Warren Central 75 Bowling Green 67 (OT)

[Purple_Reign]

Dragons knock off the Purples in overtime to clinch the #1 seed in the district tournament. BG had a great look at a buzzer beater to win it at the end of regulation that just rolled off. All Central in the OT period. 

[DragonFire]

  

16 hours ago, DragonFire said:

I would anticipate that tonight’s margin would be somewhere between 8-15 points in favor of Central. Like you, I just don’t see Bowling Green winning that one with Dragons at home. They’ll have the largest crowd they’ll have all season, and and actual real live student section - something that really only happens in this game. That’ll be a tough environment for a BG team that is still quite young, though growing more experienced all the time. I think both teams are likely to shoot better than the first matchup, but unless Bowling Green gets really hot, I just don’t see the upset happening tonight. 

You'll note that I didn't say "in regulation" on the margin, so I'm counting that as accurate!

This was an incredible game tonight, one that will join the pantheon of the rivalry.  As expected, both teams shot the ball much better than they did the first game.  Bowling Green had a lot of the pieces that you'd look for in the anatomy of an upset.  The most notable is that they went 9/15 from three.  That's the most they've made all year, and shooting 60% from the perimeter, that's always a huge plus.  That enabled them to erase a 12 point deficit in the second quarter (when they hit six of their threes), and ultimately they built a nine point lead during the third.  Bowling Green rebounded well for much of the game (in the first half in particular), they defended well, and they looked composed most of the night.  That shot Wardlow had for the win at the end of regulation looked like it was for sure going down.  I thought that whole sequence was great.  Just under four seconds left deep in the backcourt on the sideline, threw it in to the tallest player on the floor (Ritter) at midcourt, call timeout.  Just under three seconds left now.  Inbound to Wardlow who drove the lane and put up a little scoop shot - just left it short as it hit off the front iron.  Looked good as gold, just didn't get it.  The overtime was the first time I thought the youth showed.  After trading baskets, Central went back up two and Banks got an open look but badly missed.  Central came down in transition and got another layup, and then Bowling Green threw it away out of bounds trying to push back up the court.  They never really recovered from that and had a couple of bad misses in overtime.

So what does it all mean? Well for one, it means Bowling Green absolutely can play with Warren Central and can beat them.  I feel the Purples felt they could but now everyone knows it and the Purples KNOW it, even if they didn't get it.  That's a powerful thing for the youth.  Can they shoot that well again in another matchup? Statistically, it was an outlier for the season, but it highlighted one of the things I've said about them before - when Deuce gets hot, that's the x-factor that can put them in the game.  He was lights out in the second and third quarter.  Wardlow is their most consistent player (and he hit a ton of great midrange shots), but Deuce is that guy that they need to get hot and in the flow. For Central, this is a game that serves them better than a blowout every day of the week.  It's a reminder that they are not invincible, not even in their own district let alone region.  These are elements that coach Unseld can build on.  They got Omari Glover's best game of the year, as he dropped in 22 and looked much more like the guy I ranked #1 in the region in my preview.  Whitney dropped in 26, doing well against Bowling Green as he usually has.  They won a game where their opponent shot very well and where Kade Unseld was frankly atrocious shooting and had only 8 points, and Walkup, who has been their energy guy of late, had only two.  They just keep on winning even when everyone is not at their best. 

South Warren is a solid team, and they are a threat to upset Bowling Green.  But as far as I'm concerned, that is the only thing standing in the way of two more matchups between these two teams.  Just a phenomenal game tonight.