Ballard’s stifling of Madison Central creates ‘matchup of two heavyweights.’
Facing the team many observers believe to be the favorite of this year’s boys’ state basketball tournament, Madison Central’s trademark red-hot shooting went ice cold on the Rupp Arena floor Wednesday as Ballard gradually built a sizable lead and withstood a final Indians flurry for a 70-61 first-round win.
“We didn’t quit. We actually cut it down to six and had the ball one time,” said Madison Central Coach Allen Feldhaus Jr., in the postgame press conference at the KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 presented by UK HealthCare Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine. “If we could have gotten something to fall that time (with under a minute left), maybe it’d be a different story. But we really struggled with their athleticism and transition-type buckets.”
Madison Central (21-10) shot 70 percent from the field in defeating then-No. 1 Lexington Catholic last week and better than 56 percent in topping Frederick Douglass in the 11th Region championship game, but was held to 39.2 percent against Ballard and made only six of 26 field goals over the second and third quarters as Ballard stretched its lead out to as many as 17 points.
“I’d like to say it’s on defense. And I do think part of it was our defense,” Ballard Coach Chris Renner said. “But at the same time, you know, sometimes there’s luck, sometimes teams have a bad shooting night. Our guys knew that they were a great shooting team and so we knew we had to respect that from the perimeter. We felt like we could extend our guards and wings on the perimeter defensively. And we had our big fella down there to maybe alter some shots.”
Ballard (20-2) has 6-foot-10 Maker Bar in the middle and a formidable defensive team that has beaten its opponents by more than 17 points per game this season.
Ballard players acknowledged being awed by playing in Rupp Arena at first, but settled into the game.
“At first it was kind of scary and nervous and Coach said it was going to be like that,” said junior guard Keno Hayden, who led the Bruins with a game-high 26 points. “During the warm-ups he tried to help us lose the jitters.”
Bar had 11 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and three blocks, including a volleyball spike in the third quarter that sent Gabe Sisk on his way for a fast-break layup typical of the problems Madison Central faced. Sisk finished with 19 points.
Later, Hayden scored five straight amid a 7-0 Ballard run that extended the Bruins’ lead to its largest at 17 points, 54-37, just moments into the fourth quarter.
“Keno has been unbelievable. He didn’t get much experience last year, because he had to deal with sickness and injury,” said Renner, who admitted being hard on his junior guard at times during the season. “We saw the potential. And Keno has just grown tremendously. … The plays that he’s making — he’s worked on his game to get better in all aspects of it. He’s understanding the game of basketball and I thought he was phenomenal today.”
In Friday’s 2 p.m. quarterfinal, Ballard faces Bowling Green, a team the Bruins beat 61-45 earlier in the season, although the Purples played without starter Jordan Dingle, who is a University of Kentucky football commit. Bowling Green defeated University Heights earlier Wednesday with 20 points from Turner Buttry and 16 points from 5th Region player of the year Isaiah Mason, a Northern Kentucky commit.
“This is going to be a matchup of two heavyweights,” Renner said.
Kole Brown led Madison Central with 21 points. Jaylen Davis and Will Hardin added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 8:15 PM.
