SCORES INSIDE, WHICH SENDS
THE GAME TO OVERTIME.
BOWLING GREEN EARNS 30th VICTORY AGAINST SIX DEFEATS; PURPLES WILL FACE SOUTH OLDHAM ON SATURDAY MORNING
LEXINGTON — Bowling Green High School’s sage of the hardwood, veteran boys basketball coach D.G. Sherrill, has embraced the underdog role for the 107th Kentucky state championship, the KHSAA Sweet 16 in famed Rupp Arena.
The Purples, making their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2021, have found a winning formula in their first two games, both decided in overtime.
After slipping past Connor Loy and Adair County, 52-51, in first-round play, the Purples squared off with a seasoned, skilled squad in the Ashland Blazer Tomcats in the opening quarterfinal on Friday morning.
Bowling Green trailed the Tomcats for all but 20 seconds — that’s right, 20 SECONDS — of regulation, but the Purples kept battling, kept hitting the boards, and kept getting the ball to senior guard Luke Idlett when it counted.
Then, in overtime, the Purples began to assert themselves.
First, Braylon Banks gave Bowling Green its first lead since the first quarter, working the lane for a short jumper while getting fouled by the Tomcats’ Preston Hawkins. Banks, the smooth BGHS senior guard, completed the three-point play, putting Bowling Green in front, 70-68, with 1:37 left in the overtime.
The Purples then kicked it into overdrive.
Bowling Green’s Jace Wardlow scored on a fast break, extending the Purples’ lead to four points. Then Ashland Blazer made the mistake of fouling Idlett, a 78 percent free-throw shooter.
This time, Idlett was true, hitting four free throws in succession, and that was that.
Bowling Green 80, Ashland Blazer 74 (OT).
The Rupp Arena scoreboard said it all, but Sherrill made a point that few expected the Purples to be playing on the final day of the KHSAA season. Bowling Green (30-6) will tangle with South Oldham (30-5) in the first semifinal on Saturday, with a tip-off at 11 a.m. EDT. (Or, 10 a.m. in Bowling Green.)
The winner will face either Great Crossing or Montgomery County in the championship game, with a significant logistical advantage — they’ll get more rest between games than their opponent — for the title tilt, set for 7:30 p.m. EDT.
PROVIDED THE PURPLES WITH
THEIR FIRST LEAD IN OT.
BY PURPLES TEAMMATES (FROM LEFT) DEUCE BAILEY,
LUKE IDLETT AND KADYN CARPENTER.
The Purples are playing in their first KHSAA Sweet 16 since 2021, and Warren Central — Bowling Green’s archrival — had won three consecutive 4th Region titles.
Not this year.
“We’ve got five seniors that have played together since they were in sixth grade,” Sherrill said after the Purples’ gritty victory over Ashland Blazer. “They’ve won every conference championship they’ve played in. We add Joe (Hurt, the senior transfer from Louisville’s Fairdale High School), and he’s been a great addition to our group. Then we have a bunch of young guys that do a great job of helping us prepare.
“This group right here, nobody picked them (in preseason polls). All you media fellas had somebody else up here … That’s fine with us.
“Don’t pick us. We will keep clawing and fighting and scratching … You can’t measure heart and they didn’t quit. They haven’t quit.”
FOUR 3-POINTERS IN THE FIRST HALF.
LED ALL SCORERS WITH 33 POINTS.
HAD PLENTY OF MOMENTUM
FOR MOST OF THE FIRST HALF.
Ashland Blazer, which finishes its season at 24-8, was making its seventh consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. The Tomcats excel from 3-point land, and in the first half, senior guard Tyson LaLonde hit FOUR 3-POINTERS — one seemingly deeper than the other — while his team built an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter.
The Purples never gave in, though, and Luke Idlett’s 3-pointer from the left wing in the final seconds of the first half trimmed the Ashland lead to 33-29.
The Tomcats’ Zander Carter, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound senior shooting guard headed for Liberty University, turned in a brilliant second-half effort. Carter scored 26 of his game-high 33 points after the half, drawing different BGHS defenders over the course of the game. But the Purples stayed within striking distance.
Then, in the fourth quarter, they made their move.
COMPLETES A THREE-POINT PLAY IN OT.
LEAD TO EIGHT POINTS IN OVERTIME.
BGHS senior guard Deuce Bailey, the MVP of the last two KHSAA Class 5A state championship football games, and Idlett carried the Purples down the stretch.
“They stayed in the moment,” BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill said.
Idlett, the 6-foot-1, 165-pound sharpshooter, hit all seven of his field-goal attempts, including a 3-for-3 showing from 3-point range. He finished the game with a team-high 26 points, along with three rebounds and three steals. Idlett’s steal, and subsequent layup, tied the game at 59 midway through the fourth quarter.
Bailey would later force another Ashland turnover, with Idlett taking the ball nearly the length of the court before scoring to tie the game at 65. Then, after Carter hit two free throws, Braylon Banks found Bailey for a contested shot in the lane, which fell to square things up, 67-all.
Ashland Blazer’s Elijah Neel got off a 3-point attempt before the horn sounded, but it was too strong, sending the game to overtime.
“We just tried to stay composed, stay together, and not get shaken up,” Bailey said. “If we stay together, and keep our composure, we can keep chipping back at the lead and get back on top.”
That’s exactly what Bailey and the Purples did.
HAVE WON NINE CONSECUTIVE GAMES.
HAS SIGNED WITH LIBERTY UNIVERSITY.
Bailey, the future Missouri State quarterback, has taken his game to another level in the postseason. He’s drawn tough defensive assignments in every game, and managed to stay on the floor with minimal foul trouble. Bailey finished the game with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Senior BGHS guard Kadyn Carpenter helped keep the Purples in the game in the first half, and he scored 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Both BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill and Ashland Blazer’s Ryan Bonner relied on six players for the entire game, although Purples junior Arlando Davis got just under four minutes on the floor, the seventh BGHS player to take the floor in a thriller.
“It was an absolute dogfight,” Bonner said. “Two very good programs, the type of game people want to see at Rupp Arena. We had 14 turnovers, which is very uncharacteristic for us, but (Bowling Green’s defense) had a lot to do with that. Missed free throws and turnovers hurt us.”
Idlett said the Purples would “stay off our feet and get some rest,” while BGHS coach D.G. Sherrill and his staff could scout the final three quarterfinal games, in preparation for Saturday’s three games to determine a champion.
Bowling Green or South Oldham will have a significant logistical advantage in the championship game, but Malachi Moreno, Kentucky’s “Mr. Basketball,” and Great Crossing are widely considered the team to beat. Great Crossing and Montgomery County will square off in the second semifinal before the survivors return to Rupp Arena for the championship game.
Sherrill was effusive in his praise for Xander Carter and Ashland Blazer, but he believes the Purples’ defensive grit provided his team with a lift in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“We always feel like we can get into some legs late in the game,” Sherrill said.
Bowling Green is two victories away from the second state championship in school history.
“They stayed in the fight,” Sherrill said. “They know their character, and they haven’t quit.”
MORNING GAMES TO THEIR
LIKING IN LEXINGTON …
HAS NO COMPLAINTS, EITHER.
FOR KENTUCKY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL.
ON SUNDAY, PIPER.