With the hopes of advancing to yet another 4th Region Tournament championship, Bowling Green had to first get by Franklin-Simpson – a team that gave it trouble in the team’s second regular-season meeting – in order to achieve its goal.
Thanks to stellar guard play from Zion Harmon (24) and Deangelo Wilson (22), who combined to score 46 points on 16-of-29 shooting, the Purples (31-2) used their stingy defense to prevent the Wildcats from getting anything going on Monday night in the semifinal round at E.A. Diddle Arena, wining 77-59 in front a packed crowd.
BG outrebounded Franklin (26-7) 30-21 on the evening and never allowed its opponent to lead, as the closest it would get a tie that lasted for a brief 1:54 in the opening quarter. The Purples also shot 28 free-throws to the Wildcats’ five.
Along with Harmon and Wilson’s big outings, Terry Taylor scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while Kyran Jones finished with 11 points and five boards, helping Bowling Green secure a spot in Tuesday’s title game against Russellville, which tips at 6 p.m.
In its loss, Franklin-Simpson was carried by Tavin Lovan’s 27 points and 11 rebounds.
The two sides came out of the gates and exchanged baskets all throughout the opening quarter. At the 3:22 mark of the period, Bowling Green led 9-5 after a Jones layup and went on to hold a 13-8 advantage after one.
In the ensuing quarter, the Purples scored six-straight from Wilson, Harmon and Jones and took an eleven-point lead of 19-8 with 6:07 left in the first half. Trailing, Franklin fired back and cut its deficit to eight at 25-18 after a Carlesso Doaks jumper with 2:36 remaining in the second. The Purples outscored the Wildcats 6-2 throughout the remainder of the period and led 31-20 at halftime.
At the break, Harmon and Wilson each had 11 points to lead BG while Lovan had tallied 9 points and four rebounds for Franklin-Simpson. The Purples went 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from the field in the half while the Wildcats shot 8-of-20 (40 percent).
Franklin made it 34-29 at the 6:02 mark of the third before Bowling Green retook an 11-point lead at 45-34 after a Trey Jones basket with 3:14 remaining in the quarter. The Wildcats fought back and made the scoreboard read 53-46 entering the final period, though.
Although it had intentions of continuing to make a comeback, Franklin was kept from doing that, as the Purples played tenacious defense and outscored the Wildcats 24-13 in the fourth quarter alone to advance to their ninth Region title game in the past 10 seasons.
Russellville 73, Clinton County 49 —
Jaylen McMurry scored 20 points and pulled down 7 rebounds while Pedro Bradshaw added 17 points and 12 boards to lead Russellville’s boys’ basketball team to a 73-49 victory over Clinton County on Monday night in the 4th Region Tournament semifinals at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Panthers (22-11) played like they wanted to be in the championship game for the entire length of the contest and used a big second quarter to put the Bulldogs (23-10) out of reach.
Russellville shot 26-of-55 on the evening and outrebounded Clinton 40-34. The Panthers will now meet Bowling Green in the title match on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In their season-ending defeat, the Wildcats were carried by John Davis’ 20 points.
Russellville led 16-11 after the opening quarter and then outscored Clinton County 23-11 in the second period to hold a 39-22 advantage heading into the locker room at halftime.
At the break, Naylor had 14 points and three rebounds to lead the Panthers while Davis led the Bulldogs with 10 points and three boards. Russellville shot 50 percent from the field in the first half while Clinton had a mark of 34.8 percent.
The Panthers kept their same mentality throughout the remainder of the affair and outscored the Bulldogs 34-27 in the third and fourth quarters combined to advance to the Region championship.
–Follow Sporting Times High School Insider Tyler Mansfield on Twitter @RealTMansfield—
