With his starting lineup showing consistency, Ballard High School boys basketball coach Chris Renner is searching for depth as the regular season enters its second half.
Renner liked what he saw from several reserves Friday night.
Sophomores Delonta Wimberly and Dorian Tisby combined for 17 points and the Bruins shot a blistering 68.8 percent in the second half on their way to a 68-58 victory over Fern Creek in a quarterfinal of the Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament at Valley.
Wimberly (nine points, two rebounds) and Tisby (eight points, three rebounds) are among several members of a deep and talented sophomore class at Ballard.
“You’re not going to win a tournament of this magnitude or a regional championship if your bench doesn’t give you contributions,” Renner said. “Dorian and Delonta gave us points, but we got other contributions from … (sophomore) Ryan Maina and (junior) Antoine Darby and (sophomore) Kereion Douglas.
“They’re starting to pick it up. As they do, they’re going to be more productive in those minutes.”
Ballard (11-6) also got solid contributions from senior Brian Alvey (19 points) and junior Jamil Wilson (16 points, four rebounds) to advance to Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. semifinal against the Bullitt East-St. Xavier winner. (Wilson, Ballard’s leading scorer, did not start Friday for undisclosed reasons.)
Tony Washington scored 12 points and Ahmad Price 11 to lead Fern Creek (10-7), No. 10 in the state in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings.
The Tigers shot just 29.2 percent (7 of 24) in the first half and trailed 34-24 at the break.
“I don’t think we played at our tempo to start the game,” Fern Creek coach James Schooler said. “We played at Ballard’s tempo.”
Alvey’s basket capped a 10-2 run that gave Ballard a 47-30 lead with 4:28 left in the third quarter before Fern Creek made it a game.
Clint Wickliffe nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to start the Tigers’ rally and DaiQuan Jones made consecutive layups to pull Fern Creek within 53-47 entering the fourth quarter.
But the Bruins dominated from there, opening the period with a 13-3 surge. Jake Ramsey capped it with two free throws for a 66-50 lead with 3:14 left.
“I kind of wish we’d had a couple more minutes in that third quarter,” Schooler said. “But we still should have made a push in the fourth.”
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
FERN CREEK 13 11 23 11 – 58
BALLARD 16 18 19 15 – 68
Fern Creek (10-7) – Stanton 4, Thomas 2, Wales 5, Price 11, Jones 6, Wickliffe 8, Hawkins 2, Washington 12, Rogers 4, Owes 2, Yusuf 2.
Ballard (11-6) – Douglas 6, Patterson 2, Tisby 8, Alvey 19, Wimberly 9, Wilson 16, Maina 1, Ramsey 7.
3-point goals – Wales, Price, Wickliffe 2, Washington 2; Alvey 2, Wilson 2.