Coming into the game, I suspected this would be the first of four meetings between the two teams, and now I feel fairly certain that is going to be the case unless a major, major upset occurs.

The Purples came out firing, streaking out to a 10-1 lead as their full court pressure really caused the Dragons problems (all game really, but especially early), and they capitalized with a pair of threes off of turnovers.  The Dragons battled back to within 10-6 before the Purples pushed the lead out to ten.  But by the end of the first the Dragons had drawn within 20-17, and we appeared on our way to a high scoring affair.  Unfortunately, after that point, it became a very ugly, defensive slugfest, with little in the way of shotmaking.  The type of game that you'd expect between two teams that had not played in 10 days.  The second quarter is where a very unfriendly whistle for the Purples began to take hold, as several players for the Purples became saddled with two fouls, including stars Ritter and MJ Wardlow, both of whom spent the majority of the quarter on the bench.  That resulted in Bowling Green only managing five points in the quarter.  Central didn't do much more, putting up only nine, but that was enough for them to grab the 26-25 advantage at the half.  Early in the third Wardlow picked up his third foul, and then Ritter followed shortly after, again, landing them on the bench for the majority of the quarter.  If the game was to be won for Central, that's probably when they had their best opportunity, but they never led by more than five in the frame.  It was 42-39 late when the Purples picked up an offensive rebound off of a blocked attempt and they found Banks for a three that tied it at 42 at the buzzer.  Banks was the standout player for the Purples tonight.  I don't have an exact count for him, but I know he had more than 20 points, possibly had at least half of their points.  The fourth quarter was another slog, with Warren Central pulling ahead 44-42, then 45-44, before Bowling Green went ahead 46-45, followed by a Starks free throw to get it to 46 all.  From there, the Purples got a basket to go up 48-46 and once they gained possession with around 1:20 left, we were in a spot that they are very comfortable.  They managed to bleed a minute off the clock as the Dragons were forced to foul four times to get Bowling Green to the line.  The Purples closed it out from there, hitting a pair of free throws and then getting a basket by Jace Wardlow to reach their final score of 52 with just under 10 seconds left. 

IMO both teams have reason to feel confident.  From the Bowling Green side, they just had a game where Ritter and Wardlow were frequently forced to the bench.  To use Ritter as an example, when he left the game with his second foul a few minutes into the second, he had not left the floor at all.  They likely will not have him leave the floor much against the Dragons under normal circumstances.  It's clear those two out of the game will not be the norm.  They didn't score much at all, nor did Deuce Bailey.  The team didn't shoot the ball particularly well.  What they did do well was grab offensive boards and most definitely they forced the Dragons into turnovers with their fullcourt pressure, which I expect to be a major key in all of their meetings.  Foul trouble, an overall unfriendly whistle, and not much production and poor shooting from their best players? You'd have to think that's a cocktail Bowling Green won't see often.  And they still won.  From the Warren Central side, they are still able to play Kade Unseld for around half the game due to minutes restrictions, and it was clear he could not find a rhythm offensively as a result, coming in and out of the game frequently.  This was the first game back for Elijah Howard, one of their defensive specialists.  Elijah Starks is still ramping up.  The team needs time and games to find their rhythm, and still a month and a half to ramp up production.  And despite those limitations, they found a way to put themselves into position to win against one of the top teams in the state.  And it's not as if they shot particularly well either. Both of these teams have a lot of room to improve on what they showed int his game, and I guarantee each team is going to feel theirs is the one with more room to improve. 

But one way or the other, what I do think this proves is that there are scenarios where Warren Central can win this region.  I still feel it is clear that it is Bowling Green's to lose, but the gap is not so wide that they cannot fall to Warren Central.  The next month and a half will be the two just feeling each other out.  The matchup that I anticipate they'll have on March 12th, that's the only one that's going to matter.

It is also clear Kade Unseld isn’t 50 pct healthy. 

It was ironic that the absent whistle on the hacking of Ritter in the 2nd half ultimately doomed the Dragons as they looked up with 1:20 to go and had only one foul on the board, thus allowing BG and all their guards to run around and bleed the clock all the way down while Central had to get four more fouls. 

I anticipated this type contest.  A tough, hard-nosed, emotionally charged battle.  And the other 3 games will be the same way.  As @DragonFire said they are likely to be different with the variabilities he pointed out effecting those outcomes.  I expect Warren Central to improve, probably significantly, as Unseld's health improves.  But I also expect BG to improve from this performance.  They basically played as if Wardlow and Ritter had the same health restrictions as Unseld did except was fouls instead of health.  So, I don't look for that to stay the same.  Also, Deuce Bailey didn't have his best game.  He is a big game player and will be better in the future games.

But this season is roughly the inverse for me with these 2 teams where Warren Central was clearly the stronger team last season, but you knew BG was capable in a one game scenario to get a win.  Same is true this year in reverse.

Some key stats in this game:

For BG:  Braylen Banks (a SUPER game) 19 points; Ridder had 12 but went over 1,000 points for his Purples career.  Also, this was DG Sherrill's 400th win.

For WC:  Unseld had 14, Starks had a double-double going for 12 and 13 rebounds and Devin Bratton had 12.

I may try to make it down for the game at BG on the 9th.  Going to be a good one!

Seemed like a game where just about everything went against BG and they still found a way to win.  Winning at Central is hard to do as it is, when the whistle goes the way it did, it makes it almost impossible to pull out a win. I'm shocked DG didn't pick up a technical because I sure would have.  Agree with Purple 88.  While Unseld only played half the game on minutes restriction, Wardlow and Ritter were essentially taken out of the game by the officials. I still think the talent gap is wide enough that the remaining 3 contests will feature at least 2 double digit wins for the Purples, but stranger things have happened.  Also, congratulations to DG Sherrill as he picked up his 400th career win tonight. 

1 hour ago, Purple_Reign said:

Seemed like a game where just about everything went against BG and they still found a way to win.  Winning at Central is hard to do as it is, when the whistle goes the way it did, it makes it almost impossible to pull out a win. I'm shocked DG didn't pick up a technical because I sure would have.  Agree with Purple 88.  While Unseld only played half the game on minutes restriction, Wardlow and Ritter were essentially taken out of the game by the officials. I still think the talent gap is wide enough that the remaining 3 contests will feature at least 2 double digit wins for the Purples, but stranger things have happened.  Also, congratulations to DG Sherrill as he picked up his 400th career win tonight. 

I would be surprised if the game at Bowling Green isn't a double digit win.  It is difficult to win at Bowling Green under any circumstance, and I expect the Purples will want to relieve themselves of some frustration.  Of the remaining two expected after that, I would expect the district final to be a higher potential to be lopsided.  Those have typically not gone Central's way - the last two years excepted - and both teams tend to just let the talent figure it out in a district final, since there are no real advantages to gain.  I would be surprised to see the region final be double digits.  Only one of the three region finals between the teams that the Purples won was decided by double digits.  Only two of the ones Central has won between the two was decided by that amount.  Those games tend to be competitive even if there is a talent gap.

Also, during the game I told a few people that I was surprised DG didn't push it far enough to get a technical.  I thought it was as unfavorable a whistle as I recall the Purples getting.  I was very surprised. Now, were the fouls on Ritter and Wardlow fouls? I don't remember looking at them and thinking that any were particularly egregious.  It's just that they don't all usually get called and it did not feel like things were evening out in how it was called on both sides. 

1 hour ago, Purple88 said:

I anticipated this type contest.  A tough, hard-nosed, emotionally charged battle.  And the other 3 games will be the same way.  As @DragonFire said they are likely to be different with the variabilities he pointed out effecting those outcomes.  I expect Warren Central to improve, probably significantly, as Unseld's health improves.  But I also expect BG to improve from this performance.  They basically played as if Wardlow and Ritter had the same health restrictions as Unseld did except was fouls instead of health.  So, I don't look for that to stay the same.  Also, Deuce Bailey didn't have his best game.  He is a big game player and will be better in the future games.

But this season is roughly the inverse for me with these 2 teams where Warren Central was clearly the stronger team last season, but you knew BG was capable in a one game scenario to get a win.  Same is true this year in reverse.

Some key stats in this game:

For BG:  Braylen Banks (a SUPER game) 19 points; Ridder had 12 but went over 1,000 points for his Purples career.  Also, this was DG Sherrill's 400th win.

For WC:  Unseld had 14, Starks had a double-double going for 12 and 13 rebounds and Devin Bratton had 12.

I may try to make it down for the game at BG on the 9th.  Going to be a good one!

Man, I really thought Banks had to have had at least 20.  Still, he was the one who really pulled them through offensively.  Very impressive game.

2 hours ago, VF111 said:

It was ironic that the absent whistle on the hacking of Ritter in the 2nd half ultimately doomed the Dragons as they looked up with 1:20 to go and had only one foul on the board, thus allowing BG and all their guards to run around and bleed the clock all the way down while Central had to get four more fouls. 

It would have just been in the fourth quarter for those fouls with the new rules - I don't remember the final quarter being as iffy in the calls or no-calls.  I think the issue for Central was that they still played a bit of that final stretch in a defensive set that was to prevent good shots, and not aggressively going for the ball.  When Bowling Green got the lead and the ball, I knew the air was coming out of it.  The Purples have always done a fantastic job of protecting leads with the ball when it is time to go to the line. Central should have been very aggressively going for steals from the jump at that point, using the lack of fouls to their advantage.  If you create contact and get the steal and they don't blow the whistle, great.  If you do the same and they do, well, you needed to commit fouls anyway.  Bowling Green not going to the line until 20 seconds were left was pretty much worst case scenario.  There's no 1-and-1 to make that work anymore.

Great recap as always @DragonFire.  Very interested to see the next 3 (likely) iterations of this matchup as the season goes on with WC getting healthy and getting newly eligible transfers to gel. 

In talking about Sherrill's 400th win, it's really staggering how good he has been at Bowling Green.

-Winningest head coach in the school's history
-.777 win percentage is also best in the school's history - his two separate tenures have a better win percentage than any other coach had
-Most region titles in the school's history (7 - Doug Smith is second with 3)
-Only three times in his tenure have the Purples not made at least the region title game, and two of those were his first two years at the school when they were rebuilding
-Not coincidentally, those three years are the only times his teams haven't hit 20 wins, and the current edition is soon to join the others (probably in winning 20 and making the region final+)
-The only 30 win seasons for the program have come under Sherrill - three times in his tenure
-And of course, also led them for the only state title for the team

An incredible run, and who knows how much higher the ceiling goes? I don't see any signs of slowing.

20 hours ago, DragonFire said:

I would be surprised if the game at Bowling Green isn't a double digit win.  It is difficult to win at Bowling Green under any circumstance, and I expect the Purples will want to relieve themselves of some frustration.  Of the remaining two expected after that, I would expect the district final to be a higher potential to be lopsided.  Those have typically not gone Central's way - the last two years excepted - and both teams tend to just let the talent figure it out in a district final, since there are no real advantages to gain.  I would be surprised to see the region final be double digits.  Only one of the three region finals between the teams that the Purples won was decided by double digits.  Only two of the ones Central has won between the two was decided by that amount.  Those games tend to be competitive even if there is a talent gap.

Also, during the game I told a few people that I was surprised DG didn't push it far enough to get a technical.  I thought it was as unfavorable a whistle as I recall the Purples getting.  I was very surprised. Now, were the fouls on Ritter and Wardlow fouls? I don't remember looking at them and thinking that any were particularly egregious.  It's just that they don't all usually get called and it did not feel like things were evening out in how it was called on both sides. 

DG could get T'd up every game. It’s constant with him (and I’m not a DG badger). He just walks the sidelines wearing the officials out.