Warren Central's Tayshaun Bibb is called for a foul on Madisonville North Hopkins' JD Gilbert during Warren Central's 66-62 win over Madisonville North Hopkins on Friday, March 8, 2019, at Rupp Arena. (Austin Anthony/photo@bgdailynews.com)

LEXINGTON – The Warren Central Dragons are headed back to the Final Four after a 66-62 win over Madisonville-North Hopkins in the quarterfinals of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet Sixteen on Friday at Rupp Arena.

Warren Central overcame a huge night from Kenny White and an 11-point third-quarter deficit to slip past the Maroons and advance to face Scott County in a rematch of last year’s state semifinals.

“They pulled together and they fought,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “They fought their tails off. I couldn’t be happier for the group. They never gave up. They got down 11 and kept fighting.

“We’ve got a wonderful group of kids. They play their tails off and are respectful. They just competed. We had different kids step up at different moments.”

Senior guard Jamale Barber said it feels good to be back in the semifinals.

“It’s just a blessing,” Barber said. “We’ve got a good coach and a good team. We’ve got players that don’t want to lose. When you have that and the chemistry we have over the year, it is hard to beat us.”

For the first three quarters it looked like White was going to be too much for the Dragons, before Warren Central came storming back to secure the win.

White scored six of the Maroons’ first 12 points, giving MNH a 12-10 advantage midway through the first.

Antonio Barbee scored five straight to push the Dragons in front before White’s 3 started a 10-0 run that gave Madisonville-North Hopkins a 22-15 lead late in the first.

Warren Central regained the edge with a 9-1 spurt, but White struck again midway through the second – scoring a floater while falling down that fueled an 8-0 run to give Madisonville a 33-26 lead.

The Dragons got the next five points to trim the deficit to two, but the Maroons scored the final four points in the half to make the score 37-31.

White finished 8 of 9 from the field in the first half, adding seven rebounds and two assists.

“I told them at halftime we were down six and they shot unbelievable,” Unseld said. “For us to not be down 20 tells me we are going to win this basketball game.”

White continued to assert himself in the second half, with a 3 from the corner stretching the margin to 50-39 late in the third. White picked up his third foul and the Dragons were able to take advantage with a 9-0 run, including a banked-in 3 at the horn by Tre Pillow to make the score 50-48.

Tegra Muleka’s putback in the opening seconds of the fourth tied the score 50-all and the teams exchanged baskets before Dre Boyd’s three-point play gave Warren Central a 55-54 advantage with 5:36 left.

The lead changed hands four times over the next three minutes before Madisonville tied it at 60 with two free throws with 1:34 left.

Boyd gave the Dragons the lead for good with a step back, then drive to the paint basket with 30.5 seconds left and Pillow hit a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 64-60.

The Maroons hit two free throws to get within two, but Pillow hit two free throws to ice it with 7.9 seconds remaining.

“I just did it for my team,” Pillow said of his four late free throws. “I told them that I’ve got them, so I had to knock them down in a big moment.”

Boyd led the Dragons with 15 points, while Kobe Brents added 10 points.

White finished with 27 points, but didn’t score in the final 10:47. K’Suan Casey added 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The Dragons will face Scott County at 8 p.m. CST Saturday. Scott County beat Warren Central 75-46 in last year’s semifinals.

“Just being able to play that one last year – they had a little bit of an experience factor and it got away from us,” Unseld said. “It was a 12-, 13-point lead going into the fourth and they took off a little bit. We just didn’t make shots and they were unbelievable that night. It’s hard to beat a team that good when they shoot it the way they do.”

WCHS 17 14 17 18 – 66

MNHHS 22 15 13 12 – 62

WC – Boyd 15, Brents 10, Muleka 9, Bibb 8, Pillow 7, Horn 6, Barbee 5, Lawrence 4, Floyd 2.

MNH – White 27, Casey 16, Stone 7, Gilbert 6, Cunningham 4, Parker 2.{&end}