LEXINGTON – Warren Central may have been flying under the radar heading into Thursday’s Boys’ Sweet 16 opening-round match with Louisville Male, but the Dragons got everyone’s attention with a hard-fought 57-54 overtime win at Rupp Arena.

Warren Central overcame a slow start and then let a late lead slip away in regulation before Omari Glover gave them the lead for good in the final minute of overtime.

Warren Central (27-3) advances to the quarterfinals after beating the second-ranked Bulldogs. It was the first win for a Region 4 team in the Sweet 16 against a Region 7 team since Metcalfe County beat Louisville Eastern in 1985.

“We knew we had a chance,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “We were very confident in ourselves. We weren’t 26-3 for nothing. I told the kids, ‘Let’s just show everybody that hasn’t seen us how good we are.’

“ … It was a heck’uva game – a heck’uva game.”

The Dragons were able to overcome a hot start by Male (28-5), which hit its first six shots and built a 19-6 advantage less than six minutes in.

The Bulldogs were 2-for-19 from the field the rest of the first half, with Warren Central’s offense taking flight. The Dragons ended the first quarter with five quick points – including a three-point play by Chappelle Whitney to trim the deficit to single digits.

Warren Central continued to chip away, with Jaiden Lawrence’s 3-pointer giving the Dragons their first lead at 20-19. Kade Unseld followed with a bucket in the paint to cap a 16-0 run for Warren Central.

“We were giving them what I call H-O-R-S-E shots – wide-open shots,” William Unseld said. “We just had to get back to guarding a little better. The kids did a great job. We’ve been down 21-5 (in the District 14 tournament). We were down big to a team from Indianapolis and came back, so I wasn’t worried. We just had to settle down a little bit.”

Male stopped the run on a dunk by Dez Lindsey and eventually pulled even before Whitney’s basket in the final minute gave Warren Central a 26-24 halftime lead.

After going back and forth in the early minutes of the second half, Male used a 9-1 spurt to surge in front 40-34.

The Dragons trimmed the deficit to two before scoring six straight to go in front 48-44 with a minute left in regulation. Male closed the gap to 48-47 before Kade Unseld split a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game with 13.9 seconds left.

Male tied the score on a bucket by Demetrius White with six seconds remaining and the Dragons were unable to get off a shot before the horn.

The Bulldogs started the overtime with a three-point play from Louisville commit Kaleb Glenn and led 54-51 after a basket from Dezdrick Lindsay with 2:31 remaining in overtime.

Warren Central’s defense held Male scoreless the rest of the way, with Glover’s bucket pulling the Dragons within a point with 2:13 left and his drive to the basket giving Warren Central the lead for good with 21 seconds left.

“We needed one,” Glover said. “If it wasn’t for my teammates and coach believing in me that I could make that drive it wouldn’t (have been possible).”

Lawrence’s steal gave the ball back to the Dragons, with Kade Unseld hitting a pair of free throws. Male had one final chance, but White’s shot in the lane missed and Glover secured the rebound and the win.

“That wasn’t our best basketball,” Unseld said. “That was a C+ game for us. We didn’t shoot well – now give them credit, they had a lot to do with that. We’ve been very confident the whole time that we were going to have a chance to win at the end.”

Glover led Dragons with 20 points and nine rebounds. Whitney had 14 points, while Lawrence finished with 12 points.

Lindsey led Male with 23 points, while Glenn had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“It was a tough game, a game that could have gone either way,” Male coach Tim Haworth said. “I think we were up one there with about 30 seconds to go. We just took a bad shot. In a close game like that, you try to get a shot that you want. It totally changed the momentum of that, but that wasn’t necessarily the play that cost us the game. It was a war and we came up on the short end.”

Warren Central advances to face the winner of Henry Clay and Murray at 7:30 p.m. CDT Friday.

MHS 19 5 16 9 5 – 54

WCHS 11 15 10 13 8 – 57

MHS – Lindsey 23, Glenn 13, Johnson 10, J. Edelen 6, White 2.

WC – Glover 20, Whitney 14, Lawrence 12, Unseld 7, Walkup 4.{&end}