Bowling Green boys’ basketball team entered Tuesday’s 4th Region Tournament championship with the same goal it has each year – to capture the title. Even though it had won the previous three championships, BG would be matched up with a talented Russellville squad that had hopes of upsetting Kentucky’s top-rated team.
Although the Panthers showed life all throughout the opening quarter, the Purples would be too much for Russellville to handle, as Bowling Green outscored RHS 24-8 in the second period alone to take control and cruise to a dominating 81-62 victory at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Zion Harmon scored a game-high 25 points, as he knocked down six three-pointers, while Terry Taylor dropped 22 points and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass. Kyran Jones finished with 12 points and eight boards.
In its loss, Russellville was carried by Micah Naylor’s 17 points and four rebounds and Pedro Bradshaw’s 15 points and 7 boards.
Bowling Green now advances to the 2017 Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys Sweet Sixteen Tournament at Rupp Arena, where it’ll play 1st Region Tournament champion Graves County on Wednesday, March 15 at 11 a.m. CST.
The two sides came out and exchanged baskets all throughout the opening quarter. At the 4:40 mark of the period, Bowling Green led 7-2 after a Harmon three, but Russellville responded and cut the Purples’ advantage to 18-14 after one.
In the ensuing quarter, BG turned things up a notch and went all out, outscoring the Panthers 24-8 throughout the course of the eight-minute segment. As the scoreboard read 32-20 in the Purples’ favor with 2:57 left in the half, Russellville would add just two points to its side on a pair of Jacob Naylor free-throws, while Bowling Green increased its lead to 20 and was up 42-22 at halftime.
At the break, Harmon led the way with 18 points for BG and Taylor had 14 points and 10 rebounds, as the Purples went 17-of-33 (51.5 percent) from the field. The Panthers, at the time, were carried by Bradshaw’s 8 points, as they shot 8-of-23 (34.8 percent).
Bowling Green made it 50-27 at the 5:23 mark of the third after a Jones layup before Russellville scored six-straight off of Micah Naylor’s back-to-back deep balls. The Panthers may have outscored BG 14-12 throughout the remainder of the period, but the Purples were still in control, up 62-41 entering the final quarter.
Although it outscored Bowling Green 21-19 in the fourth, Russellville didn’t have enough in the tank to come all the way back, as the Purples captured their fourth-straight 4th Region crown.
4th Region All-Tournament Team:
- Pedro Bradshaw – Russellville
- Jared Coomer – Barren County
- John Davis – Clinton County
- Billy Michael Dyer – Monroe County
- Alex Fee – Greenwood
- Jackson Harlan – Clinton County
- Zion Harmon – Bowling Green
- Kyran Jones – Bowling Green
- Tavin Lovan – Franklin-Simpson
- Jaylen McMurry – Russellville
- Micah Naylor – Russellville
- Trey Radcliffe – Franklin-Simpson
- Jamison Summers – Clinton County
- Terry Taylor – Bowling Green
- Deangelo Wilson – Bowling Green
–Follow Sporting Times High School Insider Tyler Mansfield on Twitter @TylerOnSports—
