‘Nobody believed in us but us.’ Henry Clay knocks off Lexington Catholic, Douglass rolls.
Henry Clay came up with a revolutionary way to avoid losing another close game during Tuesday’s boys’ 11th Region Tournament quarterfinals at Lexington Catholic.
Don’t keep it close.
After trailing at halftime, the Blue Devils seized momentum in the third quarter against the No. 7 Knights and took control on their way to a 70-58 win over the 43rd District champions, the 11th Region’s top-rated team according to Dave Cantrall.
“Nobody believed in us but us,” Henry Clay senior guard Aziel Blackwell said. “We’re just going to keep fighting.”
Since early February, the Blue Devils appeared snakebitten when the game tightened. They lost 56-52 in overtime to Madison Central on Feb. 1, lost 63-61 at Great Crossing on Feb. 8, lost 71-68 at home in triple overtime to Paul Laurence Dunbar on Feb. 10 and finally blew a seven-point lead with 53 seconds to go against Frederick Douglass in the 42nd District championship game and eventually lost 57-54 in overtime.
“We were playing in close games every night. We’ve come up on the good side a couple of times and come up on the bad side a couple of times,” Henry Clay Coach Daniel Brown said. “The other night in districts, we kind of got away from ourselves and turned it over, so it’s good to be back and have an opportunity tonight.”
Those tough losses fueled the fire, according to Blackwell.
“We just realized we didn’t play as hard as we could and that just had a bad taste in our mouth,” Blackwell said. “We just knew we had to keep pushing.”
Henry Clay (25-8) will have a chance to avenge its loss to Great Crossing (27-6) at 6:15 p.m. Friday in the region semifinals at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena in Richmond.
The Warhawks, hosted their quarterfinals game Tuesday as 41st District title holders and knocked off defending 11th Region champion Madison Central 61-55 in overtime.
In Berea, Madison Southern got the boys’ program’s first-ever region tournament win by defeating visiting Paul Laurence Dunbar 54-46. Back in Lexington, Frederick Douglass routed Western Hills 92-39 to advance, as well.
Madison Southern (21-11) and Frederick Douglass (18-14) will square off in Friday’s late semifinal at 8:15 p.m.
Of the teams remaining in the region tournament, only Henry Clay has ever advanced to the Boys’ Sweet 16. The Blue Devils last made it in 2005, more than a decade before either Douglass and Great Crossing existed.
Can the Blue Devils keep things rolling to Monday’s 11th Region championship game and beyond?
“If we can score one more point than the other team for two straight games, we keep it going,” Brown joked. “No, seriously … these guys have to believe in each other. I tell them we’ve seen great players can take over, but we need everybody. So, it’s trusting everybody and believing in what we’re doing.”
Tuesday’s quarterfinals
Henry Clay 70, Lexington Catholic 58: A pair of three-point plays late in the third quarter turned what had been a closely fought back-and-forth game decidedly in the Blue Devils’ favor.
Kanye Henderson rebounded a missed Lexington Catholic three-pointer and took it coast-to-coast for a layup and a foul to put Henry Clay up 39-33 with 57 seconds left in the period.
Jack Gohmann answered for LexCath moments later, but his bucket allowed Henry Clay to hold onto the ball for one last shot attempt in the third quarter. The Blue Devils got two instead. Blackwell rebounded his own miss from the left elbow and put it back in while also drawing a foul with 0.5 on the clock.
Henry Clay’s 27-24 halftime deficit became a 42-35 lead to start the fourth quarter after Blackwell’s made free throw.
The Blue Devils never looked back, extending their advantage to as many as 18 on their way to victory. They outscored LexCath 33-12 during the run.
“Our game plan was to come out physical and come out tough and just have that mindset that nobody can stay with us,” said Blackwell, who scored 22 points to tie Henderson for the team lead.
Konlin Brown added 19 points, including a pair of three-point field goals early in the fourth quarter.
“Getting Konlin going — he hit two or three threes there — kind of opened it up a little bit more for Kanye and Blackwell,” Brown said. “When you hit shots, it makes it all look good.”
Henry Clay’s defense played a huge role as well. The Blue Devils often double teamed LexCath’s 6-foot-10 center Reece Potter, disrupting the Knights’ offense early as they jumped out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter.
Even though LexCath responded by outscoring Henry Clay 19-7 in the second quarter, Brown wasn’t upset with how his team was playing. In the end, Henry Clay outrebounded LexCath 30-19, including a 13-8 edge in offensive rebounds while forcing 12 Knights’ turnovers to their nine.
“I thought we were the attacker all night,” Brown said. “We were the team that was the most aggressive all night and that’s what we want to do — get on the loose balls. Get on the floor after them. You get skinned up, you can worry about that tomorrow.”
Gohmann and John Reinhart scored 22 and 19 points, respectively, for the Knights (26-6).
Great Crossing 61, Madison Central 55 (OT): The Indians erased a six-point deficit with under 38 seconds to go in regulation, forcing overtime, but the Warhawks scored the first 10 points of the extra frame to get the win.
Trailing 51-45 with 37.9 seconds left, Great Crossing sent Madison Central’s Mr. Basketball candidate Will Hardin to the line where he cut the lead to 51-47. A turnover and foul on the ensuing inbounds play sent Madison Central’s Eli Steele to the line where he made the first of two free throws with 34.1 seconds left.
Madison Central’s Cody Maggard got the offensive rebound of Steele’s miss and the ball switched back to Hardin on the left wing. He nailed a long-range, game-tying three-pointer to make it 51-51 with 24.9 seconds left.
Great Crossing’s Vince Dawson missed a go ahead jumper in the closing seconds and Hardin’s midcourt heave at the buzzer rimmed out.
It was all Warhawks from there. Great Crossing got its first region victory in its first trip to the tournament. The school was established in 2019.
Great Crossing’s Dawson led all scorers with 29 points. Hardin scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Madison Central (20-12). Robby Todd and Parker Mullins chipped in 17 and 11 points, respectively, for the Indians.
The Warhawks held Madison Central to 36.4 percent from the field, including allowing only one made basket in 11 attempts in overtime and outrebounded the Indians 34-27. Malachi Moreno had nine rebounds and five points. Junius Burrell scored nine points and had five assists.
Madison Southern 54, Paul Laurence Dunbar 46: The Eagles ended the game on a 14-2 run to capture the school’s first-ever win in the region tournament.
The Bulldogs (14-13) were held scoreless for nearly five minutes of the fourth quarter during the Madison Southern rally after the Eagles trailed 44-40 with 6:27 to play.
The game featured eight ties and 11 lead changes with Dunbar leading 24-17 at halftime. Madison Southern outscored Dunbar 37-22 in the second half.
Zach Hudson led Madison Southern with 22 points while Jay Rose added 11. Dunbar’s Zach Carter scored 14 points with Nick Spalding adding 10.
Frederick Douglass 92, Western Hills 39: The Broncos outscored Western Hills 47-9 in a blistering second half.
Thomas Howard’s three-pointer from the left corner with under a minute left in the third quarter established a 73-36 lead that triggered the mercy-rule running clock for the rest of the game. The lead was 45-30 at halftime.
Kai Simpson led four players in double figures for Douglass with 17 points. Tyson Barrett scored 15. Tylon Webb and Melo Boone added 12 points each.
Western Hills finished 15-15.
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 7:44 AM.
