For the third year in a row and tenth time since 2003, Bowling Green and Warren Central will meet in the 4th Region finals. It's the second time in the last eleven seasons that they will have met for the title three straight years. The first time it happened, Warren Central was going for a three-peat, but fell by 13 in the finals (in 2012). They enter this year with the same opportunity - seeking a three-peat. Meanwhile, Bowling Green is chasing the 18th region title in program history, looking to pair that with the seven straight region final appearances they have now achieved, matching a region record.

 

Both teams got a strong push in their previous game. Bowling Green trailed for the majority of the first half against Logan County, hitting a 30 foot shot just to get the margin to two at the half. They trailed 40-33 when they made their run at the Cougars, and in the blink of an eye, they reeled off ten straight points and never trailed again. They got some extremely unexpected production out of their lone senior who sees the floor, Dorian Morrison. Morrison dropped 23 points, entering the game with a mere 3.7 PPG average. He hit the 30 foot three to end the first half, his first three point make of the season. It likely wasn't the gameplan, but his strong effort allowed players like Conner Cooper and Jacobi Huddleston, both struggling with offensive production and in Cooper's case, foul trouble, to spend roughly half the game on the bench resting for tonight. The Purples used only an eight man rotation in the game, so they will take what they can get on that. Meanwhile, Warren Central looked like they were going to run away from Clinton County, using a 16-2 run in the first quarter to take a 21-8 lead. Clinton County responded with a 13-2 run of their own, and for the majority of the rest of the game, Central would not be truly comfortable, typically leading between 5-9 points. That forced them to usetheir starters for a lot more minutes than they may have been hoping, though only Tay Smith logged more than three quarters worth of court time. Starting PG Tegra Mulkea was in constant foul trouble, and played only eight minutes in the contest, and Antonio Barbee missed the game altogether. The Dragons proved vulnerable in the way they usually prove vulnerable - the three pointers were not falling. Five days after going 7/8 from three in the first half against Barren County, the Dragons went 5-22 for the game from three - making only one after the first quarter.

 

Tonight's game will likely be won by the team that is better able to maintain energy after playing the previous night, the team that can stay out of foul trouble, and the team that can make shots. When they met in the district finals 11 days ago, that team was Bowling Green. Will they end the three-peat dreams of the Dragons, or will Central manage to hold the rival Purples one more time?

Should be a fantastic game tonight! For both teams sake, I hope the refs that the BG/LC game had.. made their way back to the 3rd Region. That was the poorest officiating I’ve witnessed in a LONG TIME! Terrible this time of the year that refs can be that awful! You mentioned Cooper and Huddleston being in foul trouble.. Mason was as well. Cooper was getting demolished under the basket and they were literally calling charges. I hope they let them play tonight while just keeping it under control. The boys deserve that! Emotions will be intense.. refs should know that. Controlling the game with kids in unnecessary foul trouble isn’t fair for the hard work they put into the game.. IMO.

 

I think WC should have a different mentality going into this game considering they have 11 Seniors to BG’s lone 1! It could come down to some extremely important coaching decisions. Clubb has been up by double digits the last two years and couldn’t hold on to the lead. We’ll see what he chooses to do tonight.

BG wins this one.