Bowling Green overcomes severe foul trouble and an initial 10-0 deficit to bring home their 19th region title! For Clinton County, losing Mason on fouls late in the 3rd was devastating. He’s one of their best scorers and they are not a deep team. They managed to tie the game at 48 all midway through the fourth, but the Purples were equal to the task. 
 

My key play was with BG leading 50-48 and in possession, Clinton County failed to box out on the weak side on a missed shot, allowing a Purple to run in from the wing to get it. He’s kicked it to Idlett in the corner who buried the three. Clinton County got within two at one other point, but that felt to me like the “you had to have that” moment. 

Without exaggeration, I believe this was the worst blown call (or non-call) that I've ever seen in person.

 

I try not to be hard on officials.  I know we have a shortage of them.  But man, there was a lot in this game that was really rough.  But that one, if I'd been Clinton County's coach, I don't know how I don't get a technical.  I'd have probably blacked out from rage.

Quote

Annually, I get a tweet at me after sending the final score from a gentleman who states simply "Too bad no one other than Warren Central or Bowling Green has a chance to win the region."

 

I have a lot of respect for this Clinton County team.  You could see they were really well prepared, had a good game plan, knew what BG wanted to throw at them, and they came ready to play.

A 10-0 run to start the game from the other Region 4 Purple Team was really impressive.

But the ramshackle refereeing didn't do either team any favors and may have hurt Clinton more as DFire is right, when Mason left the game in the 3rd that really diminished the Clinton County attack as he is a very fine player.  

I'm proud of BG for playing through the fouls and those younger kids getting in these last 2 games will only help them next year.

But to me, this is a generational Clinton County team, and I tip my hat to them on a GREAT Season!  Well done!

For BG, on to try to avenge an early loss to a very good Adair County team!  Going to be a 4th quarter game.

Go Purples!

Not to take anything away from what I said above; was Bowling Green the best team Clinton County played all year?  Honest question.  I do think Clinton County would have been better served to have played a few more difficult games along their schedule in order to prepare them for games like this one.

Did they play well in this game?  Absolutely, but could they have been better prepared by playing a few tougher teams this year?  I honestly think so.  But looking back is alot easier than getting the schedule filled out as well.   Still great season for Clinton.

21 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

Not to take anything away from what I said above; was Bowling Green the best team Clinton County played all year?  Honest question.  I do think Clinton County would have been better served to have played a few more difficult games along their schedule in order to prepare them for games like this one.

Did they play well in this game?  Absolutely, but could they have been better prepared by playing a few tougher teams this year?  I honestly think so.  But looking back is alot easier than getting the schedule filled out as well.   Still great season for Clinton.

Hazard would be the only other one in the conversation. I don’t know anything about Hazard, but I wonder if they play remotely the style Bowling Green does. It’s not even purely about the strength of the teams you play, but the style. I think it was apparent that the pressure was hard for them to handle, and I would assume not seeing a team who could throw that at you makes a difference in prep. 

Clinton’s biggest weakness is a lack of skilled ball handlers.  It definitely showed when BG turned up the pressure.  Refs were terrible but they sucked on both ends at least.  

Hard to tell from that angle but if the player throwing the ball in puts it across the endline then you are allowed to hit the ball! I believe that is what the referee called but I certainly had no view of the play since I was on the other end of the floor. Poor officiating for both teams. Hats off to Clinton County! 

22 minutes ago, Bgfan said:

Hard to tell from that angle but if the player throwing the ball in puts it across the endline then you are allowed to hit the ball! I believe that is what the referee called but I certainly had no view of the play since I was on the other end of the floor. Poor officiating for both teams. Hats off to Clinton County! 

A couple I showed it to thought it would be a technical, but I can admit it if I’m wrong! There were plenty to go around but I thought that was most egregious. 
 

I was afraid the heightened tension would lead to something worse. There were a couple of technicals, but I think both were jawing. It was a phenomenal atmosphere though. 

One thing I forgot to add - I think that may have been the best I’ve ever seen Luke Idlett play. I believe he was their leading scorer, and he had two huge steals in the first half. The first was when Clinton County was up 10-0 and had just rebounded the ball - picked their pocket and laid it in. The second you could see the ending of in my video. Stole it from Young as he was making a move in the post and drove it down for the layup. I think each were key in generating momentum for the Purples. 

You rarely see it happen but I think the rule is that if the defender’s hand goes across the endline and slaps at ball then it is a technical but if the player throwing the ball in crosses the endline then the defender can go for ball.I certainly may be wrong!  With those three guys I am not sure they knew they were even at a basketball game!

Big time redemption for DG Sherrill and this Bowling Green team.  They painfully lost the region final last year when it was pretty obvious they were the better team and lost close games the prior 2 years as well.  Nice to see this senior class stick together and finally get over the hump. 

On 3/19/2025 at 11:02 PM, Bgfan said:

You rarely see it happen but I think the rule is that if the defender’s hand goes across the endline and slaps at ball then it is a technical but if the player throwing the ball in crosses the endline then the defender can go for ball.I certainly may be wrong!  With those three guys I am not sure they knew they were even at a basketball game!

Two of those officials, will be working the state tournament at Rupp Arena this week. 

10 minutes ago, 5thregionbasketball said:

Two of those officials, will be working the state tournament at Rupp Arena this week. 

Maybe they had a rough night, maybe it was the third man in the crew having a tough time, but it just didn't feel like in the first half particularly that they were rolling well.  I can accept that I may have been given too far to hyperbole on the baseline call, but genuinely, even if allowed, I have never ever seen the ball taken directly out of an inbounder's hand.  Likely because the consequences are so high (a technical) if they deem it to have been a violation. 

Them signaling a foul on the wrong player - twice - that was likewise incredible to me.  And I don't mean "Oh, they really should have called it on another player", I mean they literally signaled the wrong number while intending to call it on someone else.  Just something you don't see. 

It was a weird game when it came to officiating, to put it mildly.

On 3/24/2025 at 3:34 PM, DragonFire said:

Maybe they had a rough night, maybe it was the third man in the crew having a tough time, but it just didn't feel like in the first half particularly that they were rolling well.  I can accept that I may have been given too far to hyperbole on the baseline call, but genuinely, even if allowed, I have never ever seen the ball taken directly out of an inbounder's hand.  Likely because the consequences are so high (a technical) if they deem it to have been a violation. 

Them signaling a foul on the wrong player - twice - that was likewise incredible to me.  And I don't mean "Oh, they really should have called it on another player", I mean they literally signaled the wrong number while intending to call it on someone else.  Just something you don't see. 

It was a weird game when it came to officiating, to put it mildly.

I agree, I watched the video and I know all 3 of those officials, and they are good officials, but they had a few head scratching moments during that game.