GLOVER, DRAGONS EARN HARD-FOUGHT VICTORY OVER PURPLES
Jaiden Lawrence was happy but subdued, smiling now that the Warren Central High School boys basketball team is headed back to the promised land.
Rupp Arena. Downtown Lexington. The KHSAA’s Sweet Sixteen. And a first-round matchup with the No. 1-ranked team in the state, Louisville Male.
Lawrence and the Dragons will worry about Male later.
They hoisted the 4th Region Tournament trophy and cut down the nets, after slugging out a 58-50 victory over Turner Buttry and the dogged Bowling Green Purples on Tuesday night at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
Warren Central improved to 26-3 on the season, and this time, the Dragons will actually get the chance to play in Lexington.
“When the horn sounded, I felt like … it was just relief,” Lawrence said. “Relief. My sophomore year, we won the regional tournament here and the COVID pandemic ended the season before we even had a chance to get up there. Knowing we should have gone, that motivated us this year.
“It’s something we’ve been working for, all year. This is why we’re here. This is why we left it all on the floor.”
Likewise, the Purples.
Bowling Green, which finished its season with a sparkling 26-7 record, actually held a two-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. There were eight lead changes, including five in the fourth quarter alone. Buttry kept the Purples in the game, hitting 8 of 18 shots — 3-of-8 from 3-point range — while finishing with 21 points, three assists and just a single turnover.
Buttry played the entire game, save the last six seconds as the Dragons could exude in their dramatic victory.
“I’m just extremely glad me and my family moved here, coming into ninth grade,” Buttry said. “I love this team. Warren Central is a great program. We were probably a couple rebounds away, maybe another loose ball or two … “
Buttry, the Eastern Kentucky University signee, hit a deep 3-point field goal from the left wing — about 28 feet out, an NBA 3 for sure — to give the Purples their last lead, at 48-45, with about three minutes left in the game.
It lasted a few seconds.
WCHS forward Chappelle Whitney, who often does most of his damage near the basket, drilled a 25-footer of his own, also from the left wing, to tie things up at 48. About a minute later, Lawrence was fouled going for an offensive rebound, and he hit both free throws.
Warren Central was able to run 25, maybe 30 seconds off the clock in its next possession, and that left BGHS coach DG Sherrill with little choice but to start playing the fouling game.
Try to score when the clock’s stopped.
Not this time. The Dragons hit 11 of their 15 free throws while shooting 41 percent from the field.
“They got the momentum right back, with Chappelle’s 3,” Buttry said outside the BGHS locker room. “That was a big shot.”
The game had extra meaning for Buttry, one of three BGHS seniors along with shooting guard Curtis Lin and backup forward Brad Gurley. But it was a special moment for veteran WCHS coach Will Unseld, who could share the experience with his 16-year-old son, Dragons sophomore swingman Kade Unseld.
Kade Unseld finished the game with 13 points, hitting 3 of 5 shots from 3-point range and bringing the Purples’ defenders closer to the perimeter.
“Kade has no fear out there. He thinks he can hit every shot,” Unseld said with a wry smile. “It is a little more special, yes, that Kade is going to be a part of this experience, to get to play at Rupp Arena in the Sweet Sixteen.
“We didn’t play great, but that’s what happens in regional championship games. The pace slows down and you’ve just got to gut it out. I’m really proud of my kids, the way they handled themselves in tough situations.”
Veteran BGHS coach DG Sherrill built his young team around Buttry’s leadership, and the Purples scrapped their way into the statewide AP Top 10 poll before coming up short against Warren Central twice in the span of 12 days.
Warren Central stopped Bowling Green 68-42 in the 14th Region title game, held on Dragons’ home floor, before both teams stormed into a collision course over the course of a week at Diddle Arena. When it was over, Sherrill sounded like a coach grateful for Buttry and the other two BGHS seniors, but ready to get started on the 2022-23 campaign.
Sherrill guided the Purples to the Sweet Sixteen last year, in his first season back with the team after a four-year hiatus. Bowling Green opened the season with 10 consecutive victories and scrapped with Warren Central and Greenwood for the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the 4th Region Tournament.
Bowling Green won 12 of its last 15 games, with two of those defeats coming at the hands of Warren Central.
“At the beginning of the year,” Sherrill said, “nobody was talking about us. We were out there, somewhere in the woods. But the kids embraced all of our challengers. They fought, buzzer to buzzer. I really loved coaching this team. They’re a great group.”
Sherrill’s Sweet Sixteen squad for the 2020-21 season had nine seniors, including Isaiah Mason, now playing at Northern Kentucky University, and sixth man Conner Cooper, the quarterback for the Purples’ football team that won the KHSAA Class 5A football championship on December 19, 2020.
As fate would have it, freshman guard Deuce Bailey became Sherrill’s sixth man this season. The Purples’ coaching staff also worked with two promising front-line players, sophomores Mason Ritter and Elijah Starks. Starks had a strong second half Tuesday night, finishing with 7 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
“We showed our character, on the court, time and time again,” Sherrill said. “Chappelle’s 3 in the fourth quarter, that was a dagger … We just needed some kind of break, but Warren Central has some much length, so much athleticism … They got on their toes a little bit, defensively.”
Omari Glover, perhaps the Dragons’ most improved player, had a team-high 18 points, on 6-of-11 shooting, while adding three rebounds and two blocked shots. Whitney added 10 points and 8 rebounds for the Dragons, who extended their winning streak to 14 games.
“We knew we had to rebound, we had to play defense,” Glover said. “We go hard every day, in practice. If you play well enough, defensively, the offense will come around. That’s what happened tonight.”
That was the message Will Unseld had for his WCHS players, according to junior point guard Izayiah Villafeurte. Villafeurte hit four critical free throws, in as many attempts, in the fourth quarter.
“That’s what Coach Unseld told us,” Villafuerte said. “He pointed at the defensive end of the floor and said, ‘That’s how we’re gonna win this game.'”
Sophomore guard MJ Wardlow had 14 points for Bowling Green, which was appearing in its ninth straight 4th Region championship game.
All eyes now turn to Warren Central’s impending road trip to Lexington, where they’ll face a powerful Male squad sporting a 28-5 record. The Dragons will square off with Male on Thursday, March 17, at 10 a.m. CDT.
“That’s what you want, that’s what you play for,” Warren Central’s Will Unseld said on the E.A. Diddle court when it was over.
DG Sherrill, for one, seems to think the Dragons are a live underdog.
“I know they have a miserable matchup, up at Rupp, but they can beat Male,” Sherrill said. “Trust me. They can beat Male.”
We’ll find out eight days from now.
