Jim Mashek

WARREN CENTRAL, BOWLING GREEN WILL TANGLE FOR DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP ON FRIDAY EVENING

They’ve been the big boys on the block for some time, and that continued to be the case on Tuesday night in the KHSAA’s 14th District Boys Basketball Tournament.

First, the Warren Central High School squad, with three consecutive KHSAA 4th Region championships under its collective belt, withstood a dogged Greenwood bunch in the first half, turning up the defensive pressure to roll to an impressive 69-42 victory over the Gators before a packed house at the BGHS Arena.

Then, with the home squad playing before an even larger crowd, Bowling Green High School used its collection of talented shooters and ballhandlers to eliminate crosstown rival South Warren, 70-54. The game was marred by some fourth-quarter technical fouls and an altercation that brought police and security personnel to the area outside the Spartans’ locker room, immediately after the heated game came to an awkward halt.

The Purples and South Warren players did not exchange handshakes, as per custom, with Spartans coach Carlos Quarles and Bowling Green’s D.G. Sherrill quickly embracing after the horn before guiding their respective teams toward the locker rooms.

“That fourth quarter really wasn’t basketball,” Sherrill said afterward. “It got kind of sloppy. Both teams lost their composure; there’s no blame here … It’s always gonna be the last game for one team or the other. There’s a lot of emotion.”

Bowling Green won for the fifth time in six games while improving to 24-6 overall. The Spartans, in Quarles’ second season on the bench, finished 15-11. The Purples will have the home-court advantage in Friday evening’s championship game against archrival Warren Central, but the long, lean and ultraquick Dragons can come at you in waves, as they did in sweeping two games in regular-season play.

Sherrill acknowledged the Purples are facing a daunting task, but they’ve got a unique skill set of their own — shooting, quickness, ballhandling — to go with plenty of experience. The revamped Dragons, under veteran WCHS coach William Unseld, have become the 4th Region’s dominant team, and both Bowling Green and Warren Central will compete in KHSAA regional play next month at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.

“They’re a formidable opponent,” Sherrill said.

WARREN CENTRAL 69, GREENWOOD 42

Warren Central senior forward Robert “Ant” McAfee has made a significant impact in his only season with the Dragons, and he’s headed for Louisville’s Bellarmine University after graduation. But McAfee picked up two quick fouls in Tuesday evening’s opening game against Greenwood, and the Gators trailed by just three points, 15-12, after the first quarter.

Greenwood came out with plenty of grit and seemed to have a sound game plan against the deep, resourceful Dragons, but McAfee returned in the second quarter, and he joined forces with fellow senior forward Jarek Kirk to handcuff the Gators near the basket.

Once Warren Central coach William Unseld started frequently going to his bench, the Dragons seemed to have fresher legs, and they just wore down another opponent in winning for the fifth time in six games. They came into the 14th District Tournament on a sour note, having dropped a 63-45 decision to North Hardin on Friday night in Radcliffe.

“We’d been talking about that (North Hardin) game since it happened,” McAfee said. “Tonight, we locked up, defensively. We’ve got a lot of guys playing together for the first time, but it’s crazy how well we can play, together, when we’re doing the little things out there.”

The 6-foot-7 Kirk — “he has a 6-foot-11 wingspan,” Unseld says — and McAfee had reverse layups in the second quarter, shortly after McAfee returned to the court, and the Dragons’ athleticism took over from there. Kirk led the way for Warren Central with 18 points, while teammates Dominique Anthony and McAfee added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

“We have to hang our hat on our defense,” Unseld said. “Our length is a huge advantage for us.”

Greenwood coach Will McCoy would be quick to concur.

“We liked our game plan, in place to slow them down,” McCoy said via text message on Wednesday morning. “We got some great looks early, that didn’t fall. Those open looks got taken away late in the second quarter, and early in the third. They really tightened upon defense and their length bothered us.

“I felt like the game was lost on the glass. It was the first time all season we were held to under 20 rebounds. They created so many second opportunities for themselves, and held us to one shot and out.”

On one second-quarter possession, the Dragons grabbed six offensive rebounds before the ball went out of bounds to Greenwood. Dominique Anthony’s put-back pushed the lead to 27-14 just before halftime, a sign of things to come for the Gators.

“Armani Byrd hit a 3 for us early, and that gave us some confidence,” Kirk said. “That kind of set the tempo for the rest of the game. We got a little more comfortable with what we were doing out there and the guys just took over from there.”

That’s the Warren Central blueprint, more or less, and that’s what the Gators were up against on Tuesday night.

Sophomore forward Martell Tuttle led the Gators with 14 points, while teammate Nick Simpson, playing in his final high school game, finished with 11. Greenwood forward Asher Pettus, who joined the school’s 1,000-point club on Friday night, in an overtime victory over Warren East, also is moving on, along with fellow seniors Tyler Reiter, Ryan Troutman and Garrett Hatcher.

Greenwood finished its season at 17-13 overall.

“I’ve been proud of the season these guys put together,” Greenwood coach Will McCoy said. “I think you can look back at the end of the year and wish you’d gotten a handful more (wins) … but I think these guys stayed positive. They played hard, even in those losses.

“That’s a mindset that will pay off for those guys in the game of life.”

BOWLING GREEN 70, SOUTH WARREN 54

South Warren coach Carlos Quarles was bound and determined to keep a lid on the Purples with a variety of zone defenses, including a box-and-one, but Bowling Green usually had an answer and never trailed against the Spartans, who finish the season at 15-11.

“There was a hole in the middle of their zone I could have parked my truck in,” BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill said when it was over.

South Warren dropped four of its final five games to finish at 15-11. The Purples had success finding the open man against the Spartans’ zone, with senior guards Braylon Banks, Luke Idlett and Kadyn Carpenter often taking the initiative, driving to the basket and finding shooters in the corner.

“We’re ready to get back to practice and lock in for a very good (Warren) Central team on Friday,” Idlett said via text message on Tuesday night. “It’s always a challenge, going up against them.”

The Purples answered just about every challenge South Warren could put up, and Sherrill could count on his team’s experience to keep the Spartans at bay.

Quarles has some promising young players, such as three-sport standout Camden Page — football, basketball and baseball — but the Spartans fielded a veteran team for the 2024-25 season. Senior Bryce Button, the South Warren quarterback headed to Eastern Michigan University, played in his final Spartans game, along with fellow seniors Griffin Rardin — a WKU baseball signee — and Thad Hall and Jace Jarvis.

Rardin kept the Spartans on the attack from his point guard position throughout the game.

“(Bowling Green) played a good game, and we did not play well,” Quarles said via text message on Wednesday morning. “Congrats to them. I love my team, and we will continue to work to get better.”

Senior guards Luke Idlett and Kadyn Carpenter led the Purples with 15 points each, while teammate Joseph Hurt, a transfer from Louisville’s Fairdale High School, finished with 12 points. Braylon Banks, the steady BGHS senior guard, had 11 points, while teammate Jace Wardlow had eight points.

South’s Griffin Rardin turned in a strong effort and led the Spartans with 19 points. Freshman guard Brandon Perkins finished with 10 points, while senior forward Bryce Button and junior guard Owen Shively each finished with nine.