Purples roll past Warren East

Published 4:54 am Wednesday, January 8, 2025

by Micheal Compton

The rivalry was renewed on Tuesday with Bowling Green and Warren East facing off in boys’ basketball for the first time since the Raiders moved to District 15.

Bowling Green was able to pick up right where it left off, cruising to an 86-44 win on Tuesday at Warren East High School. Bowling Green (10-3) seized control in the opening minutes and was never really threatened, bouncing back from a last-second loss to Woodford County on Saturday and extending its win streak to 57 straight dating back to 1998 against the Raiders.

“After a tough loss on Saturday against Woodford (County) our mindset was to come out here with a whole new mindset — move the ball and take good shots,” BG senior guard Luke Idlett said. “We were able to get hot in the early minutes of the game. We kind of stayed onto that lead and pushed it even more. It was a good win for us.”

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Bowling Green opened with 13 straight points — including three 3-pointers — in the first three minutes to set the tone for a highly productive first half. The Purples led 27-6 after one and led by as many as 36 in the second before a small spurt by Warren East (8-6) cut the margin to 51-20.

The Purples shot 60% in the first half, including 10-for-20 from 3-point range.

“If we share the ball, then we are a lot better basketball team,” Bowling Green coach D.G. Sherrill said. “The ball moved really well. We hit nine or 10 3s in the first half. When that happens, it opens a lot of things up for everybody else. I think we shot the ball really well early and set the tone.”

Warren East played even with Bowling Green in the third quarter, but the Purples continued to pull away in the fourth. The lead grew to 45 points before a three-point play by Warren East in the final 15 seconds capped the scoring for both teams.

“We had to have a really good start,” Warren East coach Kyle Benge said. “A loss for them on Saturday probably wasn’t very good for us. We caught them at a bad time. To be honest, we haven’t been playing our style of basketball for the last couple of weeks. The loss to Glasgow has kind of trickled down. We had some sickness. We are starting to get a little bit healthy, but we need school to start back up and get back into a routine.

“Bowling Green is a really good team. We hadn’t played them the last couple of years and our guys, we just weren’t ready to go tonight.”

Four Purples finished in double figures, with 11 players getting in the scoring column.

Joe Hurt had 19 points, while Idlett finished with 15 points. Deuce Bailey had 14 points, while Braylon Banks added 11 points.

The Purples shot 57% for the game and outrebounded Warren East 36-16.

“We have to rebound the basketball,” Sherrill said. “The teams in this region are very good — are bigger than us. We are going to have to be a physical team. We are going to have to put our bodies on people and get rebounds. We are going to continue to emphasize that.”

Kaleb Prince led Warren East with nine points, while Brenden Bratcher,  Jordan Hogue and Wyatt Gravil added eight points each.

Both teams are scheduled to return to action on Friday, with Bowling Green traveling to South Warren and Warren East hosting Allen County-Scottsville.

BGHS 27 24 16 19 — 86

WEHS 6 14 16 8 — 44

BG — Hurt 19, Idlett 15, Bailey 14, Banks 11, Wardlow 9, Akins 5, Sadler 3, Carpenter 3, Kirkwood 3, Woodard 2, Muhire 2.

WE — Prince 9, Bratcher 8, Hogue 8, Gravil 8, Reynolds 3, Miller 2, Doyle 2, Barron 2, Parsley 2.

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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