Henry Clay’s team effort and a huge three-pointer send Blue Devils to region finals
Henry Clay’s Aziel Blackwell arguably made the biggest play of the night in the Blue Devils’ 47-43 win over Great Crossing in the boys’ 11th Region Tournament semifinals at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena.
With the score tied 34-all and time winding out on the third quarter, Blackwell jab-stepped toward the court’s outermost three-point line and jumped back to about 25 feet to nail his only made three of the game just before the quarter horn sounded.
“It was huge,” Henry Clay Coach Daniel Brown said. “It showed a senior guard and what he’s looking to do. You can see we were going to him, and he put us on his back and kind of carried us out in front there.”
Henry Clay expanded its cushion by scoring the first five points of the fourth quarter, as well. Blackwell got a bucket and a foul shot at the outset of the fourth and teammate Kanye Henderson put back his own miss for a 42-34 lead with 6:14 to play, prompting Great Crossing Coach Steve Page to call a timeout.
More big plays would follow.
Henry Clay center Brenden Wicker’s dunk with 2:03 left pushed the Devils to their second eight-point lead of the night with 2:03 left. Wicker also had five blocks.
Great Crossing, a team that starts four freshmen including dynamic 6-foot-10 center Malachi Moreno, did not fade quietly. The Warhawks rallied to within three points after Gage Richardson’s three-pointer, a missed Henry Clay layup and two foul shots by Tye Schureman helped cut the deficit to 44-41 with 1:07 to play.
But Blackwell believed the night’s best play — even better than his three-pointer or Wicker’s dunk — went to Henderson, who rebounded his own missed free throw as the Devils clung to that three-point lead with 39 seconds left.
“He doesn’t realize it, but that was definitely the biggest play,” Blackwell said. “Because it stopped (Great Crossing) from double scoring.”
After Henderson’s offensive board, Blackwell got fouled and made one of two free throws to put Henry Clay up 45-41 with 35 seconds left. Even though Henry Clay missed another foul shot and let Great Crossing cut it to 45-43 with 16 seconds left, the Blue Devils held. Henderson scored the final basket on a layup as he got behind Great Crossing’s pressure.
“It was nerve-wracking.,” Blackwell said. “We let them get too close at one point, but at the end of the day, it just feels good to come out with the win. “
Great Crossing finished the season 27-7 and 41st District champions in the program’s third year. Moreno led the Warhawks with 15 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, nine of them on the offensive glass. Eight of those offensive boards came in the third quarter as Great Crossing rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit.
Over the two previous season’s Page’s teams went 25-29. Friday’s loss was tough, of course, Page said, but the experience will help his young team.
“We’ve got a lot to look forward to with a young, young group of kids, who if they stick together, get in the gym and work … then in future years, the 11th Region shouldn’t be our goal. It should be a higher goal with the talent (we have),” Page said.
Brown didn’t like the sloppy finish, but the result was what the Blue Devils came for.
“Hopefully we can clean that up, and I’m going to be talking to you on Monday night,” Brown said.
Henry Clay (26-8) will face Frederick Douglass in the 11th Region finals at 7 p.m. Monday at EKU with a trip to the UK HealthCare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 on the line. The game will be a rematch of last week’s 42nd District Tournament championship game that Douglass won 57-54 in overtime.
The Henry Clay coach praised his team’s poise and how the Blue Devils were able to grind out the victory after suffering a number of tough, close losses this season. Henry Clay held Great Crossing to 31.9% shooting from the field and only three field goals in the fourth quarter.
“We can make you play ugly, we can play good, we can play any style I feel like. I’ve got good guards, and I think if you’ve got good guards, you’ve got a shot,” Brown said. “And we’ve got role players nobody gives any credit, like the Wicker kid. Nobody gives him any credit because he doesn’t really show up on the stat sheet. We see what he does.“
This will be the second straight region finals for Douglass, who lost last year to Madison Central. Henry Clay has been to the region finals five times this century, the last in 2019, and has won its region 19 times, the last in 2005 under Coach Kirk Chiles.
“I’m excited, but I’d like to cut the net down and win the region title,” Brown said. “We’ve been here a few times. … Kids dream about going to the state tournament, so it’s right there for them to get, and we’ll see what happens.”
Monday
11th Region Tournament finals
At EKU’s McBrayer Arena
7 p.m.: Henry Clay (26-8) vs. Frederick Douglass (19-14)
At stake: Winner advances to Sweet 16 state tournament in Rupp Arena
