Round one goes to the Dragons, who get a critical road win at Bowling Green.  As mentioned previously, this is considered to be likely the first of four meetings, and only the fourth will truly matter - plus Bowling Green hosts district as well this year - but it is still a nice barometer win for the Dragons.  Central imposed their will early, trailing only once at 3-2, and held the Purples to only one field goal in the first quarter en route to a 20-9 lead.  Central extended that to 22-9 to open the second quarter, which would prove to be the largest lead of the game.  The Purples battled back behind the three ball, hitting 6/7 from deep in the first half.  Luke Idlett, who leads the state in three point percentage among those who have shot any real amount of threes (67.1% entering the game) was automatic in two attempts in the first half.  Bowling Green got as close as two at 30-28, but Armani Byrd hit a three pointer off an inbounds play with .6 seconds left in the half, and Bowling Green was unable to get closer than three the rest of the way.  Most of the second half saw the lead bounce between 4-8 points, with neither team able to really get huge runs.  A lot of Bowling Green's offense in the final quarter was from free throws, as they renewed a focus on getting inside, and the game was very tightly officiated.  Joseph Hurt for Bowling Green was tasked with guarding in the middle - it saddled him with five fouls in a game he honestly hardly played in.  Ant McAfee fouled out in the final minute for Warren Central, and each team had other players with four (Deuce Bailey had three first half fouls and finished with four for Bowling Green).  Ultimately, Central was able to keep Bowling Green at arm's length, never allowing the Purples to have a possession where they could tie or take the lead in the second half. 

The factors we expected definitely showed in this game.  Central's length clearly bothered the Purples, who saw quite a few shots inside get blocked, and the Dragons won the rebound battle 39-19.  Bowling Green for their part utilized pressure to get some steals and relatively easy baskets, and I expect that when it really counts, they'll lean on that pressure more.  They shot well from outside in the first half, but none of their threes in the second fell.  The Purples are definitely going to have to do better from outside, particularly if Hurt can't get going on offense, because they simply do not have the size inside.  Defensively, they will have to do a much better job helping in post defense, as Jarek Kirk had a great game posting, getting quite a few entry passes over the top to lead to easy buckets.

Looking forward to the next edition in the rivalry!

Both teams struggled with fouls. BG’s 3 brought them back and they did a great job attacking the basket in the third once WC got into foul trouble. WC handled the BG pressure fairly well, which was nice to see. The size difference is alarming. 

Good game overall. 
Thought both teams battled using their strengths and are well coached. 
But I just think Central is a little better overall. Not by a lot but better. But I thought BG was last year and that didn’t matter as Central won the regional game. On to Round 2.