Glasgow gave Warren Central everything it could handle, but the Dragons prevailed.
In a hard-nosed battle between two similar teams in the quarterfinals of the Boys’ Region 4 Tournament, Warren Central and Glasgow went neck-and-neck from start to finish, tied one another 10 times and changed leads on eight different occasions, but a big overtime period lifted the Dragons to a hard-fought 63-57 win Monday evening at E.A. Diddle Arena.
“It’s a game we end winning in overtime by six points, but if we make a couple layups and free throws it’s a different basketball game,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “We just never could get over that hump – we finally did late in the fourth. We never let it get too far away from us.”
WCHS (18-11) trailed 14-10 after the opening quarter, 24-23 at halftime and 36-34 after the third. The Dragons continued to battle throughout the fourth and held a 52-49 lead with 28.3 seconds remaining in regulation, but Glasgow’s Tayshaun Bradley made a 3-pointer with just six seconds left to even the scoreboard at 52-all and send things into an overtime period.
A momentum-swinging five-minute frame – which included Central outscoring the Scotties 11-5 – helped the Dragons earn a victory and keep their season alive.
“I’m proud of the kids because this easily could’ve been one of those games where as many layups as we missed right there in point-blank range where they just could’ve said, ‘We’re done,’” Unseld said. “But they didn’t. They kept fighting. It’s tournament time. You’ve just gotta get used to the stage and the bright lights.”
Dre Boyd scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Warren Central, while Kobe Brents finished with 11 points. Jamale Barber and Tegra Muleka each scored nine points to round out the stat sheet.
With the Dragons’ win, they’ll now face Logan County in Friday’s 7:45 p.m. semifinal.
The two sides played a competitive first half.
Kris Horn and Bowen Haney recorded the first four points of the game to even the scoreboard at 2-2 early, but Glasgow put together an 8-0 run to lead 8-2 at the 4:43 mark of the first quarter. A basket from Nik Sorrell at the 2:14 mark made it 12-6, and the Scotties ultimately led 14-10 after eight minutes of action.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Muleka and Boyd helped the Dragons tie things at 18-all at the 5:03 mark of the second, and another deep ball from Barber put Central up 21-20 just under a minute later.
Robert Kingery’s bucket with 2:57 remaining in the half gave Glasgow a 24-23 advantage – and it took that into the locker room at the break.
Sorrell was up to 8 points at the half, while Haney and Bradley had each scored 6. The Scotties shot 10-of-24 (41.7 percent), while the Dragons went just 9-of-29 (31.0 percent).
Bradley finished with 21 points to lead Glasgow (21-11), while Sorrell scored 18.
Things remained tight throughout the ensuing half.
Sorrell scored inside to put Glasgow up 30-27 at the 5:10 mark of the third, but it was soon knotted 32-all after Barber hit a 3 for Warren Central. Baskets from Bradley and Tayshaun Bibb kept the scoreboard even, but Landon Frasier beat the buzzer with a layup to give the Scotties a 36-34 lead entering the fourth.
Sorrell’s layup made it 40-37 Glasgow early into the final quarter, but Barber answered with a 3 to give the contest another tie at the 5:52 mark. Boyd fired back with tough layups on back-to-back possessions to put the Dragons up 46-44 with 3:00 remaining.
Another score from Boyd – this one a tough bucket in the middle of the paint – pushed Warren Central’s lead to 48-44, but Tucker Kirkpatrick knocked down a clutch 3 for Glasgow to cut its deficit to 49-47 with 1:08 left.
“They made me proud all year,” Glasgow coach James Willett said of his players. “You could see that we were in for a special season. I feel like we had a special season. We thought we were winning the game. We fully expected to win. We gave it the effort that we needed to win the game, but just came up a little bit short.”
A free throw from Boyd with 28.3 seconds left put the Dragons up 52-49, but Bradley stepped up and knocked down his clutch 3 to tie it at 52-all. With six seconds to go, Brents shot a 3 of his own before the buzzer, but it fell short and the two teams went into an extra period.
Bradley’s score tied it at 54-all before Barber made a 3 to give Warren Central a 57-54 lead with 1:42 remaining. Boyd made three straight free throws to extend the Dragons’ advantage to 60-54, but Kirkpatrick made a triple to cut Glasgow’s deficit to three with 23 seconds left.
Clinging to a three-point advantage, the Dragons were able to knock down clutch free throws down the stretch and come out on top.
“We’re gonna rest tomorrow and then figure out what we need to do for Wednesday and Thursday and come play Friday,” said Unseld.
WCHS – 10 13 11 18 11 — 63
GHS – 14 10 12 16 5 — 57
WCHS – Boyd 23, Brents 11, Barber 9, Muleka 9, Bibb 7, Floyd 2, Horn 2.
GHS – Bradley 21, Sorrell 18, Kirkpatrick 8, Haney 6, Frasier 2, Kingery 2.
