Lex Cath Holiday Classic: 2026 Standouts

The White Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic brought 16 teams from Kentucky to compete in a four day, bracket style event at Lexington Catholic High School, in this article I'll break down my 2026 standouts from the opening day of the event.    Graves was dominant in the second half of Caverna's opening round victory over Great Crossing. Graves opened up the second half with back-to-back buckets, showing immediate aggressiveness out of the locker room. Knocking down a couple pick and pop jumpers, Graves can space the floor out with his perimeter shooting ability. In a nice pick and roll set Graves rolled hard to the rim and threw down a monster dunk that got the large Caverna traveling crowd up on their feet. One of the more versatile bigs in western Kentucky, Graves can impact the game in a variety of ways.     Simply playing stronger and tougher than the opposition, Martin was dominating on the interior despite being nowhere near one of the tallest players on the court. Numerous second chance buckets were created off Martin's ability to crash the offensive glass and a breakaway dunk by Martin was when you knew Caverna was going to move on to the winners bracket. Impressive showing for a football first prospect on the hardwood in a big time game.     One of the favorites for Mr Basketball so far, Moss continues to play at an exceptionally high level for Daviess County. Recently announcing a re-opening of his recruitment, Moss has already drawn a ton of interest from Division I programs. Such a skilled point guard, Moss has the ball on a string and changes speeds off the dribble quickly. After getting going in the first half as a scorer, Moss had a handful of assists in the pick and roll in the second half including setting up [player_tooltip player_id='1543352' first='DeAaron' last='Watkins'] on a wide open pick and pop 3-pointer to take the lead in the final minute of the game.     The host Lexington Catholic impressed as they took care of a scrappy Paintsville squad. I was impressed with Woodall's interior scoring as he moved well without the ball to get a handful of open layups from the dunker spot. Woodall has a strong lower center of gravity and pivots to create space to score. Wanting to go through you at the rim, opposing defenses better be ready to match Woodall's physicality. The lefty forward was extremely efficient in Lexington Catholic's opening round victory.     My favorite team to watch on Saturday, Boyd County played some excellent basketball that saw the ball swinging across the court quickly and almost everybody who saw minutes was ready to knock down 3-point shots. Payne was the engine for the offense as his dribble penetration forced help-side defenders to swarm the paint, opening up lanes for shooters to get open looks with their feet set. While Payne's passing ability was what stood out the most on Saturday, he also knocked down some tough shots off the dribble and had a nasty bucket off an isolation. If Boyd County continues to play at this level, they are capable of beating anybody in the state of Kentucky on the right day.     Spurlock is one of the top players in Kentucky and another name who should be mentioned in Mr Basketball discussions. It was funny because Spurlock went off for 34 points but it felt like his buckets mostly came within the flow of the offense. Besides a turnaround jumper to open the game and a couple tough shots that didn't fall, basically everything else for Spurlock was either set up off nice actions in the half-court or out in transition in 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 situations. I was encouraged by how efficient Spurlock was and how his touches didn't feel forced within the offense but he still got enough looks as one of the most talented scorers in the state. This was actually my first time seeing Spurlock in person since the regional final last season where he got injured, Spurlock also battled injuries in the summer but looks back to 100% with Boyd County right now.     I was a big fan of McCracken County as they have a handful of talented pieces who have the talent to be impactful college basketball players. I liked Klope's soft hands on the interior, catching numerous contested passes that led to buckets in the paint. Able to score with either hand at the rim, Klope was patient with his back to the basket. Doing a lot of things I want to see from a big man, Klope could make a pass when trapped and had a couple nice rim protection moments as well. One of the better forwards in western Kentucky's 2026 class!

The White Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic brought 16 teams from Kentucky to compete in a four day, bracket style event at Lexington Catholic High School, in this article I'll break down my 2026 standouts from the opening day of the event.