Montavin Quisenberry's big night fuels Boyle County's 67-51 upset of Wayne County
Montavin Quisenberry isn’t quite used to being the underdog. After all, he’s been part of three straight Class 4A state football titles for the Boyle County Rebels. But when he took the hardwood instead of the turf on Friday night, not many expected a championship-level performance.
Until he went out and fueled Boyle County to a much-needed upset win at home.
Behind 20 points (8-16 FG), three rebounds, and three assists from Quisenberry, the Rebels (4-9) shocked the Wayne County Cardinals (11-4) by a final score of 67-51, defending home court against one of the top teams in the 12th Region.
“Top team in the region, we knew that we could play with anybody,” Quisenberry, a junior, said after the win. “We was like just go out there and give it all we got. Set a tone, send a message to the rest of the region.“
Message sent. Wayne County came into the night riding a three-game winning streak. The Cardinals rank at the top of the 12th Region RPI standings. But after the first quarter wrapped up, they had no answer for a hungry Boyle County squad from then on.
The Rebels trailed 17-12 after the opening eight minutes of action before rattling off a 21-8 run throughout the second to take an eight-point lead, 33-25, into the break. Boyle County ramped up the defensive pressure and made life as tough as possible for Wayne County’s ball handlers.
“One, we made some shots. That always helps,” Rebels head coach Dennis Webb said. “That’s what we haven’t been doing lately. We’ve been in a shooting slump like I’ve never seen before. The game’s hard when the ball’s not going in. We did that. And we finally turned up the pressure.”
As a team, Boyle County shot 53.2 percent for the game on an efficient 10-21 mark from beyond the arc. The ball was finally going in the hoop after a serious struggle in that area to start the season. It even looked like Wayne County might be on its way to blowout early on, particularly with talented sophomore forward Kendall Phillips drilling a trio of three-pointers in the first frame.
But again, the Rebels locked in on defense. Wayne County shot 40 percent from the field in the second half and limited Phillips to just five second-half points after he dropped 14 in the first.
“Just keep the energy on them,” Quisenberry added. “Keep pressing them. We saw that they didn’t like the ball pressure we had so we just kept the energy going and pressured them. It led to turnovers and we was scoring baskets off of it.”
Quisenberry wasn’t the only one putting up points for Boyle County either. Junior Demauriah Brown and freshman Guy Turner — two more impressive football players for the Rebels — chipped in 17 points a piece. Brown added five rebounds and three assists to his stat line while Turner added five rebounds and four assists.
For Wayne County, Phillips finished with 19 points and eight rebounds while junior Antajuan Dumphord contributed 10 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Three more Cardinals went for at least six points, but no one else reached double-digits in scoring.
With this win under its belt, Boyle County is hoping to build off the momentum. Following a 1-7 start to the season, the Rebels have now won three of its last five outings. The next opportunity is coming up quickly, too. Boyle County will host No. 23 South Laurel (10-2) on Saturday night with the chance to build a winning streak.
“We’ve known who we were and who we thought we could be,” Coach Webb said. “The kids needed to see it. It was a huge win for us. We needed that one to no end.”
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