For five catastrophic minutes Tuesday night at E.A. Diddle Arena, the end rapidly drew nigh for Warren Central.

Down 13 points already with no sign of stopping Bowling Green star forward Jarius Key and no evidence of an ability to hit a shot, the Dragons faced a bleak future in the Region 4 tournament championship game.

Skyelar Potter wouldn’t stand for it.

Warren Central’s talented senior guard heated up late in the first quarter to keep his team afloat, then rained down a trio of 3-pointers in the second period to ignite the Dragons’ offense before fellow senior Jordan Cousin unleashed a second-half scoring barrage that buried the four-time defending region champion Purples for a 65-53 victory.

The win earned the Dragons their first Region 4 title since 2013, and effectively erased the shock of losing last month’s District 14 tournament title to the Purples after blowing a 15-point lead and falling in the final seconds.

“I’m proud of my team,” said the 6-foot-4 Potter, a Wright State signee. “I’m very, very shocked right now. After what they did, what they did in district, obviously I didn’t want them to do it again and I was a little nervous for this game. We didn’t finish that game out. We could’ve had another net, but we had to finish it out.”

Warren Central (29-5) will meet Region 12 champion Southwestern on March 14 in the opening round of the KHSAA Boys’ Sweet Sixteen at Rupp Arena in Lexington. Game time is 5:30 p.m. CT.

To get there, the Dragons had to first go through Bowling Green (23-11).

That seemed an impossible task early, as Key roughed up the Dragons for 11 first-quarter points to stake the Purples to 17-4 lead. Cousin finally connected on an offensive putback and Potter scored on a drive in the lane to make it a 17-8 deficit at the end of the first period.

“We let him catch it too deep in the first half,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said of Key, who had 17 points by halftime but didn’t score after that. “Then in the second half we put (Tashawn) Bibb – a lower, stronger guy – and pushed him away from the rim. So we made him catch it around the elbows and then deep post, then we ran some help at him.”

Potter’s long-range shooting in the second quarter helped steady the Dragons, and a Cousin jumper off Potter’s assist tied the score at 23 before Key notched one last basket to put Bowling Green up 25-23 at the break.

The Purples opened the second half with a 5-0 run, prompting Unseld to call timeout.

“We said, ‘Man, let’s have some fun. Shoot our shots, move the ball, let’s have a little fun. But we’ve got to sprint back and play defense,’ “ Unseld said. “When I saw them come out of that time out, I knew we were going to win.”

Potter’s driving layup with 2:39 left in the third gave the Dragons their first lead at 32-30, but Bowling Green was still within one after Davion Dice dunked off a steal with four seconds left in the quarter.

Then Cousin hit the shot of the tournament, launching an attempt from the IGA logo on Diddle’s floor – fully three-quarters of the floor length – that connected for a buzzer-beating 3.

Cousin, who scored 48 points in that district tournament loss, started ice-cold from the field Tuesday. The 6-7 forward kept firing away, though, and when he did start connecting the Dragons surged ahead. Held to four points in the first half, Cousin erupted for 20 in the second half to finish with a game-high 24 points.

“Coach told me, ‘Keep shooting, keep shooting,’ “ Cousin said. “Then the second half came and I was stroking.”

Back-to-back 3s by Cousin and Potter put Warren Central up 45-36 early in the fourth, but the Purples kept in range. A trey by Trevor Dennis with 5:35 to go got Bowling Green back within six at 49-43, but the Dragons answered with a 7-2 run that stretched the lead back to 56-45 with 4:27 to go and the Purples couldn’t recover. Warren Central hit 10-of-15 shots (66.7 percent) in the fourth quarter.

“They were just a lot better when it mattered tonight, I think,” Bowling Green coach Derrick Clubb said. “I’m sitting here racking my brain. I would love to have come up with something to help the guys a little bit more because our kids were playing their tails off and trying to do everything they could to get a bucket, to get a stop.”

Potter tallied a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Cousin also notched a double-double with 24 points and 12 boards for the Dragons. Bibb chipped in with 10 points and Micale Mee had nine points for Warren Central. The Dragons outrebounded Bowling Green 38-27 and had a 15-6 edge in second-chance points.

Joining Key in double-digit scoring for the Purples was Dennis (12 points) and Ziyon Kenner (10 points).

Warren Central 8 15 15 27 – 65

Bowling Green 17 8 9 19 – 53

WCHS – Cousin 24, Potter 19, Bibb 10, Mee 9, Barber 3.

BGHS – Key 17, Dennis 12, Kenner 10, Buser 8, Dice 2, Ju. Dingle 2, Mason 2.

2018 Region 4 All-Tournament Team

Jamale Barber, Warren Central

Nolan Barrow, Todd County Central

Kobe Brents, Glasgow

John Calvery, Todd County Central

Jordan Cousin, Warren Central

Trevor Dennis, Bowling Green

Jaden Franklin, Glasgow

Jackson Harlan, Clinton County

Jarius Key, Bowling Green

Isaiah Mason, Bowling Green

Micale Mee, Warren Central

Ty Mink, Monroe County

Skyelar Potter, Warren Central

Brayton Scales, Russell County

Nik Sorrell, Glasgow{&end}