DRIVES ACROSS THE LANE FOR
THE WINNING POINTS IN OVERTIME.
PURPLES WILL FACE CALLOWAY COUNTY OR ASHLAND BLAZER IN QUARTERFINALS ON FRIDAY MORNING
LEXINGTON — Bowling Green High School’s Deuce Bailey has shown a tendency to take things into his own hands when the heat is on, in a tense basketball game.
And they don’t get much more intense than this one.
The Purples survived a fourth-quarter Adair County rally and Bailey, a football/basketball star, drove the lane for the winning points with nine seconds left in overtime, sending his team to a clutch 52-51 victory over the Indians before an estimated crowd of 6,000 at Rupp Arena.
“I saw a mismatch, I kind of just had a matchup I liked,” Bailey said in the postgame press conference. “I took the opportunity to get to the basket, get a good shot, and it went in.”
Adair County had a look at some late-game heroics itself, with Gilbert Dawson getting off a 3-pointer from deep on the right wing, which fell off the back of the rim before Connor Loy couldn’t complete a put-back before the horn sounded.
“Connor got the shot, he got close to the glass,” Adair County coach Deron Breeze said. “It just didn’t fall …”
AND THE PURPLES LED 20-19 AT HALFTIME.
ON A SECOND-QUARTER FAST BREAK.
(FROM LEFT) BRAYLON BANKS, DEUCE BAILEY
AND KADYN CARPENTER AFTER THE GAME.
AND OUTSCORED THE PURPLES 20-12
IN A TENSE FOURTH QUARTER.
Bowling Green earned its 29th victory of the season against six defeats, extending its winning streak to eight games in the process. The Purples will face either Calloway County (31-3) or Ashland Blazer (23-7) in Friday’s quarterfinals, again playing at 10 a.m. Central time. Calloway and Ashland Blazer were taking the court for the late first-round game on Wednesday night.
Veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill said the Purples’ offensive versatility paid off in the final seconds of overtime, acknowledging that Bailey was one of their better options.
“I’ve always got five guys on the court that can score the basketball,” Sherrill said. “I told the kids in the locker room, you win these kinds of games by refusing to lose … This game was going to be won within five feet of the basket.”
Adair County finishes its season at 30-5.
SOME LAST-MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE FINAL SECONDS OF REGULATION.
FINISHED WITH A 33-25 REBOUNDING ADVANTAGE.
AGAINST ADAIR COUNTY’s LANE GRANT.
The Purples survived a major scare in the final 90 seconds of regulation.
Bowling Green’s Kadyn Carpenter was called for an intentional foul, with the Purples nursing a 44-43 lead. Adair County’s Connor Loy missed the first free throw, however, before hitting the second to tie the game with 1:16 left in regulation.
The Indians were awarded possession for the intentional foul, and Adair County’s Grant Lane found teammate Isaiah Cochran near the basket for a field goal that left the Purples with a 46-44 deficit.
Bowling Green used a timeout of its own with 50.6 seconds left in regulation, and senior guard Braylon Banks scored on a drive to the basket to tie the game at 46. Some unusual clock management followed, as Adair County’s Loy dribbled the ball near midcourt before moving toward the Indians’ bench and calling a timeout with 3.5 seconds left.
Loy misfired on a 3-pointer from the right wing, however, and Adair County teammate Brayton Coomer couldn’t complete the tap-in as the game went to overtime.
Banks, one of six seniors on the BGHS roster, led the Purples with 16 points and four assists. Kadyn Carpenter added 13 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Bailey finished with eight points, two blocked shots and a team-high five rebounds.
Bailey has been mixing it up with the likes of Adair’s County Brayton Coomer, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound senior forward, in postseason play. The Indians finished the game with a 33-25 rebounding advantage, not surprising given Bowling Green’s lack of inside size.
Adair County teammates Isaiah Cochran and Connor Loy both finished with 14 points, while Croomer added 13 points and eight rebounds.
ON BOWLING GREEN’s BRAYLON BANKS.
Adair County coach Deron Breeze said the Purples are a difficult team to defend.
“They catch the ball on the run and attack,” Breeze said. “They go downhill … (The Purples’ Luke) Idlett is one of the top 3-point shooters in the state, and he didn’t have any in this one.”
We had our first major upset of the tournament, after the Purples completed the task at hand against Adair County. Louisville’s St. Xavier High School, the pre-tournament favorite, ran into an opportunistic Jeffersontown squad, which stunned the Tigers 64-59 in the second first-round game.
I’ll have complete coverage on the game and a look toward Friday’s quarterfinals later today at jimmashek.com. Thanks for reading! 3/26/2025
ITS 64-59 VICTORY OVER ST. XAVIER.
AN UNMITIGATED DISASTER
OUTSIDE RUPP ARENA …
PRESS BOX AT RUPP ARENA …
WITH THE PUGS IN BOWLING GREEN …