2009 Republic Bank Holiday Classic (Boys)
 
Lexington Catholic High School
Lexington, Kentucky
December 26-30, 2009
 
© 2009 Ron Harrison
 

Lexington Catholic boy's coach Brandon Salsman has put together an excellent five days of basketball.  Eight of the the top twenty-five teams in the Lexington Herald-Leader pre-season preview are entered in this tournament.  They are #5 Clark County, #6 Lexington Catholic, #12 Boone County, #15 West Jessamine, #16 Trinity, #19 Grayson County, #21 Highlands, and #21 Male. 

Many of the top players in the state are scheduled to play in this star-studded event.  Eight of the top twenty-five players in the Lexington Herald-Leader pre-season preview are featured in this tournament.  They are #7 Josh Sewell (Trinity), #10 Robbie Stenzel (Clark County), #11 Aaron Watts (McCreary Central), #12 Jarrod Polson (West Jessamine), #15 Travis Johnston (Grayson County), #18 Vinny Zollo (Clark County), #21 Jaylen Beckham (Lexington Catholic), and #23 Josh Whitaker (Hazard).

The Lexington Herald-Leader preview also listed the best players in each region, and the number one ranked player in four of the 16 regions is scheduled to play in this tournament.  The regionally ranked number one players in this event are (Region 3) Travis Johnston, (Region 7) Josh Sewell, (Region 10) Robbie Stenzel, and (Region 12) Aaron Watts.

There will be 34 games played over a five day period in two gyms, culminating in an overall championship game to be played on December 30th.  I will attempt to provide a capsule report for each game with expanded coverage to each game I personally view.  Spelling of players' names varies from program to program and sometimes the heights of the players also vary so I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies.