A dominant 20-point performance from junior Kenyatta Carbon in the fourth helped Owensboro close out the regular season undefeated in the 9th District, as they held off the Aces in a 69-65 road win.
Both teams were looking to crest their offense from the inside out in the first quarter, with Owensboro Catholic taking a slight 14-11 lead into the second.
The Aces didn’t miss a beat in the second quarter, nearly cracking 20 points thanks to 10 from junior Ji Webb. Meanwhile, Owensboro was racking up the turnovers.
The Red Devils continued to try and give the ball in the middle, but Owensboro Catholic was doing a good job of clogging up the lane. The Aces efforts on both ends helped them grab a 33-26 lead at halftime.
Owensboro came roaring out of the locker room with a 12-1 to open up the third quarter. It was Carbon who found a cutting Chris Glover to give the Red Devils a 38-34 lead with 4:40 on the clock, forcing an Owensboro Catholic timeout.
Glover finished with 10 points on the night, stepping up along with others for Owensboro after junior Cayman Powell took a hard fall in the first quarter and didn’t return to the game.
“Taylor, Glover stepped up,” Drake said. “Cayman was playing well at the time, but I tell our guys all the time, one through 14. It’s going to take everybody in the room to get where we need to be.”
From this point both teams traded buckets back and forth, as the Red Devils took a narrow 46-45 lead thanks to a combined 16 points from Amari Robinson-Wales (10) and Carbon (six).
In the fourth quarter, it was the Kenyatta Carbon show. The junior guard was leading the charge to open up the fourth and give Owensboro a 51-49 lead, but Owensboro Catholic wasn’t going away.
As one of his two baskets on the night, junior Parker Gray hit a three to tie things up at 56-56 with 3:30 left to play. From there, Carbon kicked into second gear.
He had gone off for 20 points in the fourth quarter, with a barrage of tough finishes at the rim giving the Red Devils a 65-62 lead.
“He had 19 of our 20 points at one time in the fourth quarter,” Drake said. “He could do that all night long, taking it to the whole. He’s the Russell Westbrook of high school basketball. He can get to the hole any time he wants to and of course our other players compliment him well.”
Junior Brian Griffth responded to back-to-back buckets by Carbon with a steal and a layup to make it 65-64 with 1:04 left. With the clock winding down, sophomore Tutt Carrico was forced to foul out and send Carbon to the line. Kenyatta sank both at the charity stripe, extending Owensboro’s lead to 67-64 with 40.2 seconds to play.
On the ensuing possession Griffith was fouled trying to earn a quick layup, but only hit one free throw to make it 67-65 Red Devils with 24.5 left on the clock.
Robinson-Wales went to the free throw line shortly after Owensboro broke a press from the Aces, as one half of the dynamic duo sealed the 69-65 win for the Red Devils.
Carbon (20) and Robinson-Wales (three) combined for all 23 Owensboro points in the fourth, as they also went 9-10 from the line. Carbon finished with 38 points on the night, while Robinson-Wales followed with 15 points.
Drake recalled going six straight possessions in transition without a bucket in the first half, saying they shot themselves in the foot early and that the Aces really didn’t do anything different that stifled them. Head Coach Tim Riley agreed with the notion, saying that Owensboro Catholic just didn’t stay in front of the ball in the second half.
“In the second half they just kept wanting to cheat out,” Riley said. “Then when they would drive they wouldn’t move their feet to get over into the lane. Kenyatta and Amari, they have to drive in there and run into somebody. And it can’t be one guy. It can’t be the guy guarding him.”
The Red Devils willed themselves to the line all night, going 16-18. On top of that, the Aces struggled offensively and shot 15% from beyond the arc.
“I thought some of our threes were too deep,” Riley said. “We got caught up behind the line and shot it too deep. I don’t think we made enough shots. A lot of times we shot threes when we could’ve driven it in the lane and could’ve had more of an inside-out deal.”
While Webb finished with 31 points on the night and Griffith chipped in 22 points, Gray was limited to just five points and fouled out. Knowing how strong the Aces are when the supporting cast is involved in the offense, Owensboro made sure to limit the amount of space Gray had, with or without the ball.
“Those other kids can play as well,” Drake said. “We just can’t ignore them because when those other kids get hot, that’s when they’re dangerous. So we keep him (Gray) on our radar.”
The Red Devils improved to 18-6 overall with the win, while finishing 9th district play 6-0 to earn the No. 1 seed. Owensboro has a few days off before they close the season with two straight road games, as the first will be against Ohio County at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Owensboro Catholic falls to 14-11 overall and closes out the regular season at 3-3 in district play. In order for the Aces to close out the season strong and compete in the postseason, Riley said the team has to step up mentally and physically on the defensive end.
“We just gotta toughen up man,” Riley said. “When we ask them to do something defensively they gotta do it. Ultimately, it’s a team game… We just didn’t stay in front of them. Whether we wouldn’t or couldn’t, we just did not stay in front of them.”
Owensboro Catholic will get its first chance to do so on Tuesday, as they are set to host Breckinridge County at 7 p.m. in its second to last game of the regular season.
