Brandon Baker hopes it is not another 24 years before East Carter makes another trip to the Sweet Sixteen.

The second trip in school history ended much like the first one did with the Raiders losing to an ultra-quick team. It was Paducah Tilghman in 1986 and Warren Central on Wednesday afternoon in Rupp Arena.

Brandon Baker is a link to both teams, having played point guard in ’86 and being the head coach yesterday. He hopes to be a link to future Sweet Sixteen participants from East Carter as well.

“I’m fortunate to be part of this program,” he said.

Maybe so. But the way I see it, East Carter is fortunate Brandon Baker is part of the program.

During the past eight seasons, the 40-year-old son of a head coach has maturity beyond recognition.

He started out a fiery bench coach who didn’t always get along with referees and didn’t mind getting on his players. He wore his passion on his sleeve, sometimes to his own detriment.

But he’s blossomed over the years, learned through mistakes and become one of the best young coaches in the state. The Brandon Baker of yesterday is not the Brandon Baker of today.

His demeanor on the sidelines is no longer argumentative with officials or players. He will protect his players to the end and if that means getting on an official, then that’s what he’ll do. But he has earned respect on the sidelines, the same kind of respect his father Charles Baker had when he was building East Carter basketball into a consistent winner in the 16th Region before handing over the reins to his son eight years ago.

Brandon Baker had a lot of good teachers on the way up the ladder. Coaches like Wayne Breeden, Mike Flynn and his father to name a few. But every coach has to walk his own walk. Brandon has learned that and earned his own way. He listens to assistant coaches like they’re his last lifeline and he asks his father, a man he also calls his best friend, when he needs sage advice.

Most of all, he has learned how to listen.

Brandon Baker had the Raiders ready for Warren Central on Wednesday afternoon, at least as prepared as he could make them. East Carter might lose eight out of 10 in a series with the Dragons. They were that much better.

But there was not a hint of intimidation. The Raiders fully believed they were going to be playing in Rupp all week.

In the end, quickness was the difference. It was the kind of quickness that the Raiders hadn’t experienced much during the regular season, except for a game against Christian County in the Ashland Invitational Tournament.

As many angles as a coach can play, there’s no way to completely hide having less quickness than an opponent.

That’s what happened to the Raiders on Wednesday.

Warren Central would have been an overwhelming favorite if it played in the 16th Region, too.

“When you just constantly have a guy in your face and you think you get by him and he’s back there again,” Baker said. “They pressure you and keep themselves in the play It’s tough on you.”

It was wearing on the Raiders and eventually humbled them during 22-2 blitz in the third quarter on the way to a 55-36 loss to the Dragons.

But for a half, East Carter was exactly where Baker wanted them to be, nursing a 21-20 lead, handling the pressure relatively well and keeping the game’s tempo at its pace. Rupp was buzzing about a potential upset in the making.

Two missed free throws and a missed layup on a breakaway to begin the third quarter would have given the Raiders a 25-20 advantage. It could have impacted the game but, in all reality, it would have probably only delayed the inevitable.

You simply can’t outcoach quickness. Warren Central had it. A lot of it.

East Carter ran its offense, got the shots it had game-planned for, but they didn’t fall. Open 3-point looks clanged off the rim. They were hurried in a lot of cases, tight in others. Colt Barnhill, the 6-foot-7 center, was only 4-for-14 while being guarded against George Fant, who is also 6-7 with a wingspan of a 7-footer.

Warren Central was rolling and the Raiders were helpless to stop it.

But the loss shouldn’t spoil what was a special season for East Carter, a team that reached the Sweet Sixteen not through fluke but through hard work and dedication.

“It hurts to lose but there’s only 16 teams that get to finish in Rupp Arena,” Baker said. “That’s what we’re going to enjoy. We had a great season. We’ve grown up a lot from December to now. We made strides to come down here.

“It’s the reward of practicing hard. Everybody practices hard, everybody plays hard. (But) there comes a time you get that taste of success, the experience of Rupp Arena and the Sweet Sixteen.”

What the Raiders had was a team willing to work for a coach who had a plan for them. They believed in that plan and went where only one other team in school history had been before. They are now part of East Carter lore, a team that will be talked about years from now, a team that is still the talk of a small community not only because of basketball but because of being the kind of kids you’d want your daughter to date.

“They make coaching very easy,” Baker said. “Problems were nonexistent. It’s a credit to the parenting. They did a great job parenting their sons. I was in a lucky situation to be able to coach them.”

East Carter’s program is in a lucky situation, too. They have one of the best young coaches around as their leader.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@

dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.