PULASKI COUNTY ON WEDNESDAY.
DRAGONS TAKE IMPRESSIVE 23-GAME WINNING STREAK TO RUPP ARENA
Warren Central High School’s boys basketball team has been on a mission for the last 11 months, four weeks and five days.
Give or take, you understand.
The No. 1-ranked Dragons (32-1 overall) are back in the KHSAA’s Sweet Sixteen, and they’ll open tournament play on Wednesday evening against Pulaski County (26-9) at Lexington’s Rupp Arena. They’ll need four victories in as many days — which would include a day off on Thursday, provided they eliminate Pulaski County — to claim the state championship that eluded them one year ago.
And they couldn’t have come much closer in that pursuit of the school’s second state championship, and its first since the 2003-04 season.
YOUNG MEN TO ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE.”
Veteran Warren Central coach William Unseld was still toiling as a middle school coach in those days, and the idea of the strapping, 6-foot-8, former University of South Carolina forward working with seventh- and eighth-graders … well, you understand how he’s able to balance patience with a tough, disciplined approach.
“It’s a pressure cooker,” Unseld said Monday evening in the WCHS gym, before the Dragons left for a celebratory dinner arranged for the team. “Nobody thought about us, last year, when we went up there (for the Sweet Sixteen). It’s the exact opposite this year.
“Everybody’s gunnin’ for us. We’ve got a target on our back. That’s how it works in athletics. But this is our last go-around for our six seniors. They’re going to take everybody’s best shot …
“We want our young men to enjoy this experience.”
SLIPPED PAST BOWLING GREEN, 52-50,
TO REACH THE SWEET SIXTEEN.
The Dragons withstood Bowling Green High School’s best shot in the KHSAA 4th Region championship game on March 7 at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
Did they ever.
Warren Central led for most of the game but needed an overtime to knock off Bowling Green, 52-50, in the 4th Region title tilt.
The Dragons were content to work for a last shot, in both regulation and in overtime, with the score tied in the final minute. Damarion Walkup, the 6-foot-4 WCHS blur in the open court, dribbled near the half-court line to pull Mason Ritter, the Purples’ 6-foot-8 junior center, away from the basket.
IS THE DRAGONS’ “ENERGY GUY.’
ARE OFTEN THE KEY TO WINNING A STATE TITLE.
Walkup missed an awkward baseline jumper as regulation came to a close, but the Dragons’ Omari Glover found teammate Kade Unseld — the son of the Dragons’ head coach — about eight feet from the basket in the final seconds of OT. Unseld hit a twisting, 6-foot shot, putting Warren Central in front 52-50, but the Purples got off one last shot themselves, and junior guard Luke Idlett’s deep 3-pointer from the right wing was short, sending the Dragons back to Lexington.
In the grand scheme of things, William Unseld said it’s something to Dragons can learn from, because they only had a handful of competitive games this season.
Even with Unseld putting together the most challenging schedule possible.
Warren Central lost just one game this season, a holiday tournament affair .against Mason County. The Dragons dropped that game 60-43 on December 27, at Lexington Catholic High School, and they’ve come back with a vengeance.
BOWLING GREEN’s M.J. WARDLOW.
AND OMARI GLOVER ARE ON THEIR WAY TO LEXINGTON.
They’ve won 23 consecutive games, and five of their 32 victories this season — including two to arch-rival Bowling Green — came by less than double digits.
William Unseld is of the opinion that getting back to the Sweet Sixteen is actually harder than playing there itself.
WCHS senior forward Chappelle Whitney, the KHSAA 4th Region Player of the Year, is quick to remind you that they wipe the slate clean when the 16 qualifiers arrive in Lexington for the Sweet Sixteen.
“We’re kind of starting over,” Whitney said.
The Dragons opened Sweet Sixteen play last year against one of the tournament’s favorites, Louisville’s Male High School.
Then-junior WCHS forward Omari Glover scored a game-high 20 points and added nine rebounds as the Dragons eliminated Male, 57-54. They’d get through two more hard-fought games — a 54-46 victory over Murray High School in the quarterfinals and then a 61-58 triumph over Covington Catholic, on March 19, 2022, in the semifinals to get to the championship game.
WERE THE SWEET 16 RUNNER-UP LAST SEASON.
Unseld and the Dragons were able to get back to their hotel, get a quick meal and maybe a 20- or 30-minute nap before returning to Rupp Arena for the championship game against George Rogers Clark High School.
George Rogers Clark played in the earlier semifinal that day, slipping past Lincoln County, 54-41, to get to the championship game. The Cardinals had a significant logistical advantage over Warren Central, but you didn’t hear a peep about that from Unseld or his players.
George Rogers Clark took the championship game, 43-42, and Warren Central closed the book on an amazing 32-4 season.
The Dragons lost just two players from that team, shooting guard Jaiden Lawrence, who averaged a team-high 13.8 points per game, and backup forward Dalton Farley. They returned the likes of Chappelle Whitney (13.6 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game), Omari Glover (11.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg), defensive ace Damarion Walkup and point guard Izayiah Villafuerte, and they were obviously loaded for bear for the 2022-23 season.
“We knew we’d have a target on our back,” Glover said. “It hasn’t been easy. We’ve had to have the right kind of focus, the right kind of work ethic.”
AVERAGES 10.3 POINTS AND
7.3. REBOUNDS PER GAME.
FOR MARK NELSON’s WARREN CENTRAL FOOTBALL TEAM.
That focus and work ethic has carried the Dragons back to the Sweet Sixteen. They left for Lexington on a team charter Wednesday morning, to get a feel for Rupp Arena before Thursday evening’s game against Pulaski County.
Pulaski County stopped Lawrence County 57-50 in last week’s KHSAA 14th Region championship game. The Maroons are on the undersized side, and they’re not particularly deep, either. Senior forward Cayden Lancaster leads Pulaski County with 19.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, with Barek Williams adding 19.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Carson Fraley, the son of Pulsaki coach John Fraley, checks in at 12.9 points per game. Warren Central coach William Unseld is impressed with the Maroons’ defensive tenacity and ability to hit the big shot.
“They’re a tough, hard-nosed team,” Unseld said. “They’re well coached, and they play physical … We’ve got our hands full.”
Should Warren Central eliminate Pulaski County, the Dragons would be paired against the winner of the Owensboro-Ashland game in Friday’s quarterfinals. Warren Central trounced Owensboro High School 80-41 in the first week of the season, which Unseld discounts because of the Red Devils’ short roster due to an extended football season.
“I really don’t compare scores, go with common opponents, that kind of thing,” Unseld said.
That goes for the tournament itself, too.
Izayiah Villafuerte, the Dragons’ senior point guard, was at the free-throw line in the final few seconds of last year’s Sweet 16 championship game against George Rogers Clark. He hit his first free throw, to trim the Cardinals’ lead to 43-42, before GRC coach Josh Cook called a timeout with the Rupp Arena clock showing 3.2 seconds left in the game.
The televised feed of the game showed Villafuerte practicing his free-throw routine during the break, but his second foul shot rimmed out, and the Cardinals claimed possession to close out the 43-42 victory.
Several of the Dragons’ players — notably, Villafuerte, Glover, Kade Unseld and Whitney — have said that experience has motivated them for their farewell season at Warren Central.
William Unseld takes a different approach. He prefers to concentrate on the here and now.
“Honestly, the kids have talked about it, thought about it, a lot more than I have,” Unseld said at the WCHS gym on Monday evening. “I haven’t seen the game film of that championship game. Not once. I wanted to move on, right after it happened.
“It’s different when you’re younger, of course. Whatever happens there, happens. But this is our seniors’ last go-round. They’ve taken it to heart. The games up there tend to be lower scoring. Like (the championship game).
“That’s why you emphasize defense and rebounding. You’re not going to shoot the ball great every time out, but good defense and rebounding always gives you a chance. That’s what we’ve told our kids.”
The game is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m., Central Daylight Time.
I’ll have a column on Izayiah Villafuerte, Warren Central’s driven, personable point guard, after I arrive in the Lexington area tonight. Thanks for reading jimmashek.com, I really appreciate it.
(And baseball/softball/lacrosse/track and field season has ALREADY begun!)
REST THAN YOUR AVERAGE SPORTS SCRIBBLER.
IS THE KHSAA 4th REGION PLAYER OF THE YEAR.
WHEN I’M FIXIN’ TO GO OUTTA TOWN
… AND SHE HAS TO STAY.