’We partying tonight.’ Warren Central flips Boys’ Sweet 16 script with win over Clark.

Warren Central knew George Rogers Clark would fight back. The Dragons had seen it before and come out on the wrong end.

But in the sequel to last year’s boys’ high school basketball state championship game loss to Clark, Warren Central built a bigger lead this time with a group of players hardened by last year’s misfortune.

“After losing last year, we all told each other we wanted to get back, so it was about business every day,” said Warren Central junior Kade Unseld. “And now that we’ve got it, we partying tonight.”

Unseld knocked down two free throws with eight seconds left to help seal a 64-60 victory over Clark in the 2023 UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena on Saturday night and claim the school’s second state championship.

Enduring Clark’s run

Clark, the defending champions, twice cut a 16-point third-quarter deficit to three, the last time on Jerone Morton’s three-pointer with 3:46 left in the game. But four straight missed shots by Clark over the next three minutes helped Warren Central recover to put the game out of reach.

“They made some tough shots, but I thought we could wear them down a little bit,” said Warren Central Coach William Unseld, Kade’s father. “I think we did that. They got a little fatigued in the fourth quarter.”

Over the final stretch, tournament most valuable player Chappelle Whitney scored four points and grabbed five rebounds, two on the offensive end, to help keep the Dragons in front. All four of Warren Central’s leading scorers made baskets or free throws in the fourth. Damarion Walkup, Kade Unseld, and Omari Glover each finished with 17 points. Whitney added 10.

Warren Central’s offensive balance has been key to their success all season, Coach Unseld and his players said. It also helps to have four starters back plus Unseld from a year ago.

“I got hot in the first quarter and they started giving the ball to me,” Glover said. “Then Kade got hot and we started giving the ball to him, and then Chapelle got hot and we started giving the ball to him. It’s just a chain-reaction, really.”

Lessons learned

A year ago, Warren Central led the finals against Clark by as many as five points early in the fourth quarter only to lose 43-42. This year, the Dragons built a 16-point lead midway through the third quarter thanks in large part to back-to-back threes and a jumper from Kade Unseld during a 16-5 run that stretched from the first half into the second.

The run included a buzzer-beating, running three-pointer off glass from 30 feet by point guard Izayiah Villafuerte to put the Dragons up 36-27 at halftime. That was Villafuerte’s only bucket, but he had five assists.

“You never know when you are going to need one of those,” Coach Unseld said. “And that was big because then Kade gave us a little bit of a gap, so that we could overcome some of their run. … You’ve got special players in Morton and Parrish. And Hampton started making threes. So we knew there was going to be a run, but we wanted enough cushion where we could handle the run.”

Difficult task

In the 106-year history of the Boys’ Sweet 16 only five teams have ever won consecutive state titles — the last was Fairdale in 1990 and 1991. Only one had to face the same school on both attempts (Lexington’s Henry Clay vs. Somerset in 1918 and 1919).

Clark (30-6) also faced perhaps the toughest road to the finals this year of any team. Its tournament began with the late game Thursday night against North Laurel, and the Cardinals played the Jaguars, Lyon County, Frederick Douglass and Warren Central — all top-ranked teams — in a span of less than 48 hours.

“A couple times I wish the ball would have bounced our way, maybe a call or two maybe would have helped swing in our favor, but our guys fought,” Clark Coach Josh Cook said. “With what they’ve experienced in 48 hours and the level of competition they had to play — to be right in it and have a chance to win again — I wouldn’t trade them for anybody else.”

Morton led Clark with 23 points. Sam Parrish and Reshaun Hampton added 17 and 13 points, respectively.

Warren Central won its other Boys’ Sweet 16 in 2004 and became the fifth team in tournament history to claim the championship the year after it had lost it. Coincidentally, Clark’s 1951 team was one of those five. The others were Brewers (1948), Breckinridge County (1965) and Male (1975).

“It’s been an amazing experience with these guys,” Glover said. “It’s really been a special season. What were we? 36-1. Yeah, it feels great.”

Best attendance since 2014

This year’s four-day Boys’ Sweet 16 was attended by 99,565 fans, the most since the 2014 event that featured Scott County and Covington Catholic in the finals.

The tournament averaged 12,446 fans per session, also the best since 2014.

Saturday’s semifinals session had, 14,173 fans, the most for a semis since 2013.

Saturday’s finals had 11,644 fans, slightly lower than 2019’s 11,967.

Boys’ Sweet 16: Final wrap-up from the basketball state tournament in Rupp Arena

Boys’ Sweet 16 slideshow: Warren Central claims championship

GRC topples Douglass in Central Kentucky clash for Sweet 16 title berth

Slideshow: George Rogers Clark beats Frederick Douglass in Boys’ Sweet 16 semifinals

Warren Central back in Boys’ Sweet 16 finals after knocking off Woodford County

Slideshow: Warren Central stops Woodford County in Boys’ Sweet 16 semifinals