Warren Central senior Skyelar Potter has more than established himself as one of the best players in the region—if not the entire state of Kentucky.
Tuesday night was no different, as the Wright State commit poured in 34 points and snagged 16 boards to lead Warren Central to a 76-60 victory over the Owensboro Red Devils at Dragon Gym.
“I don’t really shoot to score or get the ball to score,” Potter said. “I just try to help the team out and get a dub.”
The Dragons (3-0) quickly opened up the game with a 14-4 lead before the Red Devils answered right back with an 8-0 run. Central had an answer, however, as the Dragons ended the quarter with seven unanswered points to hold a 21-12 lead after one.
The Red Devils (1-1) cut the deficit to 30-26 in the second quarter but the Dragons outscored Owensboro 11-1 the rest of the half to take a 41-27 lead into the locker room.
Warren Central was never quite able to fully pull away from Owensboro in the final 16 minutes, but the most the Red Devils ever narrowed the deficit was a 12-point gap in the middle of the third quarter. The Dragons narrowly outscored the Red Devils 35-33 in the second half to record the 76-60 victory.
“We just have to come out and keep the intensity up after halftime,” Potter said. “Most games we tend to lay down when we’re up at halftime so we just have to make sure we keep the intensity up after halftime.”
Potter led the Dragons with his third consecutive double-double, scoring a team-high 34 points to complement 16 rebounds and a putback dunk with four minutes left in regulation that put the exclamation mark on the Dragons’ victory.
But Warren Central coach William Unseld says that there are other pieces to his team besides Potter, and that these other players make his team very versatile and difficult to defend.
“The thing is you can’t chase (Potter) and you can’t double him,” Unseld said. “Because Jordan (Cousin) is really good. Micale (Mee) is really good. Tayshawn (Bibb) is really good. Jamale (Barber) can make shots. Last year you could double him and we had too many guys on the floor that couldn’t make shots. But you can’t do him like that this year, because he’s been playing very unselfish and plus he’s been playing around the rim so he is a hard matchup.”
Cousin added 13 points for the Dragons while Mee added 12. Barber nailed two three-pointers in the fourth quarter to finish with six points.
The Dragons netted nine three-pointers while the Red Devils failed to make even one from beyond the arc, and Warren Central also won the rebounding battle, 27-18.
Senior Cory Gardner led Owensboro in the loss with 15 points, and junior Darrion Wimsatt chalked up 10.
Warren Central will look to stay undefeated on Saturdayafternoon when the Dragons take on the Blue Tornado of Paducah Tilghman in the Rafferty’s Shootout at South Warren.
“We scheduled four tough ones early to see where we are,” Unseld said. “It is another tough contest, and I just want us to get better. We’re taking (Wednesday) off and then coming back and practicing Thursday and Friday.”
While it was a solid victory over a respectable Owensboro team, Unseld sees much more potential in his team.
“We have a chance to be pretty good,” Unseld said. “I didn’t think we played very well (Tuesday night). We were sloppy with the ball and we scored 76 points when we had 22 turnovers against a pretty good basketball team. We got a chance to be special. We have a whole lot we could do better, and the scary thing is I think we’re nowhere near our ceiling.”
