Final from BGHS in overtime. 

Dragons were down 10 midway through the 3Q but ended up gaining the leads back. Kaleb Prince fouled out with 3 or so minutes in the 4Q and their slim lead went with it. Rough outing from him on the evening though, only nine points.

Great game by the Purples. High energy from the players on the court as well as the bench, they wanted this one very bad and really needed it in terms of the district standings and avoiding a matchup with this Dragons team in the opening round. 

Let that be a lesson to everyone (self included) - you can't take a rivalry game for granted.  

I wouldn't go as far to say I'm completely stunned but I would confess I didn't see any realistic way this would happen.  And while I think Bowling Green played well, I wouldn't say they were flawless.  Nor do I think Central was completely terrible, though I do feel they did some very odd things.  Bowling Green by and large was able to handle their full court pressure, get good looks, and most importantly, get to the rim.  I felt Central settled for threes, did not take advantage of their greater size and length, and did not get to the line enough.  And that's something that has plagued them this year too.  

The first half of the first quarter, it felt like the game was going to go very much how it was expected.  Central jumped out to an 8-0 lead and had the chance to make it even more.  The Purples were having a bit of trouble with the defensive pressure, though not really the full court press.  It was 11-4 when things started to heat up.  Braylon Anderson hit a three right in front of the Central bench, and it kicked off a 9-2 run as Bowling Green hit threes on three consecutive possessions to tie the game.  They'd hit four total in the quarter, and stayed in touch, down only 19-18 at the end of the quarter.  Everyone knows that the first step to an upset is to stay in striking distance, and Bowling Green did that.  They were in a rhythm shooting, and gaining confidence.  The lead bounced between two and five points, and was at five points at 30-25 when Bowling Green hit a game changing run.  From the 4:07 mark of the second until the 2:43 of the third, Bowling Green went on a 20-3 run, taking the largest lead of the game for either team at 45-33.  The only points Central had in the run were an Ian Daniel three as time expired in the first half.  They went over 5 minutes scoreless to open the third.  Three points over the equivalent of a quarter plus, and the upset watch was fully on.  It was 48-37 Bowling Green with just over 1:30 remaining when Central went on a run of their own, scoring 14 in a row and in full put together a 16-1 run to take a 53-49 lead.  It was 53-52 at the 5:10 mark of the 4th and then things cranked way, way down.  Muhire got a basket to put Bowling Green in front at the 3:11 mark, and hit a free throw to make it 55-53 at the 3:11 mark.  Most of the rest of the quarter was characterized by an Achilles heel of Bowling Green - missed free throws.  I don't have a count, but they missed a lot.  After a pair of Purple misses, Ryan Hulbert put Central back in front with a corner three at the 2:24 mark.  Bowling Green missed a pair of good looks for a go ahead score, Muhire absolutely obliterated a KJ Johnson layup attempt for a block, and a pair of Purple free throws were missed to set up the endgame.  Central worked the clock down to 23.6 seconds left before Bowling Green fouled to send KJ Johnson to the line, where he hit both.  DG Sherrill called his team's final timeout with 14 seconds left in the frontcourt, down 58-55.  A school of thought says to foul in that situation and prevent a game-tying attempt, but Central elected to play it out.  Hudson Aikins received the inbound, giving off to Arlando Davis, then curling back around to receive the pass on the wing as the clock ticked under 8 seconds.  They got a switch to a different defender, and then Aikins let it fly from the wing, nailing the game-tying attempt with two seconds left, and the clock expired to take us to overtime.  Each team split a pair of free throws and Armani Byrd blew an absolute bunny, and the score was 59 all with under 3 minutes remaining.  The score stayed there until Muhire hit a reverse layup with 55 seconds left, what would prove to be the only made shot of the overtime period.  Armani Byrd missed a jumper on the next possession, but Anthony got the rebound and was fouled, going to the line with a chance to tie for Central, with 28.4 remaining.  He missed both of the front iron, and the Purples rebounded.  Anthony Davis knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 63-59 with 22.6 remaining.  Bowling Green picked up full court pressure to use time, and Armani Byrd missed a shot from the corner to effectively end the game.  Two more Bowling Green free throws closed it out.  

Ian Daniel led Central with 10, but did not score in the second half. Prince had nine, and he fouled out in the fourth quarter.  Byrd had just seven, and to be honest, that's one of the things I circle.  Maybe both him and Prince.  Those two are your expected scorers for Central.  Others step up, but those are the two you look to most.  Byrd especially.  You have to get more.  Muhire was huge for Bowling Green.  The lone senior, he had what is almost certainly his best game of his career, dropping 23.  Anthony Davis had 19, and Braylon Anderson had 12.  That's 54 of Bowling Green's 65.  

From a Central perspective, it's irritating.  I don't like losing to anyone, let alone Bowling Green, and frankly, it ought not to have given the talent/experience disparity.  That is, the weight of experience to go with the talent.  This is a game I like to win, and I think that each of the last two times Central has been to Bowling Green (counting last year's finals), they let a game get away that they probably should have had.  I do think they should have fouled up three, given how Bowling Green was shooting free throws.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter to any of their goals, as they still will maintain a massive RPI advantage should any tiebreakers come to bear, and with South Warren losing to Greenwood tonight, they're still in first place by themselves, with every district game left to play coming at home.  There's a strong chance this is who they're seeing in the district tournament, and no more powerful motivator than this loss to be able to say "you can't bring anything less than your best to this game".  But ugh, it sucks lol.

For Bowling Green, it's a huge win.  Huge for momentum, huge for confidence, huge for their young talent to continue building experience and see the ball go through the net, so to speak.  They will go into their games knowing that they can beat the best the region has to offer, best the district has to offer.  And if they play Central again, they'll know they can.  Some of the impact is blunted by Greenwood beating South, as Bowling Green would have realistically only have needed to beat Greenwood to get into the 2/3 game if not for that result.  They are technically still not in control of their destiny, because they may still find themselves in just a tie for a district standing with some team that they did not sweep head to head, which would push it to RPI.  Right now they're fourth in that, though they will pick up some help with this result.  BUT, if they beat both Greenwood and South Warren, they'll be 3-3 in district play, and this result aside, it is still unlikely that either Greenwood or South Warren wins at Warren Central, so 3-3 would probably be good enough to get out of that 1/4 game.  They will have to do it on the road.  Next week against Greenwood remains a big game.  

Congrats to Bowling Green on a game well played, and man, those young players have really grown up fast! 

 

There has been some upsets this week.

Not sure anyone in the state could have predicted this.  Just a bonkers game that is hard to explain, but @DragonFire did so incredibly well as always.  BG was always going to take some lumps this year with how young they are, and this was certainly the year for some teams who have taking some beatings from the Purples over the years to get one over on them (see SW).  Varsity roster consists of 1 senior, 3 juniors, 6 sophomores, and 6 freshmen.  Purples have a chance to get back at their dominate level in the years to come, but there were concerns that taking too many whippings this season could seriously damage morale moving forward.  Still an extremely tall task to win their next 2 on the road and avoid the Dragons in the first round of the district tournament, but a win like this is just massive for confidence.