‘No nerves’ Warren Central buries Pulaski County early in Boys’ Sweet 16
Warren Central looked every bit the No. 1 team in the state with its 80-55 rout of Pulaski County on Wednesday evening in the first round of the UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 state basketball tournament.
The Dragons, who have four starters back from last season’s state runner-up, ran out to a 20-3 first quarter lead.
“We came out aggressive,” said Kade Unseld, a junior and son of Coach William Unseld. We’ve been here before and and there was no nerves. So, we just made the right play for each other.”
Early on, the right play was finding Warren Central’s shooters behind the three-point arc. The Dragons were perfect from deep with two three-pointers from Unseld and one each from Izayiah Villafuerte and Tayvion Wells.
Unseld added two more threes the rest of the way and finished with a game-high 26 points. Chappelle Whitney added 16 points and 11 rebounds. Villafuerte finished with eight.
“I think just the experience of being on the floor helped us be relaxed when we got out there today,” Coach Unseld said. “We shot it well. It’s always good when you make shots.”
Warren Central (33-1) made better than 56 percent of its shots and went 9-of-17 from three-point range. Clearly, the Dragons didn’t feel any Rupp Arena jitters.
“It really shows that we’ve been out there before once the game begins, because some people you can just see they’re nervous in their eyes,” Villafuerte said. “I just saw my teammates, and we were cool, calm and it showed.
Coach Unseld believes his team faced more pressure to make it out of the 4th Region than they feel this week in Lexington. Just making it back to Rupp has been a weight off their shoulders, he said.
“The tightest I’ve seen them in two years, was the region championship game,” Coach Unseld said. “They have my permission not to win this thing. They’ve had a great year. I told them ‘let’s go play and have fun. Don’t put it on you just to win it.’ It’s hard. It’s going to be hard to duplicate what we did last year for four games.”
A relaxed Warren Central spelled disaster for Pulaski County. The Dragons harassed the Maroons into making just one of their eight first quarter shots and four turnovers.
“We were really engaged in the first quarter,” Coach Unseld said. “We communicated. And our length and quickness gave them some problems in the first half.”
Pulaski Coach John Fraley confirmed that assessment.
“What you don’t see on film a whole lot is 1) how big and long and quick they are,” Fraley said. “They can switch everything because they’re all the same size, and they can all guard inside and out. And they shoot the ball really well and they move the ball really well.”
Warren Central outrebounded Pulaski 19-7 in the first half and 36-20 for the game.
“We just kind of ran into a buzz saw tonight,” Fraley said. “We knew we had to come in here and keep them off the boards and take care of the ball, and hope they missed some shots. Tonight, they didn’t.”
Pulaski (27-7) played the Dragons even over the last 16 minutes after trailing 45-19 at the break. Barek Williams led the Maroons with 19 points, while Cayden Lancaster chipped in 14.
Pulaski’s second-half effort gave Coach Unseld something to harp on before their next game.
“We’ve got some things to clean up, but I was proud of the effort,” Unseld said.
This story was originally published March 15, 2023 at 9:33 PM.
