The winning play did not go as designed, but it worked out anyway for the Bowling Green Purples on Friday night at Greenwood.

“No, that’s not how we designed it. Really, we almost lost the ball there, but Isaiah (Mason) came up with it and he made the shot,” Bowling Green coach Derrick Clubb said after his team survived against the Gators and won 57-56 in a District 14 game.

“That play was indicative of how we played the whole game. The guys just kept playing hard and were able to get the win,” Clubb said. “Greenwood had a good game plan.”

“They fumbled the ball and it rolled out to him,” Greenwood coach Bob Pels said. “Give the kid credit, he stepped up and hit it. But we had our own chance.”

That they did.

With 2.6 seconds left in the contest, Greenwood got the ball out of bounds under its own basket. They went for a quick inbound pass near the basket to their big man Ben Carroll, but he was well defended and was unable to hit his own game-winner.

“We got what we wanted,” Pels said. “I will take that shot 50 times out of 50.”

Mason’s game-winning shot came with 37 seconds left to play. It gave the Purples their first lead since 6:16 left in the third quarter.

Noah Stansbury caught fire in the third period and the spark was a steal and an and-1. That series came with 5:46 left in the quarter and tied the game at 35-all. He nailed a 3-pointer 49 seconds later, then assisted Carroll on a basket 55 seconds after that. Carroll’s score pushed the Gators ahead 40-35.

Greenwood finished the quarter on a 9-4 run and led 49-40 after three. Stansbury scored five points during the run and 11 total in the third period.

Carroll hit one of two free throws in the fourth quarter to give the Gators a 10-point lead at 50-40.

The rest of the game belonged to Bowling Green as it posted a 17-6 advantage.

Clubb said he tried to get in some fresh players during the run and that helped. He also shifted Jaylen Wardlow onto Stansbury late in the game.

“Jaylen is capable of making it hard on guys and I thought he did a good job,” Clubb said.

Stansbury hit a 3 with 6:18 left in the game, but his only other point was a free throw with 1:45 to go.

“The tough part is we haven’t been in a lot of big games and they have,” Pels said. “I hope our players learned they can play with anybody if we come out and compete each game like we did tonight.”

Bowling Green improved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in the 14th District.

Greenwood fell to 6-7 overall and 1-2 in district play.

Bowling Green 12 17 11 17 – 57

Greenwood 15 12 22 7 – 56

BGHS – Mason 17, C. Cooper 13, T. Dennis 6, K. Gray 5, C. Huddleston 4, J. Banks 3, T. Buttry 3, I. Drobocky 2, D. Dice 2, J. Wardlow 2.

GHS – B. Carroll 19, N. Stansbury 18, C. Stinnett 10, P. Williams 7, P. Loggins 2.

Girls

Bowling Green 49, Greenwood 38

The Lady Purples pulled away in the fourth quarter in the early game Friday and beat Greenwood 49-38. Bowling Green broke open a close contest with a 7-0 run over four minutes in the final period.

T’Alla Brown sparked the run with a pair of free throws with five minutes left in the game, then Keyozdon Jones got a steal and finished with a layup. Brown added another free throw with 3:14 left in the fourth.

The rest of the scoring in the game – other than another Jones basket with 33 seconds left – was done at the foul line.

Brown led Bowling Green with 14 points, while Jacqueline Jackson posted a team-high 12 for Greenwood.

Bowling Green 10 10 14 15 – 49

Greenwood 10 11 11 6 – 38

BGHS – T. Brown 14, T. Ragland, 12; K. Jones, 11; L. James, 6; S. Shelton, 3; M. Tisdale 2, K. Gray 1.

GHS – J. Jackson 12, C. Miller 11, N. Milam 4, M. Une 4, H. Gordon 3, H. Blewett 2, O. Lovell 2.{&end}