‘Heck of a game.’ Warren Central outlasts Male in overtime at Boys’ Sweet 16
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2022 Boys’ Sweet 16 coverage
Click below to read all of the coverage from Kentucky.com and the Lexington Herald-Leader during the Boys’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena.
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Warren Central’s Omari Glover scored 20 points, including six in overtime, to help lead the Dragons to a 57-54 overtime win over Male in their Thursday morning first round tip-off of the UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena.
“Heck of a game, right?” Warren Central Coach William Unseld asked rhetorically in the Dragons’ postgame press conference. “We weren’t 26-3 for nothing. I told the kids we’re going to show everybody else who hadn’t seen us how good we are.”
Unseld’s son, Kade, a sophomore, made two free throws with 12 seconds left in the overtime to put the Dragons up by the final margin. A few minutes before, Kade Unseld missed a chance to put his team up three in regulation, leading to a Male fast-break and tying bucket by Meechie White in the closing seconds that made it 49-49 going into overtime.
“Honestly, I tell people all the time I lose myself during the game, and so when he’s up there shooting, I don’t even pay attention that it’s him sometimes. I’m just like, ‘Please make it. Please make it.’ And he did. After missing one, it was big for him to make those two.”
At the outset, it looked as if Male (28-6) would make a rout of it. The Bulldogs made their first six shots and took a 19-6 lead on a pair of Kaleb Glenn free throws with 2:14 left in the first quarter.
“We were giving up H-O-R-S-E shots, just wide-open shots,” Unseld said of his team’s slow start. “We just had to get back and guard a little better.”
Warren Central (27-3) rallied thanks to a stout defense and Male misses. The Bulldogs went the next 8:24 of game play without scoring as Warren Central went on a 16-0 run. Chappelle Whitney scored nine points and Jaiden Lawrence had seven in the first half. Lawrence’s three-pointer with 3:19 left in the second quarter gave Warren Central a 20-19 lead. The Dragons ended the half up 26-24.
Warren Central keyed on stopping Male’s junior sensation, four-star forward Kaleb Glenn, a Louisville commit, and held him to 13 points and 10 rebounds. That gave Male’s senior forward Dez Lindsay space in the second half. Lindsay scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the third and fourth quarters. He got two points in overtime.
In the overtime period, Male got the first three points on a Glenn bucket and foul inside. But Glover scored six of the Dragons’ next eight points to put Warren Central up 55-54 with 24 seconds left in overtime.
“I knew we need to move the ball around and take great shots, not take bad shots,” Glover said. “But when we needed one, I got them.”
A Male miss, set up Kade Unseld’s free throws. Male got the ball back with eight seconds left down 57-54, but a drive into the lane to get two points and maybe a foul ended in a scramble for the ball on the floor and a Warren Central recovery as time ran out.
“Anytime you end your season at Rupp Arena it’s a great year. Sometimes in these tournaments, you maybe need a good draw to just, kind of see the puzzle start coming together,” said Male Coach Tim Haworth. “We knew that drawing Warren Central and them drawing us, it’s gonna be a toss-up game. ... I really do believe if we play that game again, it’s another toss-up game. ”
Glover led the Dragons with 20 points with Whitney and Lawrence adding 14 and 12, respectively.
BOYS’ SWEET 16
What: Sixteen-team tournament to decide Kentucky’s high school basketball state champion.
When: Wednesday through Saturday
Where: Rupp Arena
Tickets: Tickets available for purchase at KHSAA.org.
BOYS’ SWEET 16 SCHEDULE
At Rupp Arena
Wednesday’s games
Lincoln County 45, Jeffersontown 41
North Oldham 36, Muhlenberg County 32
Clark County 77, Perry County Central 36
Pikeville 59, North Laurel 51
Thursday’s games
Warren Central 57, Male 54 (OT)
Lyon County 82, John Hardin 65
Murray 57, Henry Clay 53
Covington Catholic 76, Ashland Blazer 65
Friday’s quarterfinals
11 a.m.: Lincoln County (30-7) vs. North Oldham (19-12)
1:30 p.m.: Clark County (34-1) vs. Pikeville (32-2)
6 p.m.: Lyon County (29-6) vs. Covington Catholic (29-4)
8:30 p.m.: Murray (26-6) vs. Warren Central (27-3)
Saturday’s games
▪ Semifinals at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
▪ Championship game
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 2:07 PM.
