By JAMES BROWN
WCLU Sports
The Barren County Trojans have proven they are the team to call when its time to clear Dragons from the Diddle Arena court. In 2016 — the last time Warren Central lost a game in the Boys’ Fourth Region Tournament — it was the Trojans who escorted them across the end line. Barren did so again Monday night at WKU.
“We just said all week that sooner or later somebody was going to beat these guys,” Barren County coach Warren Cunningham said in the post-game press conference. “It was going to happen sometime and why not us? I thought we had the team to do it.”
In 2016, the win over Central seemed more likely. The Trojans had beaten the Dragons 58-45 during a regular-season showdown. This season, Barren lost to Warren Central, 72-49, on Jan. 7, but bounced back to win, 58-44, on Monday.
Cunningham said there were some clues to how Barren could win in the stats from the loss. Mostly, the Dragons torched the nets with 12 3-pointers in the January meeting, while the Trojans made only three.
“We had to try to neutralize that a little bit … and I thought we did that,” he said.
It also helped that Barren opened the game on fire from outside. The Trojans hit four 3s in the first quarter and led 16-5 at the end of the period.
“It helped that we got off to a hot start and that helped us build our confidence throughout the game,” senior guard Tate Spillman said. “Once one person starts making shots it leads to other people making shots and it’s contagious.”
Spillman hit his team’s first 3-pointer with 5:51 showing in the first period. Kade Hardy followed with a pair of 3s, then Brey Bewley joined the act with 3:03 left in the opening period.
That forced Warren Central coach William Unseld to call a time out with his team down 14-2.
The Dragons clipped away at the lead in the second period to get within 5, 20-15, with 3:48 left.
Bewley scored 13 seconds later, then Hardy hit another 3-pointer 39 seconds after that. Barren carried a 27-19 lead into halftime.
Warren Central, which had won three-straight regional titles and a state title two years ago, took another charge in the third quarter at getting its first lead in the contest.
The Dragons opened the quarter on a 7-2 run to get to within three, 29-26, with 4:41 left in the period.
Cunningham said he told his assistants Barren needed a basket. Gavin Nunn got it and was fouled. He also added the free throw.
“I thought Gavin changed the game. He was rebounding…, he made free throws, and finished some plays for us. He was huge,” the coach said.
Spillman followed with another 3-point play, then Nunn scored inside to push Barren’s lead back to 37-26.
Every brief Dragons run from there was answered by the Trojans.
Barren hit 7 of 19 3-pointers, while Warren Central made 4 of 18. The Trojans dominated the boards with a 34-22 advantage, and they also outscored the Dragons 17-6 at the foul line.
“We thought this was the team we could have,” Cunningham said.
Barren County will face Clinton County on March 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the semifinal round at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
SCORING
Barren County
Spillman, 17; Hardy, 14; Nunn, 9; Bewley, 9; Joshua Decker, 7; Jackson Reece, 2.
Warren Central
Robert McAfee, 12; Karaun Johnson, 10; Jarek Kirk, 9; Dominique Anthony, 9; Jeremiah McCombs, 2; RaMaun North, 2.
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