Jim Mashek

RAIDERS LOOK FOR BOUNCE-BACK GAME AGAINST AC-S; PURPLES RESUME DISTRICT PLAY AGAINST SOUTH WARREN

Bowling Green High School’s boys basketball team had a couple days to think about the final game of the German American Bank Shootout, at the BGHS Arena, when Woodford County’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer while sending the Purples to a tough 66-63 defeat on Saturday night.

Bowling Green made the short trip to Warren East High School on Tuesday night with one thing in mind:

Moving the ball.

The Purples, with a platoon of quick, talented guards, started fast and didn’t slow down until the third quarter, rolling to an 86-44 victory over the outmanned Raiders in the Warren East gym. Bowling Green earned its 10th victory of the season against three defeats, while Warren East fell to 8-6 with its fifth loss in its last seven games.

“We need to get back to school, back to classes, and a routine,” Warren East coach Kyle Benge said. “We just weren’t ready to go … Bowling Green is a really good team. In the (KHSAA) 4th Region, Bowling Green and Warren Central are on another level. Greenwood’s right there, too.

“This was one of those nights when nothing really clicked.”

Bowling Green scored the game’s first 13 points and stayed on the attack, building a 27-6 lead in the first quarter. Joseph Hurt, the Purples’ versatile 6-foot-4 senior forward, pulled the Raiders’ defense away from the basket, and Bowling Green started raining 3s to its heart’s content.

Bowling Green hit 10 of 20 shots from 3-point range before halftime. And the Raiders fell hopelessly behind, unable to find their mojo while the Purples coasted to victory.

“One of the things we’ve focused on is moving the basketball,” BGHS senior guard Deuce Bailey said when it was over. “When everybody on our team is touching the ball, we’re a pretty hard team to guard.”

Veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill certainly approved of the Purples’ offensive approach.

“When you hit a bunch of 3s, it opens things up for us,” Sherrill said. “We had 10 three-pointers, off eight assists, in the first half, and that’s what we like to see as coaches. We have a lot of capable shooters, and we did a good job, early on, of getting good looks at the basket.”

Hurt, the Purples’ senior transfer from Louisville’s Fairdale High School, led his team with 19 points. But balance carried the day as senior guards Luke Idlett and Deuce Bailey added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Braylon Banks, another BGHS veteran in the backcourt, finished with 11 points, while backup guard Jace Wardlow had nine points, on three deep 3-pointers.

Idlett said the loss to Woodford County was on his mind over the last 48 hours.

“It was a tough loss,” he said. “It was a tie game, and we lost on a buzzer beater, a 3-pointer … I replayed that shot in my head for the next couple days.”

Hurt and the Purples were intent on turning the page.

“We got some good looks, we got some good shots, and we moved the ball really well,” he said.

The elephant in the room, of course, is that Bowling Green has won 57 consecutive games against Warren East. The Raiders’ last victory over the Purples came in 1998, a decade or so before all the players on the court Tuesday night were even born.

Warren East coach Kyle Benge said the Raiders have struggled with their defense since their opening game in KHSAA 15th District play, a 75-71 overtime loss to Glasgow on December 19. They won one of three games in a holiday tournament in Cookeville, Tennessee, before dropping a district game to Barren County, 57-55, and winning the KHSAA Class 2A sectional against Hart County, 71-64, on Saturday at Allen County-Scottsville High School.

“We’ve got to get back to playing our style of basketball,” he said.

Junior point guard Kaleb Prince led the Raiders with nine points, while Warren East teammates Jordan Hogue, Brenden Bratcher and Wyatt Gravil all finished with eight points. Rebounding figures to be a point of emphasis for Warren East this week, as Bowling Green finished with a 36-16 bulge on the boards.

Benge and Bowling Green’s D.G. Sherrill said the winter weather forecast could push Friday’s district games to Thursday night, with the Purples playing host to South Warren (10-3 overall, 0-1 in the 14th District) and the Raiders waiting for AC-S (6-8 overall, 0-2 in the 15th District).