Jim Mashek

SOUTH WARREN’s CARLOS QUARLES CREDITS HIS TEAM’s ATTENTION TO DETAIL

South Warren High School’s boys basketball team has been anxious to make its debut at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle for some time.

Like, say, when the Nashville Road school opened its doors in 2010.

The Spartans, the runner-up in last week’s KHSAA 14th District Tournament, arrived at the WKU campus as a team on a mission. South Warren was paired with Logan County, the 13th District champion, in the first quarterfinal game Wednesday evening.

And once the Spartans pulled away for a six-point lead, in the final two minutes of the first half, they looked like a team destined to make the most of the opportunity.

You betcha.

South Warren posted another milestone in school history, under Diddle Arena’s bright lights, in derailing Logan County, 57-44, before an enthused crowd cognizant of the victory’s prevalance.

“I’m very proud of my guys. I think we guarded at a high level,” South Warren coach Carlos Quarles said. “When you’re playing on an unfamiliar court — a college court, like this — your defense has to carry you a little bit, to get us going.

“I thought we had the jitters a little bit, early. Once we settled down, and continued to guard at a high level, that gave us a great chance and got us some separation tonight.”

The South Warren students standing behind the Diddle Arena railing were savoring the victory, but Quarles’ players were a bit restrained. A tad circumspect, even.

“We’re not done, yet,” South Warren guard Owen Shively said.

South Warren improved to 18-10 overall, while winning for the fifth time in its last six games. The Spartans will square off with Monroe County, a 63-61 winner over Glasgow High School in the late game Wednesday, when they return to Diddle Arena for their semifinal showdown on Monday night.

Logan County finished its season at 20-11. Junior guard Davis Switzer, a first-team selection to the All-4th Region Team, led the Cougars with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds. But the long, lean Switzer needed 15 shots to account for that point total, and the Cougars hit just ONE shot from 3-point range the entire night, as South Warren pulled away for the decisive victory.

South Warren’s Jax Decker led the Spartans with 14 points and five rebounds, while teammate Owen Shively added 13 points and three assists. But it might have been the play of South Warren guard Brandon ‘Junior’ Perkins, a scrappy 5-foot-10 junior, who pushed the Spartans into the winner’s circle.

Perkins scored just seven points in 24 minutes on the floor, but his disruptive defense kept the Cougars off balance. He had a team-high six steals while adding two assists. South Warren coach Carlos Quarles used a seven-man rotation, with senior guards Caden McIntyre and Ethan Knight coming off the bench, until the game’s final 30 seconds, with the victory already in hand.

“Twenty turnovers is way too many,” Logan County coach Josh Frick said when it was over. “This time of year, you need to be about eight (turnovers) or less, and we were way more than eight.

“Hat’s off to (South). It felt like they just made big plays, when it mattered most.”

That’s the way Junior Perkins looked at it, shortly before leaving the arena.

“We wanted to come out and attack, on offense,” he said. “If we shoot a 3, it needs to be an ‘inside-out 3,’ when we look at something inside, first. Ethan Knight stepped up big for us tonight. A lot of guys contributed.

“I cramped up at the end, but we were all happy to get the win.”

South’s two front-line players, seniors Clay Willis and Johan Pratt, helped the Spartans keep Logan County away from the basket. J.B. McTire, the Cougars’ talented freshman forward, finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, but McTire and teammate Davis Switzer accounted for all but 10 points of their team’s offensive production. That allowed the Spartans to take chances, defensively, on the perimeter.

“We had three really good days of practice,” Quarles said. “Much respect to Coach Frick … Offensively, you’ve got to be able to play, inside and out.”

That’s where Shively comes in. The 6-foot senior point guard is a sturdy player with a quick first step, and he twice scored on reverse layups that seemed to deflate the Cougars and their fans. Jax Decker was equally efficient, hitting four of six shots from the field and 6-of-9 free throws for his 13 points. Decker, who has been fighting through an ankle injury, played nearly 31 minutes on Wednesday night.

“We just used our defense, and rallied off that,” Decker said.

Early in the fourth quarter, with the Spartans holding a 13-point lead, Quarles might have been tempted to milk the clock in pursuit of his team’s breakthrough performance. South Warren tends to play at a deliberate pace, averaging 60 points per game, but Quarles wanted his team to stay aggressive.

They did.

“I wanted to be patient on offense, but not stop playing,” Quarles said. “We wanted to space them out (defensively), because I felt like we had an advantage with our ballhanders … We wanted to get to the basket and get layups. High-percentage shots, things of that nature.”

So the Spartans will get a chance to write some more history, on Monday night at E.A. Diddle Arena. Quarles planned to give his team a day off before getting back in the gym for practice on Friday afternoon. South Warren dropped a 58-53 decision to Monroe County, in mid-December, in the Don Franklin Auto Barren Hoops Classic. After that, the Spartans would win eight of their next nine games, setting the stage for a memorable season.

“It’ll be good, gettin’ back here, on Monday night,” Shively said with a grin.

MONROE COUNTY 68, GLASGOW 63 (OT)

Senior guard Brison Nuckols scored a team-high 21 points, leading the Falcons to their first victory in a KHSAA 4th Region game since 2015.

Glasgow’s inside-out attack of junior guard Jaylen Bradley and 6-foot-4 power forward Jerrick Martin kept the Scotties in front for most of the first half. But the Falcons changed the narrative by outscoring Glasgow, 21-13, in the third quarter, and junior guard Reece Bartley battled through a leg injury on his way to finish line.

Monroe County’s Branson Williams finished with 15 points, while Bartley added 12.

“Give Glasgow a lot of credit,” Monroe County coach Ashley Geralds said in his postgame press conference. “They just kept coming at us … It felt like we were kinda pulling away there, and they found a way to come back (before the overtime). It was a huge win for us, and now we move on.”

Scotties coach Brandon Stockton, Kentucky’s “Mr. Basketball” nearly three decades ago at Glasgow High School, credited Monroe County’s tenacity in critical moments.

“The difference in the game, I thought, were the 50/50 balls. I thought they beat us to the floor, they got the loose balls. I thought they kind of beat us to it tonight.”

Jaylen Bradley led the Scotties with 24 points while Jerrick Martin finished with 16. Glasgow finishes its season at 18-13 overall.

The Falcons will take an 18-12 record into the nightcap of Monday’s semifinal games, looking to make their first appearance in a 4th Region championship game.

The tournament takes a one-night break for the Western Kentucky women’s basketball game on Thurday night against Missouri State, before resuming on Friday night with the girls semifinal games.

The state-ranked Barren County girls (30-2) will face Monroe County (21-9) in the first game on Friday, followed by an intriguing matchup between defending 4th Region champion Franklin-Simpson (22-7) and 4th Region Player of the Year Avery Morris and Allen County-Scottsville (22-8).

The girls championship game is set for Sunday.