By Jim Mashek
Dre Boyd didn’t even have a chance to get to the locker room for halftime.
Warren Central coach William Unseld had Boyd’s attention. Not to mention the rest of the Dragons.
“That first half was ugly,” Unseld said.
If that’s the case, the second half was a masterpiece for the Dragons, the No. 1 seed in the KHSAA District 14 boys tournament.
Boyd struck for 10 points in the third quarter alone and Warren Central’s defense took over from there, as the Dragons knocked off homestanding South Warren 70-56 on Tuesday night.
The victory guaranteed a spot in the Region 3 tournament next week at Western Kentucky University. The Dragons (23-6) will face either Bowling Green (22-7) or Greenwood (17-13) in the District 14 championship game on Friday night.
Boyd, the Dragons’ all-purpose weapon, led WCHS with 21 points. Teammate Kobe Brents added 13 points and backcourt blur Tay Smith finished with 12.
“Coach Unseld said if we didn’t start rebounding, it would be the end of our season,” Boyd said. “I just came out (after halftime), played hard, tried to help us in different ways to win.”
Ultimately, that comes around to shooting. But Unseld was particularly impressed with Antonio Barbee’s rebounding, at both ends of the floor, as well as the defensive pressure applied by Wright and G. Floyd (10 points).
“You have to put the ball in the basket,” Unseld said. “To their credit, (South Wyatt) kept fighting. The first game is always tough in this tournament.
“It was almost like we were in slow motion in the first half.”
South Warren took a 30-27 lead into the locker room, but a flurry of Warren Central baskets, including Smith’s steal and dash to the basket for a layup, put the Dragons in front 39-33. The Spartans pulled to within seven points in the final two minutes or so, but Warren Central’s Tegra Mukela hit two free throws and the Dragons cruised down the stretch.
“We had a lot of guys have a hand in this one,” Unseld said. “Antonio Barbee was big. Jaiden Lawrence hit a big 3 for us. At the half, I told the guys, ‘OK, y’all figure it out for yourselves.”
The Dragons did just that, and then some.
BOWLING GREEN GIRLS 66, GREENWOOD 37
Greenwood rallied to eliminate Warren Central on Monday night, but the Lady Gators ran out of gas pretty quickly against Bowling Green High School.
“Our energy, defensively, was really good,” BGHS coach Calvin Head said. “We played with a lot of intensity. We were just trying to get to Diddle Arena (for the Region 4 tournament). Once you get there, anything can happen. We’ve had a great year, but we knew what we had to do tonight.”
Bowling Green improved to 24-6 and will face either Warren East (17-9) or South Warren (14-16) in Friday’s championship game.
Bowling Green scored the game’s first 12 points before Greenwood point guard Leia Trinh broke through the Lady Purples’ defense for a field goal with about five minutes left in the first quarter. The Lady Purples outscored Greenwood 25-4 in the first eight minutes and extended their lead to 43-11 at halftime
BGHS freshman Saniyah Shelton played relentless defense and helped kick the Lady Purples’ transition game into gear. Keyozdon Jones led Bowling Green with 21 points while Shelton finished with 17.
“(Shelton is) really an unselfish player,” Head said. “When she plays like that, we’re a different team.”
Trinh, the Greenwood eighth-grade guard, led the Lady Gators with 11 points.
