Ziyon Kenner. Layup. Ball game.
With the game tied 65-65 with just six seconds remaining, the senior guard dribbled left, drove in – and lost possession of the ball – before recovering it and laying it in off the glass to lift Bowling Green to a 67-65 comeback win over archrival Warren Central in the District 14 Tournament championship on Friday evening at Greenwood High School.
“I just knew I had to make a play for my team,” Kenner said. “The ball was going everywhere. It came straight to me and I saw the lane wide open and I just tried to make a play for my team.
“And that’s what I did.”
Kenner’s basket not only sealed the victory for the Purples (21-10 overall) – who won their fifth consecutive District 14 title – but it also gave them their first lead of the entire game. Bowling Green trailed 14-0 early and by as many as 15 points in the third quarter but never quit.
As Warren Central (26-5) led for nearly the whole contest, it was mainly because of the record-setting night senior forward Jordan Cousin had. Cousin was virtually unstoppable, making 19 of his 25 shots – including eight three-pointers – to finish with a school-record 48 points.
He may have lit up the scorebook, but that didn’t mean much to him considering the Dragons suffered a tough loss.
“I had 48 points, but I really don’t care about that,” Cousin said. “I’d rather than 0 points and win than have 48 points and lose.”
Along with Kenner’s game-winning field goal and 13 points, freshman guard Isaiah Mason knocked down five threes and finished with a career-high 22 points for Bowling Green, while Jaylen Wardlow made three triples and scored 15 points.
Thanks to the play of that trio – two of which are bench players in Mason and Wardlow – the Purples were able to find a way to be victorious over a talented Dragons team.
“Hats off to Warren Central – they played a great basketball game,” Bowling Green coach Derrick Clubb said. “Cousin is a really special player, and we knew that. We’re really fortunate to be such a good basketball team. Proud of our kids for just battling.”
It was all Warren Central early, as it started hot and jumped out to a 14-0 lead as Cousin already had 10 points and Bowling Green didn’t score its first points until a basket by Mason at the 4:33 mark of the first quarter.
Thanks to Mason – who scored eight points in the opening period – the Purples continued to fight back. They cut their deficit to 16-9 with 2:32 remaining in the quarter and then only trailed 19-14 at the end of one.
“We got some contributions tonight in the first half,” Clubb said. “Isaiah Mason kept us hanging around. Jaylen Wardlow was great. We do have a lot of depth, and we have a lot of kids that I don’t have a bit of worries sticking ‘em in the game, first quarter or fourth quarter. That’s a nice luxury to have.”
Another score by Mason – followed by a free throw – brought Bowling Green to within 30-26 at the 3:35 mark of the second. But, thanks to Cousin, Warren Central was able to rebuild a double-digit lead.
He knocked down a three-pointer to put the Dragons up 39-29 with 1:26 left in the opening half, and then splashed another just before the buzzer sounded to send Warren Central into the locker room at halftime with a 42-30 advantage.
Cousin was already up to 28 points at the break, while Mason had scored 14 for Bowling Green. Defensively, the Dragons forced the Purples into 14 turnovers in the first half.
Cousin kept shooting it in the ensuing half, helping Warren Central maintain a lead … until the very end.
“We couldn’t make the plays down the stretch when we needed to,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “We’ve gotta learn how to win. It got late and instead of us taking care of the ball and just winning, I think some of them felt like, ‘I still need to go score.’ At that point, we’ve just gotta win the ball game.”
A quick turnaround jumper to open the third quarter gave Cousin 30 points and Warren Central a 44-30 lead. He followed that basket by nailing a right-wing triple to put the Dragons up 47-34 near the six-minute mark of the period.
Another three by him – this one from the left side – pushed Warren Central’s lead to 51-36 at the 4:46 mark.
But right back came Bowling Green.
“I’m just proud of the way the team played,” Wardlow said. “We kept our composure and kept the effort. Whenever the coaches asked us to do something, we did it. In the second half, I just tried to do my part.”
Trailing by double digits, the Purples climbed right back into it with big shot after big shot from Mason and Wardlow, which made it 58-52 with under a minute left in the third. Thanks to Wardlow – who beat the buzzer with another three – sent the two sides into the fourth with Warren Central clinging to a 58-55 lead.
It went down to the wire over the course of the final eight minutes.
After Cousin’s eighth three of the night gave him the school record 48 points and the Dragons a 63-59 lead, Bowling Green answered with a quick bucket to make it a two-point affair with under four minutes remaining.
Wardlow’s layup changed the scoreboard to 65-63 with 2:05 left, and it was later tied at 65-all. That’s when Kenner scored the game-winning basket on a layup with just six seconds left.
“We just had to fight in the second half,” Kenner said. “Coach told us to not get down on ourselves. We just fought in the second half and made big plays – and we came out with the win.”
With the District 14 Tournament in the books, both Bowling Green and Warren Central will learn their first-round opponents for next week’s Region 4 Tournament on Saturday morning. The Purples will play a district runner-up, while the Dragons will play a district champion.
“We’ll have to come in and keep working,” said Clubb. “It’s about staying aggressive and being focused. I really think this will be a pretty special Region Tournament. I hope people come out and watch it.”
Boys’ All-District 14 Team announced
The following players were named Friday to the 2017-18 All-District 14 Team:
Jack Roberts – Greenwood
Luke Litrell – Greenwood
Ben Carroll – Greenwood
Tashawn Neal – Warren East
Brevon Whitney – Warren East
Tyler Martin – South Warren
Austin Howard – South Warren
Daniel Moore – South Warren
Colin Moore – South Warren
Skyelar Potter – Warren Central
Micale Mee – Warren Central
Jordan Cousin – Warren Central
Davion Dice – Bowling Green
Ziyon Kenner – Bowling Green
Jarius Key – Bowling Green
–Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TMansfieldST.–
