? Final at Bowling Green via "The Riherds Scoreboard." 

BGP's #16 Eagles top the #9 Purples.

Up next ~ 

Evangel (24-4) hosts Seneca on Wednesday. 

Bowling Green (23-6) visits #13 Trinity on Friday.

Details @DragonFire?

Bowling Green led most of the first half including at halftime, but never comfortably. It all went bad in the third quarter as Evangel took the lead for good with seven straight to open the quarter, and Bowling Green began having trouble hitting open shots and turning it over. Bowling Green has good size with Ritter, but in general they are a rather small team, while Evangel has great length. When the shots stopped dropping, there wasn’t much Bowling Green could do to work their way back into the game. Coach Sherrill mentioned in the postgame that the team stopped moving the ball well when the run happened, which only accelerated their problems. They scheduled these tough games specifically to prime for the postseason, so their hope will be better to reveal the flaws now. If they lose in similar fashion to Trinity, I would begin to worry about the games having a bit of a demoralizing effect, but we’ll see. 

In more detail now:

Evangel won the third quarter 21-3, starting the quarter down 3 and ending it up 15 - in a game they won by 14.  The quarter is basically the anatomy of a disaster.  Bowling Green had seven turnovers in the quarter.  Their only other point in the midst of a 16-1 run came when Bailey got sent to the line on their third possession, making 1 of 2.  By that point, Evangel had already taken the lead on a 7-0 run, which as mentioned in the previous post, was a lead they never relinquished.  They turned the ball over or missed their shot on the subsequent eight possessions after that, failing to record an offensive rebound in that time.  They went 1/8 from the field for the quarter, making their only shot (and final one attempted) with 1:24 left in the quarter, a Wardlow jumper.  On the possession they got that, they had their only two offensive rebounds of the quarter.  From the Evangel perspective, they weren't exactly deadeye shooting during the quarter, but they more than made up for it with EIGHT offensive rebounds.  They finished 9/18 for the quarter.  Nine of their points were of the second chance variety, and they had nine points off of turnovers in the quarter. 

As mentioned, it was clear the length bothered Bowling Green.  That showed up on the boards (as Evangel won that quarter 13-3 on rebounds), it showed up in altered shots, it showed up in hands getting into the passing lanes.  Still, it was an uncharacteristic quarter from the Purples, just one of those quicksand experiences that can happen to teams from time to time.  But that quarter was the entire game. 

If Evangel comes out of their Region, they will be dangerous at Rupp.

Evangel has very good team and could win the tough 6 Region tournament.

Sixth region will lose one of its top 4 teams (in my opinion) before the Regional starts.

Western and DeSales face off in the first round of District. 
 

Sad that Kentucky still does the biggest tournament of the year like this .