Jim Mashek

ANDREWS CARRIES RAIDERS PAST MONROE COUNTY, 68-46

Warren Central High School’s boys basketball team has a target on its collective back.

The No. 1-ranked Dragons usually take everyone’s best shot, take care of business and move on to the next one.

Franklin-Simpson couldn’t do that, in Tuesday’s KHSAA 4th Region Tournament quarterfinals, on account of the fact that the Wildcats had two key players who missed the game because of disciplinary reasons. Franklin-Simpson coach Dee Spencer tried to force the Dragons into a half-court game, in hopes of staying within striking distance and finding a way to make it happen when it mattered most.

Uh, no.

The Dragons unleashed 6-foot-4 senior forward Damarion Walkup in the first half, building a 37-11 lead over the first 16 minutes, and nothing changed after the break.

Walkup scored a game-high 19 points and added four assists and three steals as Warren Central soared to a resounding 73-28 victory over the reeling Wildcats in the KHSAA 4th Region quarterfinals on Tuesday night at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.

“(Walkup’s) our energy guy,” WCHS senior point guard Izayiah Villafeurte said when it was over.

Warren Central improved to 29-1 overall while extending its winning streak to 20 games. The Dragons shot 51 percent from the field and finished the game with a staggering 41-13 advantage on the boards.

Football/basketball star Omari Glover, perhaps the Dragons’ most versatile player, made a handful of spectacular plays, including an offensive rebound he turned into an easy basket for Walkup in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.

Glover played 20 minutes, finishing the game with four points, a game-high seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Teammate Chappelle Whitney, the KHSAA 4th Region Player of the Year, hit six of eight shots from the field and finished with 16 points.

Villafuerte turned in a typically gritty performance, running the Dragons’ fast break with precision while scoring 12 points in just 20 minutes on the floor. Junior WCHS swingman Kade Unseld was content to share the ball instead of shooting, and 10 different Dragons players scored in the game.

“Sometimes, we’re unselfish to a fault,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said.

The Dragons encountered no such obstacle in this game, and now they’ll move on to face a familiar opponent in Monday’s KHSAA 4th Region semifinals. Unseld squad will square off with Warren East HIgh School, which was moved from the 14th District to the Glasgow-based 15th District for the 2022-23 school year.

The Raiders are a success story with few peers, after winning their district tournament and moving on to DIddle Arena.

Warren East played in the final 4th Region quarterfinal on Wednesday night, and the Raiders played with a purpose.

The Raiders crushed Monroe County, 68-46, behind senior forward Isaiah Andrews, the 6-foot-6 defensive albatross who seemed to loom everywhere on the Diddle Arena floor.

Andrews logged a team-high 29 minutes and that game and led Warren East with 22 points, five rebounds, two assists and an astounding EIGHT blocked shots.

That’s right, eight.

As in, eighty-eight, and out the gate.

As in, see ya, Falcons.

“I didn’t think I had eight … four, maybe five,” Andrews said with a mischievious grin. “I looked at the box score, and thought it was maybe a typo.”

Now, the Raiders will face the big, bad Warren Central squad, as close as you’ll find to a prohibitive favorite in high school sports.

WCHS coach William Unseld watched the first three quarters of East’s quarterfinal triumph, seated at the end of press row with his homeboy from South Warren High School, first-year Spartans coach Carlos Quave.

It’s been a memorable campaign at Warren East, with second-year coach Kyle Benge, and the Raiders were making their first regional appearance in 26 years.

Benge isn’t much older than that his own self.

“We’ve got a great opportunity in front of us,” he said.

Bowling Green High School, which reached the KHSAA Sweet 16 quarterfinals in 2021, will square off longtime rival Barren County High School — the schools’ girls squads seem to be on a collision course themselves — in Monday’s semifinals at 6 p.m.

Warren Central, which improved to 29-1 overall with its victory over Franklin-Simpson, will face Warren East in the second semifinal on Monday night, with the championship game scheduled for Tuesday, also at 6 p.m. at Diddle Arena.

It’s been an interesting tournament so far, and everyone seems to understand that upsets HAPPEN in these sorts of settings, as Unseld acknowledged in the Dragons’ press conference.

To a point.

“This group,” he said, “was made for this moment. There’s no fear in them.”

WARREN CENTRAL 73, FRANKLIN-SIMPSON 28

Franklin-Simpson coach Dee Spencer knew what his team was up against.

Again, to a point.

The Wildcats were without their second-leading scorer, DeMarcus Hogan, and key reserve Mathias Dickerson. They were playing the No. 1-ranked team in the state. A team that’s been gunning for a return to the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen for nearly one year.

A team with an “energy guy” like Damarion Walkup.

If the Wildcats were a little unnerved, by playing under the hot, bright lights of WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena, it was old hat for William Unseld’s Dragons.

“We already know how to play here,” Walkup said in a matter-of-fact tone. “We played here last year … we know how to do this.”

Yes, they do.

Yes, they did.

Walkup’s energy tends to be contagious, and he scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in a relentless first half. He finished the night with 19 points — on 8-of-14 shooting, including a 2 for 3 from 3-point territory — along with two rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Dude was everywhere.

Then there’s point guard Izayiah Villafeurte, and 4th Region Player of the Year Chappelle Whitney, and “glue guy” Omari Glover, and …

“We’ve just got that ‘dog mentality’ … We were locked in, in the second quarter,” Villafuerte said.

The Dragons filed into their locker room at halftime, holding a 37-11 lead.

It wasn’t a prizefight, however, so they played the second half. Veteran Warren Central coach Will Unseld emptied his bench, in the second half. In the fourth quarter, the Dragons outscored Franklin-Simpson 21-3.

Final score, WCHS 73, Franklin-Simpson 28.

Yikes.

“I’ve been blessed with a great group,” Unseld said.

Whitney hit six of eight shots from the field and finished with 16 points and four rebounds.

Kade Unseld, the son of the Dragons’ head coach, had a splendid all-around game and tallied nine points, along with five assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Omari Glover had seven assists, and seven rebounds.

Franklin-Simpson coach Dee Spencer wanted to make it a half-court game, and the Dragons clearly had other ideas.

“Sometimes, we’ve got to force the tempo,” Will Unseld said. “We shared the ball. We did what we were supposed to do.”

Unseld isn’t getting bored with the winning, he just understands that having seven seniors among his key contributors is paying dividends.

Warren Central came within an eyelash of winning the Sweet Sixteen last year. They’ve been driven by George Rogers Clark 43, WCHS 42, ever since.

“Drives us all the time,” Kade Unseld said.

“We’re moving forward,” Villafeurte said. “That’s what we’ve got to do.”

WARREN EAST 68, MONROE COUNTY 46

One blowout wasn’t enough for the fourth day of the KHSAA boys/girls 4th Region Tournament.

There were four lead changes and two ties, in the first quarter between Warren East and Monroe County in the nightcap.

Then Isaiah Andrews and the Raiders kicked it into another gear.

Monroe County, which finished its season at 18-14, had defeated Warren East in a non-district game on February 4 in Tompkinsville. The Falcons won that game, 82-74, but East was without two key players, senior forward Roger Duncan and freshman guard Kaleb Prince.

Prince hit a deep 3-pointer in the second half and finished with 13 points. The muscular Duncan, a top-flight defender for the Raiders’ 11-1 football team last fall, added nine points and 10 rebounds. Senior point guard Caiden Murrell had six points, six rebounds and a game-high seven assists.

And then there was Isaiah Andrews, an “energy guy” himself. Andrews is a senior, like teammates Duncan, Simon Ghee and Connor Doyle. Andrews was pretty much everywhere, and he hit 7 of 12 shots while finishing with 22 points, five rebounds and the aforementioned eight blocked shots.

“This was one of our best games, defensively, all season,” Warren East coach Kyle Benge said. “We were working on our switching, on defense, in practice all week and our guys did a good job of being locked in.”

Now they’re headed for the ultimate challenge.

They’ll have four days to prepare for Monday night’s semifinal against Warren Central, the Commonwealth’s No. 1-ranked team.

You can make the argument, of course, that the Raiders are playing with house money.

“We’ve got a great, great opportunity,” Benge said. “We have to have a great week of practice … I joked around, in the locker room … My Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t even pick us (against Warren Central).

“But that’s the great thing, about high school basketball, and college sports. They might beat us, 99 out of 100 times, but if we can get them one time, now …

“We’re in a perfect position.”