WENT 4-FOR-4 AT THE LINE IN OVERTIME.
BOWLING GREEN WILL FACE SOUTH OLDHAM, A 76-75 WINNER OVER JEFFERSONTOWN, IN SATURDAY’s FIRST SEMIFINAL
LEXINGTON — The Bowling Green High School boys basketball team is the first of four semifinalists in the KHSAA’s Sweet 16 state tournament.
Trailing for nearly the entire game, the Purples used a furious fourth-quarter defensive effort, and senior guard Luke Idlett’s hot hand, to squeeze past a tough, disciplined Ashland Blazer squad, winning 80-74 in overtime to reach the tournament semifinals at Rupp Arena.
Bowling Green, which improved to 30-6 overall, trailed for nearly the entire game before finding its mojo in the fourth quarter.
And it all began on defense.
Veteran BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill had plenty of praise for the Tomcats — “hat’s off to Ashland Blazer,” he said in the postgame press conference — but was equally effusive in addressing his team’s clutch performance. Idlett scored a team-high 26 points — on 7-for-7 shooting, including a 3-for-3 effort from the 3-point stripe — while adding three rebounds and three steals.
“They stayed with the fight, they know their character,” Sherrill said. “They haven’t quit, all year.”
BY PURPLES TEAMMATES (FROM LEFT) DEUCE BAILEY,
LUKE IDLETT AND KADYN CARPENTER.
TIES THE GAME AT 67 IN THE FINAL
20 SECONDS OF REGULATION.
A THREE-POINT PLAY TO GIVE THE PURPLES
A TENUOUS 70-68 LEAD IN OVERTIME.
Ashland Blazer, a skilled team with deadly 3-point shooters, led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter and stayed in front for the all but two minutes of the exciting Sweet 16 quarterfinal. Idlett, the Purples’ sinewy 6-foot-1, 160-pound senior guard, tied the game at 57 on an open 3-point field goal from the left corner with 6:40 left in regulation.
Then, after Ashland Blazer star Zander Carter scored on a drive to the basket, Idlett came up with a steal and subsequent field goal, in transition, to tie the game at 59.
From there, it was a cat-and-mouse game between Bowling Green’s Sherrill and third-year Ashland head coach Ryan Bonner, who guided the tradition-rich Tomcats to their seventh consecutive appearance in the prestigious 16-team tournament. The Purples tried to force tempo, like they did in a 52-51 overtime victory over Adair County on Wednesday, but Ashland Blazer was well equipped to answer in the open floor.
Ashland Blazer’s Zander Carter, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound shooting guard who has signed with Liberty University — one of Western Kentucky’s primary rivals in Conference USA — turned in a sensational effort, finishing with a game-high 33 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
The Tomcats spread the court and tried to go with a semi-delay game in the final three minutes of regulation. But Bowling Green’s Deuce Bailey forced an Ashland Blazer in the backcourt and slapped the ball upcourt to Idlett, who scored on a break to the basket to tie the game at 65.
“I saw the trap, and the ball got loose,” Idlett said. “I saw the ball and wanted to finish at the rim.”
LED BY AS MANY AS 11 POINTS
IN A FAST-PACED FIRST HALF.
DRILLED FOUR 3-POINTERS IN THE FIRST HALF …
TRAILED BY FOUR POINTS,
33-29, AT THE BREAK.
Carter would hit two free throws, with 30 seconds left in regulation, to again put Ashland Blazer in front, 67-65. But Bowling Green’s Braylon Banks found Bailey inside for the tying basket with 16 seconds left in regulation, and backup guard Elijah Neel’s 3-pointer with two seconds on the clock was too strong, and Bowling Green seemed to grab the momentum going into overtime.
In overtime, Braylon Banks scored on a three-point play with 1:37 left, putting the Purples in front, 69-68, and BGHS teammate Jace Wardlow followed with a fast-break basket to extend the Bowling Green led to 72-68. Luke Idlett added four consecutive free throws, pushing the Purples’ lead to eight points, and Bowling Green finished the task at hand in impressive fashion.
“They stayed in the moment,” BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill said. “(Ashland Blazer) brought a lot of stuff that we had to guard, ghost screens, stagger screens … They play hard, but they play the right way.
“Every time I turned around, they seemed to be making another 3.”
Ashland Blazer finished its season at 24-8. The Tomcats hit 10 of 27 shots from 3-point range, led by Tyson LaLonde’s FOUR 3-pointers, all in the first half. Bowling Green’s Luke Idlett drilled a 3 from the left wing in the final minute of the first half, however, and the Purples trailed by just four points (33-29) at the break.
“We all just tried to stay confident, stay together,” Bowling Green guard Deuce Bailey said. “We could keep chipping away at the lead.”
THE DEFENSIVE PRESSURE
IN THE SECOND HALF.
CLOSES IN ON AN ASHLAND BLAZER OPPONENT.
ALL SCORERS WITH 33 POINTS, BUT
THIS DUNK IN OVERTIME WAS ACADEMIC.
ASHLAND BLAZER’s ZANDER CARTER
IN THE HANDSHAKE LINE.
Bowling Green slipped past Ashland Blazer, 61-55, in Woodford County’s Ed Stepp Classic on February 1 in Versailles.
Idlett led the Purples with 26 points, but Bailey turned in a strong effort himself, finishing with 18 points, four rebounds and three steals. Senior BGHS guard Kadyn Carpenter had 17 points, while hitting seven of nine shots from the field, while Jace Wardlow and Braylon Banks added nine and eight points, respectively.
The Purples now advance to face the winning team in Friday’s second quarterfinal, South Oldham , a 76-75 winner over Jeffersontown on Friday. The Dragons improved to 30-5 overall after their hard-fought victory over Jeffersontown.
J-Town (27-7) struck for the first major upset of the tournament, a 65-59 victory over tournament favorite St. Xavier on Wednesday.
Bowling Green will face either J-Town or South Oldham (30-5) in the first of two Sweet 16 semifinal games at Rupp Arena. The contest will tip off at 11 a.m. EDT.
I’ll have more on the Purples’ amazing victory later today at jimmashek.com. Thanks for reading.
THE PURPLES AFTER AN
AMAZING VICTORY IN OVERTIME …
WON’T BE COMING HOME UNTIL SUNDAY …
FOR THE REST OF THE KHSAA SWEET 16 …