In just their fifth game of the season, the Owensboro Red Devils were pushed to the brink against 4th Region foe Warren Central but OHS used timely rebounds and a big display from a senior leader to grab the win.
Owensboro’s Amari Robinson-Wales finished with a balanced 30 points as he dropped 15 points in each half to help propel the Red Devils to the 66-65 win after the Dragons couldn’t get a shot off after a rebound with seconds left.
Red Devil coach Rod Drake said it’s all about getting in a rhythm, which they were able to do at times Friday night.
“When we played Breck County, I thought we played a good game that night then we got shutdown,” he said. “Finally we get a little rhythm going. It was a total team effort. I thought everybody that played pitched in.”
Both teams had runs early and late but it was Owensboro that outscored the Dragons 23-18 in the final frame, despite a slow start.
Warren Central took a 51-43 lead with 6:41 left, which was their biggest lead of the game.
Minutes later, Owensboro led 56-51 after a 13-0 run propelled them ahead. The Red Devils used big-time rebounding to seal the victory as they missed a free throw with seconds left but the Dragons were unsuccessful with their full-court heave.
Drake said he knew it was going to be a battle as it was their first win over the Dragons since 2014.
“The thing about tonight with these guys, Warren Central, we play them every year like this, every year, usually the second game of the year,” he said. “We’ve had times where we’ve been up on them with 10.0 to go and we step out of bounds or do something crazy. I explained every scenario from the last 10 games we played them and then it came down to the last minute. I told our guys here we go.”
When asked about Robinson-Wales’ night, Drake said he knew it was coming.
“He’s playing with confidence,” he said. “You can ask any of these guys and I’ll tell them, I can tell who’s going to play well by the way you practice. We’ve had the last couple of practices, Amari has played well and he’s finally getting some rhythm … Amari’s finally being a leader and that’s what these kids have been looking for in him. That’s why they responded, they played off of him tonight.”
Chris Glover and Trey Hinton each added 8 points in the win for the Red Devils.
Owensboro plays today on the road at McLean County.
OWENSBORO 66, WARREN CENTRAL 65
WC (4-4) 12 18 19 18 — 65
OHS (3-2) 16 19 10 23 — 66
WC: Walkup 9, Willafuerte 3, Carver 2, Farley 7, Lawrence 18, Glover 11, Whitney 16
OHS: Amari Robinson-Wales 30, Cayman Powell 5, Chris Glover 8, Trey Hinton 8, Talas Taylor 7, Devonte McCampbell 4, Jeremiah Goodwin 4
