Jim Mashek

BGHS COACH D.G. SHERRILL: ‘WE FEEL LIKE SOMETIMES, WE’RE FORGOTTEN A LITTLE BIT …’

There was plenty of drama, big moments and anticipation, in the KHSAA 4th Region Boys Basketball Tournament on Monday night at lWKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena.

With a trip to Lexington’s Rupp Arena, for a berth in the KHSAA Sweet 16, glimmering in the distance, four squads from South Central Kentucky converged on the Hilltoppers’ home court to decide the participants for Wednesday evening’s 4th Region championship game.

And there were surprises, too.

In the opening game, Barren County High School, one week removed from an impressive 58-44 victory over 4th Region favorite Warren Central, took the court against KHSAA 16th District champion Clinton County. The Trojans loomed as the favorite, and Clinton County hasn’t played in the Sweet 16 since the 1959-60 season.

The Bulldogs took a significant step in that direction Monday night.

Clinton County’s offense operated inside for nearly the entire game, and the Bulldogs shot 57 percent from the field to derail Barren County, 56-47, in an opening semifinal that brought one of the biggest crowds the 4th Region Tournament had seen in years.

The victory put Clinton County coach Nick Irwin’s squad in the championship game against the winner of the nightcap, and this time, Bowling Green High School seemed intent in maintaining its reputation as a KHSAA boys basketball contender.

The Purples started a little slow in their semifinal against an upstart Russell County bunch, the runner-up to Clinton County in the KHSAA’s 16th District. But Bowling Green HIT NINE OF 10 SHOTS in a flurry of a second quarter, including a 3-of-4 showing from 3-point territory, and the Purples never looked back in rolling to an 87-71 victory over the Lakers.

BGHS senior guard Luke Idlett had the hand from 3-point range, and teammates such as Deuce Bailey and Kadyn Carpenter kept attacking the basket, as the Purples took a 45-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. Bowling Green kept the Lakers at arm’s length in the second half, staying comfortably in front to reach the 4th Region title game for the 12th consecutive season.

That’s where the Purples usually ran into Warren Central, which had won three consecutive 4th Region championships, and the school’s second state title as well in 2023.

This time, it’ll be the upstarts from Albany, Kentucky, a Clinton County squad with a short bench but enough ambition to understand the moment.

“We’ve been here, it seems like a bunch, but we’ve never taken that ‘next step,'” Irwin said. “I felt like the game changed with our edge on defense. These guys stayed locked in, and came up with all the answers we needed in this one.”

Veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill noted that the Purples have maintained a high standard over the years, and they’re anxious to get back to Lexington’s Rupp Arena for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

That was the last season of a four-year hiatus the colorful Sherrill took away from the game, when Derrick Clubb calling the shots from the Purples bench.

“Honestly, I don’t really know about all the streaks, things like that,” Sherrill said in the postgame press conference. “It’s just the next game for us. It’s been nice to be part of a team, a program, that has had this kind of success. Great assistant coaches, great players. Great support from our administation.

“We feel like sometimes, we’re forgotten a little bit. We have not won that (4th Region championship) game in a few years now, the one that everybody measures us by … It is just the expectation.”

The Purples, with an undersized lineup but plenty of quickness, will try to handle those expectations in Wednesday’s championship game. The winner will face the KHSAA 5th Region representative in the opening game of the Sweet 16 on Wednesday, March 26.

It’s been a long grind for the Purples, in an elongated format to accommodate first- and second-round NCAA Men’s Tournament games this weekend at Rupp Arena.

Bowling Green seems anxious to take that step.

“We want to end our season at Rupp,” BGHS guard Luke Idlett said.

Tip-off for Wednesday’s championship game is at 6 p.m.

“We tried to speed it up, as much as we could,” BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill said. “They’re a really good half-court team. It was a real physical game, and we had to respond, physically. We’re going to have to rebound better, going forward.”

Five of the six Bowling Green seniors — Deuce Bailey, Braylon Banks, Kadyn Carpenter, Luke Idlett and Jace Wardlow — have been playing together for roughly a decade. The addition of 6-foot-5 swingman Joe Hurt, a transfer from Louisville’s Fairdale High School, has given the Purples a little length, but they remain a team of quick guards who can defend, take it to the basket and score from the outside.

Former BGHS center Mason Ritter left for Columbia University and the Ivy League after the 2023-24 season, and the memory of the Purples’ 64-57 overtime loss to Warren Central in last year’s 4th Region title game seems to stick in their collective craw.

“Last year left a bad taste in our mouths,” Idlett said.

Idlett’s hot hand in the first half allowed the Purples to take a lead and hold it for the remainder of the game. Four of Bowling Green’s five starters finished in double figures, and senior Braylon Banks led the team with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He also hit eight of nine free throws.

“We’re all brothers. We just want to go as far as we can,” Banks said.

The game got a little chippy in the fourth quarter, with a technical foul called on Russell County star Mayes Gosser in the final 90 seconds, before Lakers teammate Owen Loy barked at the Purples’ bench in frustration.

Idlett hit six of eight shots, including a 4-for-6 effort from 3-point range, while finishing with 18 points. Hurt had 13 points and a team-high five rebounds — Russell County finished with a 24-16 edge on the boards — while Carpenter and Wardlow also finished with 13 points.

Bowling Green’s Deuce Bailey, the MVP of the KHSAA Class 5A state championship football game in each of the last two seasons, often drew the toughest assignment on defense. Junior guard/forward Ethan Kirkwood has gotten more minutes for the Purples in the last month of the season, and the 6-foot-3, 175-pound junior could be a BGHS player to watch the rest of the way.

Russell County’s Owen Low scored a game-high 25 points, while Gosser, a three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball, finished with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Bowling Green improved to 27-6 overall while the Lakers finish their season at 18-12.

CLINTON COUNTY 56, BARREN COUNTY 47

Clinton County coach Nate Irwin used just six players to reach Wednesday’s 4th Region championship game.

The Bulldogs were assertive on offense and resourceful on the defensive end of the floor. Veteran Barren County coach Warren Cunningham was impressed with the Bulldogs’ inside game, as well as their tenacity on defense.

“We struggled offensively, but I think (Clinton County) had some things to do with that, with their length and their size,” Cunningham said. “I’m disappointed we lost, but I am not disappointed in our guys.”

Clinton County forward Jaxson Mason said the Bulldogs found incentive in a Sporting Times podcast that seemed to gloss over the Bulldogs’ accomplishments, while praising Barren County for its noteworthy upset of Warren Central.

The Bulldogs take a 30-2 record into Wednesday’s championship game.

“I definitely came into the game with a chip on my shoulder,” Mason said. “We came out ready to play.”

Clinton County coach Nick Irwin said his team can find motivation in many ways, and that he put together a schedule that would prepare the Bulldogs for 4th Region play and possibly beyond.

Irwin brought seven CCHS players to the postgame press conference, including his only two seniors, swingman Nick Poore and forward Cannon Young. Mason led the Bulldogs with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Poore added 13 points and nine rebounds.

“They kind of controlled in ‘the paint,'” Cunningham said.

Clinton County finished the game with a 30-22 rebounding advantage, a critical stat in that the Trojans were usually playing from behind.

“We had a rough start to the year,” Barren County senior guard Tate Spillman said, “and a lot of people counted us out. We started out 1-5, but we trusted the process and Coach Cunningham and we continued to work, and finished as a 20-win team. The game didn’t go as we wanted, but overall, we had a great year.”

Cunningham said Clinton County’s 11-0 run in the second quarter was the turning point of the game, and Bulldogs coach Nick Irwin said his team understands the stakes at hand on Wednesday.

“We’ve got a couple more days together,” Irwin said, “and we’d like to make it two more weeks together.”

Senior forward Joshua Decker led the Trojans with 13 points and seven rebounds, while BCHS teammates Bray Bewley and Tate Spillman added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Barren County finishes its season at 20-13 overall.