Henry Clay Blows Out Frederick Douglass in Season-Opener

“It feels good to be back in high school basketball,” said Henry Clay head coach Daniel Brown, who is now in his 20th season with the program.

The Blue Devils controlled their opening matchup against the Frederick Douglass Broncos, taking home the season-opening victory 68-45 to improve to 1-0 on the young season.

First Quarter: Henry Clay 18, Frederick Douglass 10

Frederick Douglass committed foul after foul in the game’s opening five minutes. Kai Simpson went to the bench with three minutes remaining in the first quarter due to foul trouble. The Blue Devils weren’t far behind.

Henry Clay took advantage of their extra possessions and multiple fast-break attempts to take an 18-10 lead over the Broncos to end the quarter.

Each team ended the quarter committing eight fouls a piece—the difference in the game being that the Blue Devils hit their free throws.

HALFTIME: Henry Clay 34, Frederick Douglass 25

Tyson Barrett single-handedly brought Douglass back into the game in the early second quarter. Nailing four-straight free throws before slamming home a monster dunk to cut the lead to just three.

Armelo Boone’s quick trigger from deep cut the Clay lead to just two, but multiple Blue Devil baskets off Douglass turnovers kept the lead in Henry Clay’s favor heading into halftime.

Barrett scored 10 points in the quarter—two dunks and six free throws. 12 first-half turnovers from the Broncos were what separated the Devils, five of which were Boone’s.

“We feed off our pressure—we were hoping to create offense with our pressure and we were able to do it,” Brown said. ”I don’t know if we created very many in the second half because we went zone with the foul situation.”

Henry Clay’s Aziel Blackwell led all scorers at the half with 12 points on 4-9 shooting. Other than forward Brenden Wicker’s seven points, no other Blue Devil scored more than three points all half.

“[Blackwell] showed what a leader supposed to do,” Brown said. ”He kind of held our offense together, and then he did a lot of plays that people don’t see defensively. We see the offensive numbers—he’s such a good defensive player and he’s such a good leader.”

Third quarter: Clay 48, Douglass 39

Henry Clay could do no wrong in the third quarter. Conlin Brown three. Blackwell three. Everything was falling for Henry Clay.

A dunk slammed home by Wicker off a Blackwell assist made the crowd inside the Al Prewitt Gym erupt. A Kanye Henderson basket and foul extended the lead to 13 and the student section exploded.

Douglass cut the lead down to seven but remained behind by nine as the quarter expired.

FINAL: Clay 68, Douglass 45

Brown nailed a three-pointer from well beyond the arc to start the quarter; a layup on the next possession from Henry Lynch pushed the lead to 14. Brown went 3-11 from deep Tuesday night, but those nine points were some of the biggest that the Blue Devils scored all night

Clay’s fourth-quarter lead jumped all the way up to 20 before the final buzzer—Henry Clay would outscore the Broncos 20-6 in the fourth.

Blackwell finished the game with a team-high 17 points and four rebounds. Wicker recorded his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds as well.

Henry Clay will now travel to Western Hills to face the Wolverines on Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.

“We’ll worry about each game you know it’s a long season,” Brown said. ”But these boys they deserve this tonight—they can celebrate.”