Bowling Green fought hard, but just couldn’t come out on top.
Playing an athletic and talented Christian County team in their final game of the regular-season, the Purples couldn’t maintain the Colonels in the fourth quarter and suffered a tough 67-55 loss on Thursday evening to enter the District 14 Tournament with a 19-10 overall record.
The Purples (19-10 overall) and Colonels were tied at 15-15 after the first quarter, and Bowling Green led 32-30 at halftime. The two sides were again knotted at 47-47 at the end of three quarters before Bowling Green was outscored 20-8 in the fourth.
“I thought we battled. Nothing just really wasn’t easy for us tonight,” Bowling Green coach Derrick Clubb said. “Every time I’d turn around, they were hitting a challenged 12-footer or a three, and then we’d come down and make a layup. I thought we battled until the last minute or two, and we were exhausted.”
Christian County (19-6) was without star senior forward Detorrion Ware, as he didn’t travel with the team due to sickness. Despite not having his 31.3 points, the Colonels turned to junior forward Eric Brody, and he stepped up and scored a game-high 20 points.
Clubb felt that his club was pumped up and fully prepared for the matchup, but said he thinks that the Purples’ mindset changed once they discovered that Ware wasn’t playing.
“Our kids were so ready to go, and then in a second he’s not playing, and they think it’s gonna be easy,” Clubb said. “16-17 year olds.”
Jarius Key led Bowling Green with 17 points, while Ziyon Kenner added 14.
The two sides exchanged baskets throughout the opening half.
After Bowling Green took an 8-5 lead at the 6:04 mark, Christian County responded and tied it at 11-all with 3:57 remaining in the first. Brody’s basket gave the Colonels a 15-13 advantage, but Key scored inside with under a minute left to even the scoreboard at 15-all after one.
Bowling Green opened the second quarter with much momentum, as it used a 5-0 run to build a 20-15 lead. However, Christian County answered with a 6-0 run to jump in front at 21-20 at the 5:12 mark.
“You can’t really run anything with a team that’s gonna guard you like that,” said Clubb. “We just had to go make basketball plays, and I thought we did that for the most part. I’ll be honest, we just got a little frustrated, but I thought we kept battling.”
Trailing 25-21 after County’s Cory Trice scored, the Purples went on an 8-0 run to lead 29-25 with 2:29 remaining. Bowling Green later held a tight 32-30 advantage at halftime behind 11 first-half points from Key and eight from Kenner.
The game’s rhythm remained the same in the ensuing half.
Bowling Green led 39-37 at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter, and Davion Dice followed up with a basket of his own to make it a four-point game. But, just like the first half, Christian County fired right back and cut the Purples’ lead to 41-40.
Brody’s three-point play with under a minute left in the third put the Colonels up 47-45, but Kenner quickly scored on the other end and Bowling Green and Christian County were knotted at 47-47 entering the fourth.
It was all Christian County in the final quarter.
“We had a stretch in that fourth quarter where we just missed some layups and they’d come down score really easy,” Clubb said.
After the Colonels took a 52-49 lead, Key successfully completed a three-point play to help Bowling Green tie it, but just before County scored on three straight possessions to go back up 56-51 with less than five minutes remaining.
A pair of free throws by Fred Tandy pushed Christian County’s advantage to 58-51 with 4:10 left. Brody followed with a three-pointer to put the Purples in a 61-51 hole with under three minutes remaining.
Another basket by Tandy – this one a powerful score inside – put the Colonels back up 10 at 65-55 and dealt Bowling Green a tough loss.
“I think the most important thing is that the kids continued to play hard for 32 minutes,” said Clubb. “They’re ready to come in tomorrow and get started and they’re excited about the District Tournament. These guys are excited to get that second season going.”
Bowling Green, the top seed, will meet the winner of No. 4 Greenwood vs. No. 5 South Warren on Tuesday in the District 14 semifinals. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Greenwood High School.
Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @_TylerMansfield.
