After an injury-plagued junior season, Deondrai Williams is healthy again and giving the Male High School boys basketball team one of the deepest backcourts in Louisville.
Williams posted 10 points and four assists – including eight points during a decisive third-quarter run – as the Bulldogs beat Doss 63-48 on Friday in a quarterfinal of the Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament at Valley.
Williams played just five games last season because of a knee injury but has joined fellow seniors Corey Bowman and Cornelius “Punchy” Watts in solidifying the Bulldogs’ backcourt.
PHOTO GALLERY | Male vs. Doss in LIT
“I was happy for him because sometimes his confidence kind of waivers,” Male coach Willie Feldhaus said. “We’ve never not had confidence in him. He likes to play off the dribble and did some really good things for us. He also did a good job on the defensive end.”
Bellarmine University signee Alex Cook had 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocks as Male (14-2) – No. 11 in the state in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings – advanced to face Trinity in Saturday’s 10 a.m. semifinal.
Kenyi Bryant posted 17 points and 11 rebounds and Kel’Shawn Knight-Goff added 14 points and three blocks for Doss (13-4), which shot just 28.6 percent (16 of 56) overall and was 2 of 25 from 3-point range.
But Dragons coach Tony Williams said he was more concerned about his team’s off-the-court issues than its play on the court. Williams benched four regular starters before calling a timeout and inserting them 83 seconds into the first quarter.
Williams, who led the Dragons to the Sixth Region title last season, said his team has mishandled its success.
“We were out of sync the whole game, and that’s how we’ve been as individuals, as people, as student-athletes,” Williams said. “It showed. They deserved that. … With some of the selfishness that’s been going on within our team, they deserve not to win another game and deserve to be embarrassed like tonight.
“I guess I have to take the blame for that for not corralling them in. But we’re mentally weak, and we needed this, to be honest.”
The Dragons led just once Friday, 3-0, but still were in the game midway through the third quarter after a Laron Hargrove basket pulled them within 30-29.
Male answered with an 11-2 run to take control. Deondrai Williams made a jumper at the 3:27 mark for a 34-29 lead and capped the run with a 3-point play that made it 41-31 with 38.7 seconds left.
Williams had opened the second half with a 3-pointer.
“My teammates had faith in me to knock down that shot, and I just used it as momentum,” he said. “I just put in my head, ‘Keep going, and never let up.’”
Knight-Goff sank a pair of free throws to pull the Dragons within 46-41 with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter, but a Corey Bowman layup and two Cook free throws pushed Male’s edge to 50-41 with 4:41 left. Doss never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Williams said the Bulldogs are excited to be in the LIT semifinals for the first time since winning their last title in 2002.
“We had very good teams my sophomore and junior years, but we just couldn’t execute right,” he said. “This year we have faith in each other and our coach has faith in us. We just push hard in practice.”
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
MALE 15 10 16 22 – 63
DOSS 12 11 9 16 – 48
Male (14-2) – Cook 18, Brownley 8, Bowman 7, Watts 9, Williams 10, Kimijwok 4, Coleman 1, McCauley 4, Alexander 2.
Doss (13-4) – Hall 3, Anderson 4, Bryant 17, K. Knight-Goff 14, Franklin 2, Hargrove 8.
3-point goals – Watts, Williams; Anderson, Bryant.