Douglass rides a fourth-quarter rally (again) to earn spot in 11th Region title game
A reliance on resiliency has gotten the Frederick Douglass boys’ basketball team this far in the season. The Broncos needed a little more of it Friday night.
Douglass rode yet another fourth-quarter comeback — its third such rally of the postseason — to a 60-54 victory over Madison Southern to earn a spot in the 11th Region Tournament finals.
This winter hasn’t been easy for the Broncos, who were missing their full complement of players for much of the season, went into January with a 5-9 record, and found themselves staring down an early exit in the first game of the playoffs.
Douglass (19-14) overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to beat Bryan Station in the 42nd District semifinals, a loss that would have ended the Broncos’ season. Next came a rally from seven points down with 52 seconds left to send the 42nd finals to overtime against Henry Clay, a team that had already beaten Douglass twice in the regular season. The Broncos won that one, too.
Madison Southern offered another stiff test in the 11th Region semis.
The Eagles, who won their first region tournament game in school history Tuesday, looked on the verge of winning their second three nights later. They took a 47-41 lead into the fourth quarter, extending that advantage to 49-41 on a bucket by Jay Rose early in the final period.
Douglass turned it on from there, on both ends of the court.
“My kids believed,” said Broncos Coach Jason Moseley. “They fought. They fought for each other. And that’s what the outcome and the difference in that basketball game was.
“In the fourth quarter, we decided, ‘We’re going to win this basketball game.’”
After Rose’s bucket for the 49-41 lead, Douglass rattled off six straight points in less than a minute. The two sides went back and forth from there, and junior guard Tylon Webb led a key stretch for the Broncos.
Webb came into the game averaging 11.2 points and 5.9 rebounds. He had just one point and one rebound at the end of the third quarter. With Douglass down 51-47 and the final period halfway gone, however, Webb scored seven straight Broncos points in a little more than a minute.
His biggest play came on a steal near halfcourt that resulted in a driving, and-one finish in transition. The Madison Southern student section — raucous for nearly all of the night — fell silent as Douglass took a 54-52 lead following Webb’s free throw. The Broncos never trailed again.
“That was my moment,” Webb said with a smile afterward. “When they got quiet, that’s when I was just like, ‘That’s us. This is our game.’ … Defense wins championships. And that’s one thing I know — if I’m not going to impact the game scoring, I’m going to impact the game doing something else, and that’s defense.”
Webb stepped up big in the fourth quarter, as his teammates did at various points throughout the game. Leading scorer Tyson Barrett had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kai Simpson also hit double figures with 11 points. Shemar O’Roy-Ford added nine points, nine rebounds and two steals.
Moseley noted that he played three freshmen at the same time at one point. He spoke highly of that trio after the game. Armelo Boone tied for a team high with 12 points. Boone was 3-for-7 from three-point range. The rest of the squad was a combined 1-for-9 from deep.
Moseley also praised the defense of Logan Busson and quality minutes from Aveion Chenault, two other youngsters who played roles in keeping things close leading up to that fourth-quarter flurry.
“Those are three freshmen,” Moseley said. “So the future’s bright. But we want to win now.”
Their next chance comes Monday against Henry Clay in the 11th Region finals.
This will be the fourth time that the two sides have met this season, and Mosely joked that he and Blue Devils Coach Daniel Brown would likely be tired of seeing each other by Monday night.
Their first meeting — the season opener — ended with a 68-45 Henry Clay victory, though Douglass was shorthanded for that one. The Blue Devils won again, 59-53, on Jan. 11.
Last week, the Broncos finally turned the tables with that improbable comeback and overtime victory. Do they have another rally in them? If so, a trip to the Sweet Sixteen will be the prize.
“They’ve got a great ball club over there, with great senior leadership. It’s going to be an uphill battle,” Moseley said. “The last one was an instant classic, and I know those guys didn’t forget that win we got from them. We’ve got to come out and play. It’s going to be a basketball game. And it’s for all the chips. It’s to get to Rupp Arena.
“Monday night should be fun.”
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
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 11:29 PM.
