‘Turned the city up.’ Frederick Douglass puts on dunkathon in flashy Sweet 16 victory.
Frederick Douglass had never before reached the Boys’ Sweet 16. But in Thursday evening’s 73-53 first-round victory over Martin County, it sure didn’t look like the Broncos’ first rodeo.
By halftime, hometown Frederick Douglass had six dunks — including four in just 45 seconds near the end of the second quarter, compliments of Aveion Chenault and Armelo Boone in their first-ever game in Rupp Arena. The quartet of slams was dubbed a “dunkathon” in the postgame.
“It felt great,” Chenault said. “We’ve never been here before, so it was a different environment. But we just came out how we knew how to play and turned the city up.”
Chenault and Boone combined for 34 points and seven dunks. Broncos freshman Terry Cayson slammed the team’s eighth and final dunk in the fourth quarter.
Chenault, Boone and Cayson are three of several members of the Broncos’ roster who helped Frederick Douglass win a state title in football this school year.
“I don’t know if there are four Division I basketball players (on Frederick Douglass),” Martin County head coach Jason James said. “But there’s absolutely four Division I athletes. And whether they play basketball or football or whatever, they are phenomenal athletes.”
The Broncos were also bolstered by the tough play of Logan Busson, who reached double-double status early in the third quarter. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“We play hard and (Boone and Chenault) dunk the ball a lot,” Busson laughed. “They’re athletic. Me, on the other hand, not really. I just attack the basket and get my teammates open.”
Per Frederick Douglass head coach Wes Scarberry, it’s the team’s defense that allows for its offense to fly. In the second quarter, the Broncos outscored the Cardinals 30-11 by continuing to switch up its defense.
“That’s kind of our key coming into this Sweet 16,” Scarberry said. “Is just continue to do that. Just like we have all year long. I think you saw that in the second quarter, especially. We were able to switch defenses a lot. And throw some different presses out there just kind of keep the other team off balance. So that’s kind of been our thing all year. And when we play really good defense, it leads to really easy offense for us, typically, and I think you saw that out there tonight.”
Despite outscoring the Broncos (32-2) by five in the second half, the Cardinals (24-11) couldn’t dig themselves out of the double-digit hole Frederick Douglass created in the first.
“We’re the fastest team in our area,” James said of Martin County. “You know, and we looked slow to them.”
Brayden McKenzie led Martin County in scoring with 11 points.
In addition to converting 20 turnovers into 26 points, Frederick Douglass blocked 11 shots. Scarberry said that opponents often underestimate the Broncos’ ability to block shots because of their size.
“All year long, people have kind of said we don’t have the size to compete with certain teams,” Scarberry said. “And we’ve proven that wrong time in and time out. It is the athleticism, the timing and it’s just remarkable feats that they can accomplish.”
Frederick Douglass was to face Male on Friday in the quarterfinals, a battle between Lexington and Louisville. The Broncos are looking forward to playing for another Sweet 16 victory against the rival city representatives.
“We’ve been rivals for years,” Busson said. “We played travel basketball against all the Louisville kids and we’ll stack up good against them.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2023 at 10:07 PM.