LEXINGTON – After comfortably getting past Graves County in the opening round of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet Sixteen on Wednesday, Bowling Green will be presented with a much bigger challenge in Friday’s quarterfinals.
The second-ranked Purples (33-2 overall) will square off with Scott County (31-5) – the top-rated team in Kentucky – at Noon (ET) at Rupp Arena in what will be the two programs’ first-ever meeting. Bowling Green enters the highly anticipated contest riding a 26-game winning streak while the Cardinals have won 19-straight. Both teams have only lost to one in-state team each this season.
BG advanced by knocking off the Eagles, 68-51, in the first game of the 100th annual state tournament. The heavily-favored Purples trailed 17-13 early in the second quarter and led by just two at 31-29 at halftime before turning things on in the second half, as Trey Jones’ free throw at the 4:29 mark of the third quarter extended their run to 11-2 and lead to 42-31.
Terry Taylor scored a game-high 20 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out four assists while Zion Harmon added 17 points on a 5-of-11 shooting mark from the floor.
Scott County blew past Pulaski County, 83-54, to cap Friday’s first four games and earn its spot against Bowling Green. The Cardinals, who led 26-23 at halftime, shot 23-of-35 (65.7 percent) in the second half and outscored the Maroons 57-31 to pull away and never look back. Scott County forced 18 Pulaski turnovers and scored 28 points off those.
In the Cardinals’ victory, Cooper Robb finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals and Michael Moreno added 15 points and 11 boards.
NO. 1 SCOTT COUNTY (31-5) PROJECTED STARTERS:
10 – Cooper Robb
6-2, Jr., 14.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg
2 – Bryce Long
6-1, So., 11.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg
33 – Lorenzo Williams
6-0, So., 5.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg
24 Michael Moreno
6-6, So., 22.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg
44 – Cooper Watts
6-4, Sr., 5.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg
NO. 2 BOWLING GREEN (33-2) PROJECTED STARTERS:
10 – Jay Buser
5-10, Jr., 2.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg
3 – Zion Harmon
5-10, 8th, 16.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg
2 – Deangelo Wilson
5-10, Sr., 11.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg
13 – Kyran Jones
6-6, Sr., 11.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg
21 – Terry Taylor
6-6, Sr., 17.4 ppg, 12.1 rpg
HOW TO FOLLOW:
For complete coverage on Bowling Green’s quarterfinal matchup with Scott County, follow @SportingTimes on Twitter. You can also listen to Friday’s game LIVE – and free of charge – on STBNTV.com with Joe Brunk (pxp) and Billy Rutledge (analysis) on the call.
-Follow Sporting Times High School Insider Tyler Mansfield on Twitter @CallMeMansfield–
