BUTTRY: PURPLES NEED TO RE-DEDICATE THEMSELVES FOR 4TH REGION SEMIFINALS
Bowling Green High School coach DG Sherrill was looking at the big picture, thankful his Purples squad found the resolve to foil Franklin-Simpson’s upset plans on Tuesday night in the KHSAA 4th Region quarterfinals at E.A. Diddle Arena.
BGHS senior guard Turner Buttry wasn’t grading on the same curve, however, after the Purples pulled away in the second half to knock off Franklin-Simpson 62-45.
“I’m out of tomorrows,” Buttry said. “We’re going to have to get back in the gym. I think some people thought this was going to be easy … We’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”
Bowling Green never trailed in improving to 25-6 on the season. The Purples withstood the solid perimeter game of Franklin-Simpson teammates Gabe Jones and Jalen Briscoe, limiting Franklin Simpson to just 13 second-half points, on 4-of-18 shooting. BGHS also finished with a solid advantage on the boards (34-27) while turning the ball over only four times.
All of which Sherrill was considering while evaluating his team’s performance.
“It’s definitely a good win for us … Hat’s off to Franklin,” Sherrill said. “I thought they had a great game plan. In the first half, every run we made, Franklin answered … In the second half, especially the third quarter, we buckled down defensively.
“We got the game going a little bit faster. If the game is fast, that is when we are at our best.”
Franklin-Simpson, the District 15 Tournament champion, lost senior guard Andreyas Miller to a hand injury late in regular-season play . But the Wildcats found another gear in the second quarter Tuesday night, when they outscored BGHS 21-12 while trimming the Purples’ halftime lead to a single point (33-32) in the process.
After the half, sophomore guard MJ Wardlow got the hot hand for the Purples, and he finished the game with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Wardlow, who also played a team-high 30 minutes, had five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“I felt like it was my job to step up … That’s what I did,” Wardlow said softly when it was over.
Franklin-Simpson coach Dee Spencer was in no mood to rationalize his team’s defeat, the injury to Miller, his only senior, notwithstanding.
“When I sit down and look back at it,” Spencer said, ” I am sure I will be happy about it … but right now, I’m not. I’m not satisfied with the way things went. I feel like we could have played better in the second half.
“We just have to get better.”
Gabe Jones led the Wildcats with 13 points, and F-S teammate Jalen Briscoe finished with 12.
Buttry, the Eastern Kentucky University signee and BGHS team captain, drew a technical foul in the second quarter and had five of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, when the Purples kept Franklin-Simpson at arm’s length.
Sophomore center Mason Ritter had a solid game for the Purples, finishing with 9 points, 5 rebounds and two blocked shots. Lightning-quick guard Deuce Bailey, the football team’s starting quarterback and a freshman, had 9 points and two steals, while sophomore forward Elijah Starks added 9 points and a team-high 7 rebounds.
Eight BGHS players finished in the scoring column as the Purples turn their attention to Monday night’s 4th Region semifinals against Clinton County. The Bulldogs stunned 43-40 on Cohen Davis’ clutch 3-pointer from the baseline at the buzzer on Monday night.
“I told our coaching staff that we might have needed a game like this,” Sherrill said. “Maybe we needed a wake-up call … In the second half, we were able to rebound and get some transition buckets.
“Clinton County will be a tough, physical game.”
COHEN DAVIS’ BASKET SENDS CLINTON COUNTY PAST GLASGOW 43-40
SAM BOWLING HIT AN OFF-BALANCE SHOT, TYING GLASGOW’S 4TH REGION GAME WITH CLINTON COUNTY AT 40-ALL ….
For most of the evening, it was a slow, grind-it-out affair, without any lead changes.
Clinton County High School dictated the tempo, and the methodical Bulldogs were keeping the Glasgow Scotties on their heels.
Then, it happened.
Glasgow’s Sam Bowling hit two tough 3-pointers, the second an off-balance shot from just to the left of the top of the key, and the Scotties had somehow tied Clinton County at 40 with about nine seconds left in regulation.
The Bulldogs got the ball to the front court before calling a timeout and turning to senior forward Blake Melton, who brings the ball into play in most inbounds situations.
This time, under the Glasgow basket.
Melton surveyed the floor and snapped the ball to the left corner of the floor, where sophomore Bulldogs guard Cohen Davis was waiting.
The Scotties collapsed on Davis, but it was too late.
His buzzer-beating 3-pointer would be the difference, in a 43-40 victory, as Clinton County (22-8) advanced to Monday’s KHSAA 4th Region Tournament semifinal game against Bowling Green.
It was Cohen Davis’ first field goal of the night.
“We’ve had great success in out-of-bounds plays,” Clinton County coach Todd Messer said, “and that’s what happened tonight.”
Melton shrugged off his role at the podium and said, “We just made the plays when we needed them.”
Glasgow forward John Carter Myers, the quarterback for the Scotties’ football team, admitted Cohen Davis’ baseline 3 at the buzzer seemed to hang in mid-air before falling through the net.
“It was like nothing I could ever explain,” Myers said. “When (Davis) shot it, I said to myself, ‘No way …'”
Glasgow coach James Willett said the Bulldogs’ Melton “had good vision” in finding his open teammate. The Scotties were in a zone defense to keep Clinton County out of the lane for a possible free-throw situation.
“We were looking to keep everything out of the paint,” Willett said. “We probably took the first option, and maybe the second option, away … I liked the way we defended all night. We just came up a little short.”
Nick Delk led Clinton County (22-8) with 12 points, while rugged point guard Bryson Cross and Melton finished with 9 and 8 points, respectively. Sam Bowling had a terrific game for the Scotties, scoring a game-high 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Glasgow’s Ashton Cerwinski had 10 rebounds and three steals, while Myers, playing in his final high school game, had nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
Glasgow finishes its season at 14-14.
