Jim Mashek

SENIOR PURPLES FORWARD JOE HURT: ‘WE’RE JUST READY FOR WHAT’s NEXT …’

Bowling Green High School’s Luke Idlett had replayed the shot, in his mind, seemingly thousands of times.

The Purples boys basketball squad was playing a Team for the Ages, Warren Central’s 2022-23 bunch, in the KHSAA 4th Region championship game at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena. Idlett was a role player that year, as a sophomore, but veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill had confidence in him, in the game’s final seconds.

Bowling Green trailed by just two points, 52-50, when the Purples got the ball to Idlett for a good look at a potential winning shot from 3-point land on the right wing. The shot was on target, but rattled out of the cylinder, allowing the Dragons to escape with the victory. Warren Central went on to claim the second KHSAA Sweet 16 championship in school history, finishing the season at 34-1.

Then, last season, Bowling Green had the upper hand on Warren Central in each of the first three matchups between the crosstown rivals. But Kade Unseld got the hot hand, late in the game, and the Dragons prevailed in overtime, 64-57, to secure their third consecutive 4th Region championship.

Fast forward to Wednesday night, again in Diddle Arena, and Idlett and five other BGHS teammates getting their last shot at the Sweet 16 and a trip to Lexington’s Rupp Arena. Idlett hit 7 of 11 shots, including a 3-for-7 showing from 3-point range, to score 21 points and lead the Purples to a hard-fought 66-59 victory over Clinton County in an electric atmosphere on the WKU campus.

“I’ve been playing that shot, against Warren Central, in my mind for two years now,” Idlett said. “I’m glad we were able to knock the door down, and get to Rupp, this time.”

Veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill had to make some adjustments to compete with the big, strong Clinton County squad, and after a slow start, the Purples hit their stride and led for most of the second half. Senior BGHS guard Deuce Bailey took matters into his own hands when teammates were sidelined with foul trouble, and he was often matched up with CCHS center Cannon Young, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound junior.

Bailey, the Purples’ football/basketball star, stands about 6 feet tall and tips the scales at 175 pounds.

But he was up to the task at hand.

“I tried to take the game into my own hands, for my guys,” Bailey said. “This game meant a lot to all of us … It’s all about how you leave your legacy, how you can do something in these kinds of situations.”

Bowling Green improved to 28-6 overall, and the Purples will square off with 5th Region champion Adair County (30-5) in the opening game of this year’s KHSAA Boys Sweet 16. The contest will tip off on Wednesday, at 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The winner of that game will face either Calloway County (31-3) or Ashland Blazer (23-7) in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill was gracious in victory, when it was over, but even he had to admit last year’s loss to Warren Central in the 4th Region title game lingered with his squad. Likewise, Idlett’s 3 that rimmed out and allowed the Dragons to escape with a victory in 2023.

“We were here, last year, and thought we had the better team,” Sherrill said. “The locker room was really down. A lot of our guys were in that game, and I told them, when the game gets hard, tonight, remember that locker room. Remember that feeling.

“It’s just a proud moment, to kind of have validation for a great group of kids in here at Bowling Green. This place means something to them.”

Clinton County finished its season at 30-3, and third-year Bulldogs coach Nate Irwin admitted that his team had followed his game plan, and the team was in position to claim the school’s first Sweet 16 trip since the 1959-60 season, when Clinton County competed in the KHSAA’s 5th Region.

“We had them right where we wanted them,” Irwin said when it was over. “We had some ‘lollipop turnovers,’ early in the second half, and that gave them some momentum. We got it back, some of our mojo, but (Bowling Green) played with a lot of energy. They spread the court out, in the fourth quarter, and it was hard to defend them.”

Bowling Green’s Deuce Bailey and Luke Idlett delivered a critical basket when the Purples were clinging to a 50-48 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Bailey grabbed one of his four offensive rebounds and slipped the ball to Idlett in the left corner, and Idlett drained the 3-pointer that extended the Bowling Green lead to five points.

Bowling Green’s Braylon Banks would score on a catch-and-shoot field goal while drawing the foul about 90 seconds later. He completed the three-point play and the Purples kept Clinton County at arm’s length the rest of the way.

“It just felt like the weight lifted off our shoulders,” Idlett said. “We came up short (against Warren Central in the 4th Region title game) and we thought we were the better team, for sure. We came together as a group this year and had one goal in mind, and that was to get to Rupp.”

BGHS senior guard/forward Joe Hurt, a transfer from Louisville’s Fairdale High School, had another big game for the Purples. Hurt went 10-for-10 at the free-throw line and 4-for-9 from the field, finishing the game with 18 points, six rebounds and two steals.

“We’re feeling good,” Hurt said via text message on Thursday morning. “It was a huge win for us, but we’re just ready for what’s next …”

That would be Adair County, a 62-48 winner over North Hardin in the 5th Region championship game on Tuesday night. Adair County defeated Bowling Green, 61-57, in a tournament game in Glasgow in mid-December, but the Purples were without two key players, Deuce Bailey and Jace Wardlow, in that game.

Bailey was in foul trouble for much of the night Wednesday but managed to stay on the floor, finishing the game with 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

“In the fourth quarter, I do think our experience mattered there,” BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill said. “We’ve been knocking on the door, a bunch of times … Tonight, we finished the deal.”

Sherrill was effusive in his praise of Clinton County, which zapped a hard-nosed Barren County squad, 56-47, in the opening 4th Region semifinal on Monday night. Junior center Cannon Young played the entire 32 minutes and led the Bulldogs with 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Teammates Nick Poore and Jaxson Mason added 15 and 13 points, respectively, and the Bulldogs finished with a 31-21 rebounding advantage.

Mason, a 6-foot-5 junior who is the quarterback for the Bulldogs’ football team, reflected on the two-hour bus ride home before sharing his thoughts in a text message on Thursday morning.

“The whole bus ride home was sad,” Mason said, “but you wouldn’t have been able to tell, with all the laughs, and smiles. These guys aren’t just my teammates, they’re my brothers … I don’t think it really sunk in, until this morning, that this group wouldn’t get another chance to play together, as a team.”

Bowling Green’s Luke Idlett, for one, can certainly relate.

“We’ve created a bond, within this group,” he said. “It’s really kind of surreal.”

The Purples are on their way back. To Rupp Arena. The slate has been wiped clean again.