A new outdoor basktetball court at the Maysville-Mason County Recreation Park

It's built — a full length basketball court at the Maysville-Mason County Recreation Park — will they come?

You don't see kids or teens playing basketball on outdoor courts like you used to.

Back in the day, competitive games were played at Jack Condon's court in the alley behind his house on Walnut Street, at Rotary Park (on a court that no longer exists), on the St. Patrick playground, at the goals at the corner of Wall and Third streets and at the Aberdeen Community Park to name a few locations.

"In order to keep playing on the court, you had to win or you had to go sit," former St. Patrick High School and University of Toledo star Jay Gast remembered. "You might sit for two or three cycles of games before you got a chance to play again." 

The late Gerry Calvert, a star player at Maysville High School and the University of Kentucky, told me he honed his skills playing against athletes from St. Patrick High School and Fee High School on St. Patrick playground goals.

When I tweeted photos of the new court this morning, Mason County assistant coach and 10th Region Hall of Famer Robert Myrick replied: "Nice! Hopefully kids will get out and play on that nice court."

I hope they do, too.

Hamilton drains 10 3-pointers and Royals blowout Nicholas County, Campbell County routs Paris

Braylon Hamilton made a school record 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Mason County Royals to a 107-56 win over the Nicholas County Bluejackets in the opening game of the 10th Region Tournament at The Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. 

The Royals will play the Campbell County Camels in the semifinals Monday at 6 p.m. Campbell County beat Paris 83-50 in the second game.

Hamilton made four 3-pointers in the first quarter, two in the second quarter and four in the third quarter to break the previous school record of nine treys shared by Robert Myrick and Chris Lofton. Hamilton and the other four starters did not play in the fourth quarter.

Riley Mastin had 15 points and nine rebounds. Terrell Henry followed with 13 points.

Wyatt Clark led Nicholas County (11-21) in scoring with 21 points.

Mason County (28-5) led 30-12 at the end of the first quarter and closed the second quarter with a 20-2 run to lead 59-28.

The Royals led 65-30 with 6:24 to play in the third quarter and the rest of the game was played with a running clock.

Mason County shot 63.6% from the field and made 16-of-33 3-point shots for 48.5%.

Mason County            30 29 27 21 — 107

Nicholas County          16 12 12 16 —  56

Mason County — Routt 2, Henry 13, Butler 2, Walton 5, Feldhaus 2, McClanahan 9, Mastin 15, McClain 7, Moran 5, Horch 6, Hamilton 30, Adams 3, Bierley 8

Nicholas County — Morris 6, P. Hatton 2, Koeder 4, Banks 5, Owens 2, J. Hatton 8, Clark 22, Jones 1, Watkins 4, Smith 2

            ___________________________________

Campbell County    20 25 27 11 — 83

Paris                      12 08 12 18 — 50

Campbell County (22-11) — Hill 7, Gross 16, Sorgenfrel 3, Jackson 9, Johnson 2, Crowley 2, Smith 11, Hamilton 13, Weinel 11, Combs 9

Paris (17-14) — Alcorn 8, Ashford 21, Ransom 11, Bishop 4, Garr 2, Webb 2, Patterson 3, Blackwell 1

(Updated to correct that Hamilton broke the school record for 3-pointers in a game. An earlier version stated he had tied the record.)

March 13 a big date in Mason County Royals basketball history

March 13 is a big date in Mason County Royals basketball history.

Forty years ago, on March 13, 1982, the Royals defeated the Paris Greyhounds 85-71 in the championship game of the 10th Region Tournament for their second straight region title. Kelly Middleton led Mason County in scoring with 24 points. Three other Royals scored in double figures -- Jeff Breeze 19, Willie Feldhaus with 16 and Gary Beiland with 11. The Royals were headed to the state tournament with a 30-0 record.

Twenty years ago, on March 13, 2002, the Royals hit a tournament-record 13 three-pointers in a 93-66 victory Butler in the opening round of the state tournament. Chris Lofton was 6-for-10 on three-pointers and scored 29 points. Robert Myrick was 7-for-9 from behind the arc and scored 23 points. GG Lofton had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Tee Commodore added 10 points. 

Check out these links for more information on big wins for the Royals:

March 13

Royals basketball blog

(Updated to correct the individual scoring for the 1982 game.)