The margin obviously looks dominant, but the story is even crazier when you dig into the details.  Bowling Green came out and ambushed the Dragons early, in many ways even more dramatically than they did to Greenwood, and virtually the same way Central did to the Purples the first time they played at Central.  After Central took a modest 4-2 lead, Bowling Green absolutely caught fire.  They ran off five straight to take a 7-4 lead, and after a Dragon free throw, ripped off 14 in a row to take a 21-5 lead.  The Purples hit five of seven threes in that opening stretch, hitting threes on four straight possessions to run off 12 points in just 1:20 of game time.  Deuce Bailey had three of them, and I'm bad at judging distance, but the last one seemed like it was a solid six feet behind the three point line.

It would prove to be the last points Bowling Green would score for nearly 8 minutes. 

Central didn't get it all back at once, but they clamped down on defense, the threes stopped falling for the Purples, and you could just feel the game slipping from the Purples.  Jaiden Lawrence got the Dragons going with 8 of the first 9 points in the 3rd quarter for Central, and the score was 21-19 Bowling Green by the end of a 14-0 run.  Turner Buttry stopped the bleeding with a three, but then a 9-0 Dragon run gave Central a lead they would never relinquish.  In all, after trailing by that 21-5 margin early, Central went on a 26-5 run before Wardlow closed the first half scoring with three free throws after drawing a foul on a three pointer with 26 seconds left in the half.  Bowling Green had 12 turnovers in the first half, with seven coming during the second quarter.

As bad as that stretch went for Bowling Green, it got worse.

Central started the second half on an 18-0 run, with a Mason Ritter lay-in the only points Bowling Green would score in the quarter, that coming with around 20 seconds left to end that run.  Prior to that, the Central run had reached a mind-numbing 44-8 mark.  The game was essentially over with a quarter to go.  It was honestly one of the most stunning runs I can recall, because Bowling Green is a very good team and more than that, they were a team that was up 16 points!

The win gave Warren Central their first district title since 2013.  Each of their three region titles since then came in years where they finished as district runners-up.  For Bowling Green, not coincidentally, they'd won every district title since then, so this snapped an eight year run of titles for the Purples.  Warren Central got their 1,000th win in program history with the result, winning their last 500 games in just 663 games. 

The good news for the Purples is this is the battle, not the war.  Neither of these teams has won two straight against the other since 2019, so there's reason to be optimistic they can adjust.  Most critically they won't have to go back to Central again, where they lost two games by a combined 50 points.  DG Sherrill hasn't lost a region tournament game since 2011, winning the last 21 games he was at the helm and they made the tournament.  His team may be green, but he's got the Mr. Basketball favorite and plenty of experience guiding the team in those situations.  Not too shabby in their own right, Will Unseld-led Warren Central teams have won nine in a row at Diddle, and they are easily the hottest team in the region.  They're playing with a lot of confidence, and if they continue to play at the level they've shown lately, it is very hard to see them not cutting down the nets.

WOW! What a game.

That district is loaded!!

10 hours ago, DragonFire said:

The margin obviously looks dominant, but the story is even crazier when you dig into the details.  Bowling Green came out and ambushed the Dragons early, in many ways even more dramatically than they did to Greenwood, and virtually the same way Central did to the Purples the first time they played at Central.  After Central took a modest 4-2 lead, Bowling Green absolutely caught fire.  They ran off five straight to take a 7-4 lead, and after a Dragon free throw, ripped off 14 in a row to take a 21-5 lead.  The Purples hit five of seven threes in that opening stretch, hitting threes on four straight possessions to run off 12 points in just 1:20 of game time.  Deuce Bailey had three of them, and I'm bad at judging distance, but the last one seemed like it was a solid six feet behind the three point line.

It would prove to be the last points Bowling Green would score for nearly 8 minutes. 

Central didn't get it all back at once, but they clamped down on defense, the threes stopped falling for the Purples, and you could just feel the game slipping from the Purples.  Jaiden Lawrence got the Dragons going with 8 of the first 9 points in the 3rd quarter for Central, and the score was 21-19 Bowling Green by the end of a 14-0 run.  Turner Buttry stopped the bleeding with a three, but then a 9-0 Dragon run gave Central a lead they would never relinquish.  In all, after trailing by that 21-5 margin early, Central went on a 26-5 run before Wardlow closed the first half scoring with three free throws after drawing a foul on a three pointer with 26 seconds left in the half.  Bowling Green had 12 turnovers in the first half, with seven coming during the second quarter.

As bad as that stretch went for Bowling Green, it got worse.

Central started the second half on an 18-0 run, with a Mason Ritter lay-in the only points Bowling Green would score in the quarter, that coming with around 20 seconds left to end that run.  Prior to that, the Central run had reached a mind-numbing 44-8 mark.  The game was essentially over with a quarter to go.  It was honestly one of the most stunning runs I can recall, because Bowling Green is a very good team and more than that, they were a team that was up 16 points!

The win gave Warren Central their first district title since 2013.  Each of their three region titles since then came in years where they finished as district runners-up.  For Bowling Green, not coincidentally, they'd won every district title since then, so this snapped an eight year run of titles for the Purples.  Warren Central got their 1,000th win in program history with the result, winning their last 500 games in just 663 games. 

The good news for the Purples is this is the battle, not the war.  Neither of these teams has won two straight against the other since 2019, so there's reason to be optimistic they can adjust.  Most critically they won't have to go back to Central again, where they lost two games by a combined 50 points.  DG Sherrill hasn't lost a region tournament game since 2011, winning the last 21 games he was at the helm and they made the tournament.  His team may be green, but he's got the Mr. Basketball favorite and plenty of experience guiding the team in those situations.  Not too shabby in their own right, Will Unseld-led Warren Central teams have won nine in a row at Diddle, and they are easily the hottest team in the region.  They're playing with a lot of confidence, and if they continue to play at the level they've shown lately, it is very hard to see them not cutting down the nets.

That’s crazy. Down 21-5, then tripled up on them 63-21 the rest of the way. 

Congrats to WC on a big win in likely The toughest district in the state . I became a fan of WC when they won the Mason County tournament in December.  There’s something special about them.

Goodness, I was surprised by the score.  It's even crazier how the game played out.

Teenagers.

BG had the momentum up 16. From what I saw..BG coaches started subbing and lost the chemistry..