Bowling Green has been pretty successful in the postseason for quite some time.
Seeded first in the District 14 Boys’ Basketball Tournament, the Purples began postseason play by rolling past fifth-seeded South Warren, 76-48, on Tuesday night at Greenwood High School to advance to the district championship and earn a trip in the Region 4 Tournament.
The Purples (20-10 overall) dominated from start to finish and controlled every aspect of the game.
“It’s always nice to give yourself a chance (to go to) the Region Tournament. You’ve gotta win that District (Tournament) game, and that’s what we’ve talked about all year,” Bowling Green coach Derrick Clubb said. “Be the best version ourselves in this game, and I thought for most of the game today we looked as good as we have in a while.”
Behind its powerful defense, Bowling Green held South Warren to just one field goal in the first quarter and had already built a 30-3 lead at the conclusion of it. The Purples later led 45-16 at halftime and were able use their comfortable advantage and cruise through the second half.
Bowling Green forced South Warren (15-14) into 24 turnovers and had four different players score in double figures while limiting the Spartans’ lethal scorer, Tyler Martin, to just 16 points on the night.
“That’s kind of what we do,” Clubb said. “We want to share the ball and throw it to the guy that’s open. Sharing the ball, pushing the ball down the floor, playing inside-out – those are things we’re good at. When we do that, we have the chance to score a lot of points.”
Jarius Key led Bowling Green with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Ziyon Kenner and Isaiah Mason each scored 12 points and Trevor Dennis finished with 10 to round out the Purples’ leaders.
With its win, Bowling Green advances to Friday’s championship game, where it’ll face the winner of No. 2 Warren Central and No. 3 Warren East at 6:30 p.m.
Bowling Green took control early and never looked back.
“We wanted to come out from the jump and give them what we had,” Kenner said. “We had a good week of practice and we’re really prepared for this game.”
The Purples led 6-1 at the 5:36 mark of the first quarter before quickly pushing it to 13-1 with 3:17 remaining in it. A three-pointer by Dennis – followed by Mason’s put-back layup – extended their lead to 18-1.
Back-to-back scores by Dennis pushed Bowling Green’s advantage to 23-1 with 1:37 left in the opening period, and it was later up 30-3 after one as South Warren didn’t record its first field goal until the 13-second mark.
“We had the mindset that we really wanted to focus on defense,” Kenner said. “We wanted to play man really good and stay in the lanes and make them do things they didn’t really wanna do. So, we did that, and they really didn’t score that much in the first half.”
Gavin Spurrier scored inside early into the second to give the Spartans their second basket of the night, but Kolbe Gray checked in for the Purples and immediately splashed a three to make it 33-5 at the 6:32 mark.
Bowling Green built a 32-point lead of 39-7 with 3:46 remaining in the opening half after a pair of free throws by Gray. Martin scored on back-to-back possessions to help add points to the Spartans’ side of the scoreboard, but the Purples took a 45-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.
At the break, Dennis was up to nine points, while Kenner, Key and Dice each had eight. Bowling Green forced South Warren into 18 first-half turnovers and outrebounded the Spartans 24-12.
“That means we’re playing team ball,” said Kenner. “We’re moving the ball around and everybody’s driving when they can. We’re just being patient and playing together as a team.”
Already with a comfortable lead, the Purples were able to cruise through the second half.
Bowling Green led 59-25 with 2:08 remaining in the third quarter after Dice split a pair of free throws, and it was later up 60-32 entering the fourth – and it rolled from there.
“You want to win every game this time of the year – and that’s how we’ll approach it,” Clubb said. “It’s nice to know you’ll have another week. Friday’s our next game, so we’re gonna put all of our effort into that.”
–Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TMansfieldST.–
