‘March Madness’ shows itself in opening round as late three lifts Ashland past Owensboro
On an opening day stuffed with nail-biters, the UK HealthCare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 saved its most dramatic finish for last.
Braxton Jennings’ three-pointer with 18 seconds left was the difference-maker in Ashland Blazer’s 66-65 come-from-behind victory over Owensboro on Wednesday night. The Red Devils had chances to retake the lead — three of them, in fact — but a pull-up jumper and two put-back attempts all drew iron to leave them a point short at Rupp Arena.
“Exactly out there, what you saw, is why they call it March Madness,” said Ashland Coach Ryan Bonner.
The Tomcats after scoring the game’s first points quickly trailed 12-2. They clawed back to within 30-28 at halftime, and a back-and-forth third quarter stayed so for most of the fourth. Owensboro stretched its lead to seven with 3:04 to play and continued to match Ashland bucket for bucket, but the free-throw line negated those efforts: the Red Devils missed the front end of two one-plus-one opportunities inside the final minute, keeping the window open for its rival from the 16th Region.
Jennings hit the front end of his own one-and-one try but missed the second, putting the Tomcats down 65-63 with 39 seconds to play. Asher Adkins secured the rebound on Owensboro’s ensuing front-end miss and got it to Jennings, who moved into the lane and kicked the ball out to Nate Freize on the wing. Freize quickly got it back to Jennings, who’d rotated out for a wide-open three-point look. Money.
The sophomore, who averaged 2.8 points per game coming in, had 10 points off the bench. He shot 41.4 percent from distance this season but barely had more attempts (29) than games played (27).
“I just felt like we needed a three,” Jennings said with a grin. “I got it, I shot it and it felt good.”
When Ashland pulled ahead, Owensboro head coach Rod Drake elected not to call either of his two remaining timeouts. His guys thrived in transition all night — Bonner said Drake’s was the fastest team he’d seen on film all year, and they lived up to it in the flesh — and while the initial go-ahead try by Kenyatta Carbon was rushed, it afforded a quality put-back attempt by Talas Taylor about 5 feet from the bucket. Jaiarius Webb secured the rebound off that miss and still had enough time to turn around and put up a closer try, but it hit the front of the rim.
Drake lamented Ashland’s second-chance advantage — the Tomcats won that battle 21-10 — and the Red Devils’ missed free throws down the stretch. If he harbored any complaints about the game’s officiating — it was a physical contest with just 11 fouls called each way — they went with him to the bus.
“We had several good looks and they just didn’t go down,” Drake said. “It just wasn’t our night tonight. You can’t take anything away from them. They shot the ball extremely well and went to the boards and got second shots.”
Zander Carter led all scorers with 25 points and all rebounders with 13. He took to heart what Bonner, Ashland’s interim skipper who assisted former head coach Jason Mays during the team’s Sweet 16 team trips over the last four years, preached before the game and the weeks leading up to it: the most physical teams win at Rupp Arena.
The game featured eight lead changes and five ties. It paired two state-tournament regulars — the pair have combined for 79 appearances — from opposite ends of the state, and ended in the elation and heartbreak that only Kentucky’s Sweet 16 can generate.
“As just a fan of the game of basketball, I felt like you literally got to see everything you would want to see within 32 minutes of a high school basketball game,” Bonner said. “It was just a phenomenal game.”