Glasgow's Kobe Brents (center) grabs a rebound ahead of Warren Central's Tayshaun Bibb Thursday, March 1, 2018, during Warren Central's 68-63 win in the Region 4 boys' basketball tournament at E.A. Diddle Arena. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

The Warren Central boys’ basketball team was able to close the deal in Thursday’s opening round of the Region 4 Tournament, holding on to beat Glasgow 68-63 at E.A. Diddle Arena.

After letting a 15-point second-half lead slip away in the District 14 championship, the Dragons survived a late push from Glasgow to advance to Monday’s regional semifinals.

The Dragons beat Glasgow 72-49 on Dec. 11, but Warren Central needed a barrage from 3-point range to hold off a late charge from the Scotties – going 13-for-23 from 3.

“It was a good win,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “I told the kids it wasn’t going to be like the first time we played them. They were playing well – two big wins in their district. We just (want to) survive and advance right now. We didn’t play bad. We shot it well. We didn’t guard in a couple of stretches, but overall I was proud of my kids.”

Warren Central (27-5) hit seven 3s in the first quarter, building a 27-20 advantage.

Micale Mee opened the second quarter with a 3 to make the score 30-20, before Glasgow (22-9) used a 10-2 run to trim the deficit to two points.

Warren Central extended the margin back to eight after 3s from Jamale Barber and Skyelar Potter, but the Scotties scored the final four points to make the score 38-34 at halftime.

The Scotties scored the first five points in the third to jump in front 39-38 after a layup from Dalvin Smith before the Dragons scored six straight to move back ahead by five.

Jaden Franklin’s three-point play made the score 44-42 and sent Jordan Cousin to the bench with his fourth foul with 2:22 left in the third period.

Barber’s 3 and a putback by Kesmil Esmic made the score 49-42, with Smith leaving the game with a foot injury after Esmic’s bucket.

“I went up for a rebound and came down and landed on my foot,” Smith said. “I felt it. I already knew what it was after I felt it.”

The Dragons extended the lead to 54-42 after five straight from Potter in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. The lead grew to 59-46 after a 3 from Esmic before Glasgow made one final push, getting as close as 62-59 after a layup by Nik Sorrell with 1:51 left.

Warren Central then put it away, hitting six free throws in the final two minutes to survive and advance.

“When it got real tight I told (my teammates), ‘Calm down. We’ve got the lead. We are playing like we are down,’ ” Potter said. “We just had to move the ball and take good shots.”

Potter led the Dragons with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Barber added 16 points, while Tayshaun Bibb added 11 points.

“They hung in there,” Unseld said. “We made a couple mistakes … but overall I was proud of how they finished the game and closed it out.”

Nik Sorrell and Kolbe Brents had 15 points each to lead the Scotties. Franklin added 14 points and Mills finished with 13 points.

“I thought we gave it all we had,” Glasgow coach James Willett said. “We gave it a good run. That’s a pretty good team we played and they shot the ball extremely well to start the game.

“We got behind in the fourth quarter and still fought back after losing Dalvin. This team showed a lot of character. I’m so proud of them the last couple of weeks this season to watch them grow.”

Despite the loss, Willett said his team has a lot to be proud of after improving its win total by 18 games and winning the District 15 tournament.

“I doubt there are too many teams in the state of Kentucky that can look at the win differential from last season to this season the way we can,” Willett said. “A lot of people will say this and that about the draw, but you are going to have to play a team like that at some point and time. Warren Central has been the consensus No. 1 team in the region all season, with a hiccup against Bowling Green in the District 14 tournament.

“I felt like this was probably one of the great possible matchups in the first round and it lived up to it. We would have loved to have survived and advanced, it’s just that they are a really good team.”

Warren Central will play Russell County at 8 p.m. Monday.

WCHS 27 11 11 19 – 68

GHS 20 14 8 21 – 63

WC – Potter 18, Barber 16, Bibb 11, Cousin 9, Esmic 5, Muleka 5, Mee 4.

GHS – Sorrell 15, Brents 15, Franklin 14, Mills 13, Smith 4, Bradley 2.{&end}