WARREN CENTRAL EMBRACES UNDERDOG ROLE AT RUPP
It’s been a full week and change since the Warren Central High School boys basketball team outmuscled Bowling Green for a 58-50 victory in the KHSAA 4th Region championship game at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Dragons have had plenty of time to think about what’s next, what’s in front of them, and what they’ll need to make it happen in the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen beginning Wednesday at Lexington’s Rupp Arena.
Defend. Rebound. Execute.
Against multi-talented Kaleb Glenn and Louisville’s Male High School, which ended regular-season play as the Commonwealth’s No. 2-ranked team. At Rupp. In the spotlight.
The Dragons (26-3) square off against Male (28-5) at 10 a.m. CDT on Thursday, with the winner to meet either George Rogers Clark or Murray in quarterfinal play on Friday night.
“People tend to underestimate us,” Warren Central senior forward Jaiden Lawrence said. “It just makes us work harder.”
Omari Glover, the Dragons’ dynamic junior guard, puts it this way.
“Rebound. Play defense. Run the offense,” Glover said.
That’s what veteran WCHS coach William Unseld has in mind for the Dragons in first-round play, or any other challenge in front of his team. Unseld has guided Warren Central to four KHSAA 4th Region titles in the past five years, but the Dragons didn’t get to play in the Sweet Sixteen in 2020 because of the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They’re anxious to finally get their chance to play at Rupp Arena, with the stakes getting higher each day of the tournament.
“Male’s a great basketball team,” Unseld said. “Kaleb Glenn is really good, but he’s not a one-man band. They’ve got a lot of guys who can score, they play good defense. They’re a tough team, but there’s only 16 teams left, in the state. You know you’re going to be playing somebody tough.
“We want our kids to embrace the experience, play hard, and see what happens.”
Lawrence remembers finding out that the Dragons wouldn’t get to play in the Sweet Sixteen in 2020, when Unseld told them about the decision in the Warren Central locker room. The KHSAA girls Sweet Sixteen had just started in Lexington.
“We were in the locker room, sitting there, crying,” Lawrence said. “It just motivated us to get back there.
“Male’s a great team. They’re a young team. But I feel like we’re the better team. We’re definitely the underdog, but we like being the underdog. We’re ready to get up there and play.”
Unseld and the Dragons held one last practice on Wednesday morning before boarding buses for the 3-hour trip to Lexington.
“We’ve had a lot of time to get in some work in the gym,” Unseld said. “Now, it’s just a basketball game. We’ve just got to go play.”
Glenn, a 6-foot-7 junior, is committed to the University of Louisville. He’s averaging 21.9 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. As a team, the Bulldogs shoot almost 54 percent from the field. Male coach Tim Haworth has two other players, senior forward Dezdrick Lindsay and junior point guard Jack Edelen, averaging more than 13 points per game.
Male goes eight or nine players deep, much like Warren Central.
The Dragons have won 14 consecutive games and have not given up more than 50 points in any of their five postseason victories. They played their way into the Sweet Sixteen with a defensive-minded, 58-50 victory over Bowling Green High School on March 8.
“We haven’t played our best basketball yet,” Glover said. “Not even close … We’ve just got to get up there and outwork those guys.”
