Bowling Green’s quest for a fifth-straight 4th Region Tournament championship began on Tuesday evening at Western Kentucky University’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Purples, matched up with a Barren County club in which it defeated 70-44 in the teams’ regular-season meeting, hadn’t suffered a loss in the tournament’s quarterfinal round since March 10, 2004 – a 56-51 season-ending loss by Monroe County.
Thanks to a stellar performance from Zion Harmon, who scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting (3-of-4 3PT FGs), BG (30-2) had no trouble with the 15th District regular-season champion and tournament runner-up, as it won 62-45 to record its 23rd-straight victory.
“(I am) just really proud of our guys and how they kept fighting,” Head Coach D.G. Sherrill said following the Purples’ win. “I thought that we stayed with our gameplan defensively and they (Barren) let us mix some things up. The most important thing is that final score.”
Along with Harmon’s big outing, Terry Taylor dropped 15 points and pulled down 8 rebounds while Kyran Jones finished with a showing of 14 and 8.
In its loss, Barren County (17-16) was carried by Jared Coomer’s 20-point, 5-rebound production.
The Purples return to action on Monday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals, where it’ll face Franklin-Simpson, who knocked off Russell County in the second quarterfinal contest.
Both sides came out of the gates ready to play.
At the 4:52 mark of the opening quarter, Barren County held a 6-4 lead over Bowling Green after back-to-back three-pointers from Parker Stephens and Coomer. The Purples responded with a 7-0 run to lead 11-6 with 3:15 remaining in the first.
The Purples went on to outscore the Trojans 10-4 throughout the remainder of the period and led 21-10 after one.
Bowling Green and Barren County battled back-and-forth in the ensuing quarter, as the two teams scored 19 points each. BG led 31-16 at the 4:37 mark after back-to-back jumpers from Harmon, but the Trojans battled back and cut their deficit to eight at 35-27 after a Jared Coomer basket with 2:06 left in the first half.
Harmon nailed a three and Deangelo Wilson hit a layup to cap BG’s scoring in the opening two quarters, as Coomer hit a pull-up jumper just before the buzzer to make it 40-29 at the break.
“I thought we really fought and battled,” Barren County Head Coach Warren Cunningham stated. “I was very proud of all of our guys for the way we battled and fought.”
At halftime, Harmon led all scorers with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a 3-of-3 showing from deep, while Jones had 10 points and four boards. Stephens led Barren with 10 points after making 4 out of his 5 shot attempts.
Taylor scored just 16 seconds into the second half and Wilson followed the bucket with one of his own to increase the Purples’ advantage to 44-29 at the 7:19 mark of the third. The Trojans battled back yet again and outscored Bowling Green 13-8 throughout the remainder of the quarter to just trail by 10 at 52-42 entering the final period.
In the fourth, both BG and Barren County struggled to get anything going offensively, as the Purples added just 10 more points to their side of the scoreboard while the Trojans tallied just three more – a Branson London free-throw and Coomer jumper.
Taylor scored inside with 1:50 left to tick to put Bowling Green up 62-45 – and the scoreboard remained the same throughout that mark – as the Purples survived and advanced.
Franklin-Simpson uses defense to down Russell County
Tavin Lovan scored a game-high 20 points, pulled down 5 rebounds and dished out three assists while Trey Radcliffe
scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds to lead Franklin-Simpson past Russell County, 56-33, on Tuesday in the 4th Region Tournament quarterfinals.
The Wildcats (26-6) played tenacious defense all throughout the night and held off numerous Laker runs to record a season-extending victory.
“It’s our defense that got us going,” Franklin-Simpson Head Coach Dee Spencer said. “It got us some easy baskets and once we get into transition we’re really tough to handle.”
With the win, Franklin meets Bowling Green on Monday at 6 p.m. in the semifinal round.
In its loss, Russell County was led by Brayton Scales’ 9 points and three boards.
The Wildcats’ defense allowed Russell to score just three points in the first quarter and 10 throughout the ensuing three periods. Franklin, on the other hand, scored just nine points in the second but used a big third quarter to seal the deal.
In the third, Franklin-Simpson outscored the Lakers 23-10 as Lovan scored 12 in the 8-minute span to put it up 44-23 entering the fourth. The Wildcats ended the period on a 17-2 run to take control and never look back.
“It was just staying within the game,” Lovan added. “I got those two early fouls and let it get to my head. I turned it up in the second half for my team and we came out with the “W.”
–Follow Sporting Times High School Insider Tyler Mansfield on Twitter @RealTMansfield—
