Bowling Green entered Tuesday’s boys’ basketball home opener against Elizabethtown not near what the Purples will soon become.

Two starters off last year’s team were missing along with another potential impact player, not to mention talented forward Mason Ritter was battling an illness that had head coach D.G. Sherrill wondering if he should even play the Columbia signee.

Ready-made excuses, and a lot of them – but Sherrill wasn’t having it after the Purples dropped a 44-37 decision to the Panthers.

“We didn’t hit shots – we didn’t generate enough layups, we didn’t hit free throws,” Sherrill said. “We’ve got some new faces in some new places and I thought what happened to us tonight was it’s the home opener, got a couple kids that are playing a lot of minutes that didn’t play a lot last year in front of their parents and family and stuff – I thought they were a little tight. They’ll get better, they’re good players and they’ll be fine.

“E-town had a lot of size and they did a good job playing inside-out on us. We rebounded even with them, we held them to 44 points – defensively, I think we were fine. We just got to do a better job generating offense.”

Elizabethtown (3-0) featured an imposing frontcourt headlined by Ohio University signee Ayden Evans, a 6-foot-10 center offering an intriguing matchup for the 6-8 Ritter. But while both played well, it was a pair of players still chasing NCAA Division I offers who really stood out Tuesday.

Evans’ younger brother, 6-5 forward Alex Evans, posted a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Bowling Green senior guard M.J. Wardlow scored 12 points and pulled down six rebounds to keep the Purples within striking distance until late.

Elizabethtown coach James Haire said Alex Evans will likely join his brother at Ohio next season – both are seniors. As for Wardlow, Sherrill said interest continues to pick up for the 6-foot playmaker.

“He’s opened eyes all summer,” Sherrill said. “He had a great game the other night (against Calloway County). I thought M.J. played really hard tonight, he had 12 tonight in a hard basketball game. He’s having to do a lot on his own.”

Help should soon be coming. Junior guard Braylon Banks, who averaged nearly nine points a game last season, could be back by the end of the week as he recovers from a slight back strain. Fellow junior guard Deuce Bailey, the Purples’ starting quarterback who led the team to the Class 5A state championship this past weekend, and fellow standout football player Trevy Barber may be ready to start working into the lineup by next week – Bailey was a full-time starter last season and was the team’s third-leading scorer (behind Wardlow and Ritter) and one of the team’s best defenders.

Ritter will also have better nights. He finished with six points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks against the Panthers.

“Mason didn’t have hardly any lift at all tonight,” Sherrill said. “He’s a double-double machine and he just didn’t have any lift. We play through him a lot, get him a lot of touches. He’s so aggressive. He tried to go for us tonight, he played a lot of minutes but he wasn’t feeling great.”

Bowling Green (1-1) held a 24-22 lead at halftime despite a cold shooting performance, which Elizabethtown obligingly matched in the first two quarters.

Neither team heated up much in the third quarter, as the Panthers opened with 5-0 run and held a 31-30 lead heading into the fourth.

The Purples never did snap out of its funk, shooting 2-of-13 from the field in the fourth to finish the night 15-for-53 (28.3%) from the field with only two made 3-pointers.

Alex Evans provided the boost the Panthers needed in the paint. After Ayden Evans (12 points, eight rebounds and four blocks) gave his team a two-point lead with a spinning move for a basket under the glass, Alex Evans got an offensive putback to stretch the advantage to 35-31, then answered Kadyn Carpenter’s driving basket with a tip-in.

Ritter’s dunk pulled the Purples back within two with 3:49 to go, but JQuan Willams hit a jumper to spark a decisive 7-0 run as BG didn’t hit another field go the rest of the way.

“He does a good job with his team every year,” Haire said of Sherrill. “He’s always going to be in this position early in the year, having his football players out. That’s the curse about having a good football program – you get your football players out late. But they’re definitely one of the best teams in the state of Kentucky.

“I don’t feel sorry for him at all. But even with the team he had out there, even if he just had that team, they’re going to be pretty good.”

Bowling Green is back in action Friday at Glasgow.

EHS 12 10 9 13 – 44

BGHS 13 11 6 7 – 37

EHS – Al. Evans 15, Ay. Evans 12, Williams 9, Durbin 3, Sherrard 3, Townsend 2.

BGHS – M. Wardlow 12, Ritter 6, Idlett 5, J. Wardlow 5, Carpenter 4, Starks 3, Holcomb 2.{&end}