Trevor Ellis Honored As 12th Region Player Of The Year
Mercer County Senior High basketball player Trevor Ellis, center, was honored at the Mr. and Miss Basketball dinner for being the 12th Region Player of the Year. Pictured, left ot right, Assistant Coach Michael Johnson, player Luke Adkins, Ellis, Head Coach Keith Adkins, Assistant Coach Brian Pendygraft and Assistant Coach Matt Chewning. Not pictured is Blair Pittman.
Sam Warren
Herald Staff
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Trevor Ellis was named the 2025 12th Region Player of the Year by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches (KABC). The award is reserved for high school seniors, and Ellis is the sixth Titan to receive it since 2018.
Ellis was among the 16 region winners honored Sunday, March 16, at the Marriott Griffin Gate in Lexington. The winners of each region are the candidates for Mr. and Miss Basketball. Great Crossing senior and University of Kentucky recruit Malachi Moreno won Mr. Basketball, and Sacred Heart Academy and LSU recruit ZaKiyah Johnson won Miss Basketball.
Ellis has had a standout career as a Titan. He averaged 16.3 points and 9.8 rebounds a game. He ended his career ranked 38th in the state in rebounds and had a 65 percent field goal percentage.
He played 139 out of 143 total games, and 129 were consecutive. He tallied 2,058 points as the second leading scorer behind Trevon Faulkner for the boys’ basketball program. Now, he holds the school rebounding record with 1,205 career rebounds and holds the single-season rebound record of 425 rebounds and the single-game record of 21 rebounds. He also holds the school block record with 81.
He was a four-time All-District Tournament Team, four-time 12th Region all-tournament team, two-time Coaches Association All-Region team, the 12th Region Coaches Association Player of the Year and the 2025 12th Region KABC Player of the Year.
Accomplishments for this senior season include being named to the 2A Sate Tournament all Tournament Team, averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds throughout the district and region tournament and being named by Cats Pause as the number one player in the region in their 2024-25 preseason ranking edition.
Team stats for Ellis’ career include being on one of five teams to make it to a region championship game in the Titan era, two-time district champions, two-time district runner-ups, advancing to the region tournament for four consecutive years, two 20-game win seasons in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, with a record of 45-23 over those seasons, won a 2A sectional championship to advance to the 2A state tournament for the first time in school history for the boys’ program.
“I am thankful to Coach Adkins and the coaching staff for the effort he has put into making me a better player and making us a better team for the last two years,” said Ellis. “I am thankful to Michael Johnson, who was my first coach other than my dad, and started me on the right track in second grade. I also appreciate Barb and Jeremy Carlson, who tried to make me a better athlete and not just a better basketball player, and my AAU coach Jason Axsom, who helped rebuild my confidence when my love of the game was at its lowest.”
“I didn’t do this on my own. My teammates worked with me in every practice and pushed me to improve. It was my parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, my girlfriend and all of her family who drove all over the country to cheer for me. It was all the booster moms who made sure we ate before the games and hugged me afterward, no matter how sweaty I was. Being 12th Region Player of the Year is great, but it was a long time in the making and it took several people helping and I appreciate them all.”
