 1953-57

4. 3,587 Cameron Justice (Knott County Central) 2010-15

5. 3,567 Harry Todd (Earlington) 1955-58

6. 3,542 Chris Harrison (Tollesboro) 1987-91

7. 3,377 Jonathan Ferguson (Elliott County) 2003-09

8. 3,365 Charles Thomas (Harlan) 1990-95

9. 3,325 Clem Haskins (Taylor County)

10. 3,300 Ty Rogers (Lyon County) 1998-04

11. 3,255 Dontaie Allen (Pendleton County) 2014-19

12. 3,233 Fred Hale (Williamstown) 1969-73

13. 3,228 Ervin Stepp (Phelps) 1977-80

14. 3,226 Manual Forrest (Moore) 1977-81

15. 3,202 Todd Conley (Elkhorn City) 1991-94

16. 3,219 Nelson White (Powell County) 1951-55

17. 3,211 Tim Stephens (McCreary County) 1973-76

18. 3,192 Austin Crawford (Bracken County) 2013-17

 

*All names and numbers from the KHSAA.

 

https://khsaa.org/records/basketball/bbk-recordbook_indivteams.pdf

 

NOTES: The 6-foot-2 guard scored his 1,000th point of the season in Lyon County's district tournament win over Crittenden County, becoming the 28th Kentucky high school boys basketball player to reach the milestone.

 

Perry is the 37th player in American high school basketball history to reach 4,000 career points. He ranked No. 33 on the national career scoring list with four regular season games remaining. He's on pace to become the 10th player in U.S. history to score 5,000 points.

 

Perry has played varsity basketball at Lyon County since seventh grade and led the team in scoring every season, averaging 20.6 points (seventh grade), 26.6 (eighth grade), 27.3 (freshman), 27.5 (sophomore) and 31.9 (junior).

 

Perry scored a season and career-high 61 points versus Dawson Springs with Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari in attendance. The 61 points are the most in a game in Kentucky this season and also set a Lyon County single-game record.

 

Perry recently set the Kentucky high school record for most career 3-pointers made.

 

This season, Perry's shooting percentages are 52.8 percent from the field, 46.2 percent on 3-pointers and 87.7 percent on free throws.

 

Perry holds nearly 20 college offers including Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio State, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.

 

Perry is the Nations Elite 2022-23 Kentucky Boys High School Player of the Year.

 

The Nations Elite Kentucky Boys Basketball All 2nd-Region First Team:

 

Travis Perry, Lyon County

Gerard Thomas, Henderson County

Marcus Eaves, Madisonville-North Hopkins

Brady Shoulders, Lyon County

Travis Champion, Crittenden County

 

(In the name of accuracy, please let me know if you see any errors or math issues. Thanks.)

[Mojocat]

Yep.  Pretty amazing stuff - he's going to conceivably break a record previously thought unbreakable, and might not even need his senior year to do so.  I pretty vividly recall the first time I saw Perry.  He was in 6th grade, playing at the old KBA in Lexington.  His team was beating another 6th grade team - I want to say it was something like 87 - 13.  Or something crazy.  He looked like he was 17 already.   I'm sure they always had folks claiming he was too old, had been held back too many years, all that. Good for him.  And his dad.

And you know what's also amazing?  The linked record book lists 37 players that have scored 3,000 points.  Taking Perry out of the picture, the previous number 2 kid, Osborne, was closer to #37 (647 points difference) than he was #1 (690 points difference).  Coleman truly lapped the field (and then some)!

 

[mcpapa]

He won’t catch Perry barring extenuating circumstances, but Bracken County’s Blake Reed should also catch the King. 

[Breds82]

It’s insane to think of the points Coleman put up before the 3 point line, arguably he wouldn’t have been shooting many but that would’ve led to even more close open looks for him. How fast did Wayland used to play?

[PurplePride92]

Awesome thread.  As a fan of the game I love seeing history being made.  This is a significant historical moment. Cool stuff.  

[Randy Parker]

4 minutes ago, PurplePride92 said:

Awesome thread.  As a fan of the game I love seeing history being made.  This is a significant historical moment. Cool stuff.  

Have you seen Lyon County?

[PurplePride92]

10 hours ago, Randy Parker said:

Have you seen Lyon County?

Not in person.  You? 

[Randy Parker]

44 minutes ago, PurplePride92 said:

Not in person.  You? 

Yes.  Very fun to watch.  You'd like them.

[PurplePride92]

6 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

Yes.  Very fun to watch.  You'd like them.

I’ll have to check them out some time. 

[ChickenWyngz]

20 hours ago, Mojocat said:

Yep.  Pretty amazing stuff - he's going to conceivably break a record previously thought unbreakable, and might not even need his senior year to do so.  I pretty vividly recall the first time I saw Perry.  He was in 6th grade, playing at the old KBA in Lexington.  His team was beating another 6th grade team - I want to say it was something like 87 - 13.  Or something crazy.  He looked like he was 17 already.   I'm sure they always had folks claiming he was too old, had been held back too many years, all that. Good for him.  And his dad.

And you know what's also amazing?  The linked record book lists 37 players that have scored 3,000 points.  Taking Perry out of the picture, the previous number 2 kid, Osborne, was closer to #37 (647 points difference) than he was #1 (690 points difference).  Coleman truly lapped the field (and then some)!

 

The bolded is true, but he is in his 5th year of varsity time. How many years did Kelly play? (I legitimately have no idea, this isn't a shot)

 

**Just had to read the thread to find out lol. Coleman played 4 years.

[Mojocat]

6 minutes ago, ChickenWyngz said:

The bolded is true, but he is in his 5th year of varsity time. How many years did Kelly play? (I legitimately have no idea, this isn't a shot)

 

**Just had to read the thread to find out lol. Coleman played 4 years.

Oh, that's true.  Perry averaged 22 a game, I think, as a 7th grader.  Which is the kind of start you have to get off to in order to break this record - and if anyone other than his dad is coaching, I doubt that he's averaging 22 in the 7th grade, and at many places, wouldn't even have been playing varsity as a 7th grader.  Still, whatever you want to say, or however you want to qualify it, it's a tremendous thing.

As for Coleman, I would have guessed he only played 3 years (college freshmen couldn't play, so I was assuming high school freshmen were ineligible, too - but obviously those two things aren't the same or related).  And, the kicker, he had no 3 point line!  Really what Coleman did reminds me of Pete Maravich at LSU.  Almost stupefying, really.  

So, you can't compare two guys who played 70 years apart, literally everything is different.  But each is super impressive.

[mcpapa]

16 minutes ago, Mojocat said:

Oh, that's true.  Perry averaged 22 a game, I think, as a 7th grader.  Which is the kind of start you have to get off to in order to break this record - and if anyone other than his dad is coaching, I doubt that he's averaging 22 in the 7th grade, and at many places, wouldn't even have been playing varsity as a 7th grader.  Still, whatever you want to say, or however you want to qualify it, it's a tremendous thing.

As for Coleman, I would have guessed he only played 3 years (college freshmen couldn't play, so I was assuming high school freshmen were ineligible, too - but obviously those two things aren't the same or related).  And, the kicker, he had no 3 point line!  Really what Coleman did reminds me of Pete Maravich at LSU.  Almost stupefying, really.  

So, you can't compare two guys who played 70 years apart, literally everything is different.  But each is super impressive.

It is indeed tough to compare players and player statistics across  generations. 
 

I can remember that except for Oscar, triple-doubles weren’t a thing in the Association.  Now my Aunt Elaine might get one or two.  

[Falcon Pride]

Just saw the other day that Pistol Pete’s record is in jeopardy. And it’s by a player coached by his Dad.

Antoine Davis at Detroit Mercy has an outside shot of beating Pistols scoring record. Of course Pete had no 3 point line and did it in 3 years where Antoine has a 3point line that he uses a LOT and has played FIVE years.

The parallels are incredible!!!

[LCDAWGS19]

5 minutes ago, Falcon Pride said:

Just saw the other day that Pistol Pete’s record is in jeopardy. And it’s by a player coached by his Dad.

Antoine Davis at Detroit Mercy has an outside shot of beating Pistols scoring record. Of course Pete had no 3 point line and did it in 3 years where Antoine has a 3point line that he uses a LOT and has played FIVE years.

The parallels are incredible!!!

Davis is 25 points away (3,642) from breaking Pistol Pete's record (3,667). The Titans face Youngstown State on Thursday night.  Davis faced the Penguins twice during the season and scored 32 and 15 points respectively in those contests.  This is probably Davis' last chance at glory with Mercy being 14-18. 

[Randy Parker]

2 hours ago, mcpapa said:

It is indeed tough to compare players and player statistics across  generations. 
 

I can remember that except for Oscar, triple-doubles weren’t a thing in the Association.  Now my Aunt Elaine might get one or two.  

Aunt Elaine always had a well-rounded game.  Very versatile player.