Sophomore Marques Warrick Saves the Day for Henry Clay
Tuesday night Madison Central made a short trip from Richmond to Lexington to tangle with Henry Clay. The Indians were riding high after upsetting Louisville Trinity on Friday night while Clay had dropped 7 of their last 12 games but were coming off of a win over Tates Creek on Monday night. In the end, Henry Clay Sophomore Marques Warrick hit a game winning bank shot from 30 feet away to send the Indians back to Richmond with their 6th loss of the season. Here are some quick takeaways from the barn burner of a game.
1. Marques Warrick is the best Sophomore in Lexington. I wish we had seen more of him before our latest rankings update. Ques still has a ways to go in his development. He needs to grow and he needs to start hitting the weight room. Having said that, Warrick reminds me of current Mercer County senior Trevon Faulkner. Both are smooth lefties that are solid athletically and really good shooters with their feet set. We look forward to tracking his development as he matures.
2. Keaston Brown continues to impress. Coach Daniel Brown’s son finished with 21 points including several clutch buckets down the stretch when they were badly needed. The only complaint with his game on Tuesday was that he had an assist to turnover ration of 1 to 2. The stat sheet had him with only 1 assist and 1 rebound. I’d like to see him do more to affect the game.
3. Isaiah Minter was on fire in the first half. The Indian point guard was en fuego in the opening 16 minutes. Minter was 4 for 4 from 3 and none of the 4 even touched the rim. Zeek finished with 17 total points but stumbled down the stretch with some bad turnovers against the HC half court pressure. However, when the game was in the balance, Minter wanted the ball, made a tough drive and eventually scored his own putback that most everyone in the gym though sealed the game for Madison Central.
4. Isaiah Cozart continues to improve on offense. And still has so much room to develop. The 6’7 junior was 7/9 from the field and 4/4 from the free throw line. Cozart did most of his damage around the paint and with lobs over top of the Henry Clay zone. Cozart makes jump shots in warmups but doesn’t take many during games. In order to show he can play at the mid major or higher level, Isaiah needs to be allowed to shoot beyond 6 feet and he needs to make the shots he does take from range.
5. This game had a regional tournament feel to it. Granted there were probably only 100 people in attendance at the game on Tuesday but the game itself was tightly contested and came down to the wire. The quality of play was high and the drama was high down the stretch. It’s entirely possible that this could be a regional matchup as Bryan Station is suddenly reeling and Clay will face Station in the district semifinals. Regardless of how the regional draws shake out, this game got me fired up for some postseason basketball in 4 weeks!