Purples use hot shooting to take down South Warren
Published 10:29 am Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Bowling Green senior Braylon Banks (3) drives to the basket while South Warren senior Griffin Rardin (12) defends during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
South Warren junior Owen Shively (1) puts up a shot while Bowling Green senior Braylon Banks (3) defends during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Bowling Green senior Braylon Banks (3) puts up a shot while South Warren senior Bryce Button (5) defends during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Bowling Green senior Jace Wardlow (1) drives to the basket during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Bowling Green senior Braylon Banks (3) puts up a shot over South Warren junior Owen Shively (1) during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
South Warren junior Jaxen Decker (11) reaches for a rebound during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Bowling Green senior Joseph Hurst (13) puts up a shot while South Warren senior Bryce Button (5) defends during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Warren Central sophomore Armani Byrd (0) puts up a shot while Greenwood senior Ryan Troutman (24) defends during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Warren Central senior Jarek Kirk (11) grabs a rebound during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Warren Central senior Jarek Kirk (11) attempts to steal the ball from Greenwood junior Landon Meador (33) during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Warren Central sophomore Gavin Carter (2) looks to pass during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
Warren Central junior Ryan Hulbert (13) makes a pass while Greenwood senior Ryan Troutman (24) defends during the District 14 tournament held at Bowling Green High School on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. Warren Central defeated Greenwood 69-42, while Bowling Green defeated South Warren 70-54.
The Bowling Green boys’ basketball team came out firing from long range in Tuesday’s District 14 Tournament opener against South Warren.
Bowling Green hit seven 3-pointers in the first half, 11 overall to breeze to a 70-54 win over the Spartans. Seven Purples hit a 3-pointer in the win, as Bowling Green (24-6) advanced to Friday’s District 14 title game and clinched a spot in the Region 4 Tournament.
“You’ve got a bunch of seniors in the locker room,” BG coach D.G. Sherrill said. “They have allowed us over the last week to really prepare. We had some nice wins at the end of the year, but this team has been a little bit hard to lock in because I think they wanted this moment. They have been thinking about this moment.
“I was proud that they showed a lot of maturity and kind of closed this game out.”
Bowling Green never trailed with Jace Wardlow and Kadyn Carpenter connecting from long range in the first 98 seconds and the Purples’ lead growing to 18-9 after one.
South Warren (15-11) opened the second with five straight to trim the deficit to four, but a Wardlow 3 sparked a 15-3 run — with Braylon Banks 3 at the horn giving Bowling Green a commanding 33-17 advantage.
Bowling Green steadily pulled away in the second half. The advantage grew to 47-26 after a 3 from Luke Idlett late in the third. The Purples maintained at least a 16-point lead the remainder of the game.
The Purples finished the night 11-for-23 from 3-point range.
“I will say there were a few times where we shot 3s and I thought we could have gotten something at the bucket,” Sherrill said. “That middle was really soft. I even called a couple of timeouts to try to get somebody in that middle so could play in that middle and then have a short corner. I thought we could get some layups in there, but again they were giving us a lot of space.”
Four Purples finished in double figures. Idlett and Carpenter had 15 points each to lead the way. Joseph Hurt added 12 points and Banks finished with 11 points.
“All week long in practice we were talking about that we needed to get this one, punch our way to Diddle,” Idlett said. “They came out in that zone and this year we have been a really good 3-point shooting team, so it kind of played to our strengths and we were able to hold the ball, find open looks and ultimately hit them. That got us the win tonight.”
Griffin Rardin led South Warren with 19 points, while Brandon Perkins added 10 points.
Bowling Green advances to face Warren Central for the district title at 6 p.m. on Friday at Bowling Green High School.
“We are both in the regional tournament, so you won’t see anything special from anybody on Friday,” Sherrill said. “They just have so much dang size that we have to contend with. We are going to have to hit some shots and we going to have to match their physicality.
“It will be a fun one. It always is.”
SWHS 9 8 12 25 — 54
BGHS 18 15 14 23 — 70
SW — Rardin 19, Perkins 10, Shively 9, Button 9, Page 4, Decker 2, Bridges 1.
BG — Idlett 15, Carpenter 15, Hurt 12, Banks 11, Wardlow 8, Davis 4, Dotson 3, Bailey 2.
Warren Central 69, Greenwood 42
Jarek Kirk had a game-high 21 points as the Dragons dominated the offensive glass to power past the Gators and advance to the district title game.
Warren Central (23-5), the three-time defending Region 4 champion, also earns a trip back to the region tournament.
“It was great to see,” WC coach William Unseld said. “The guys did a great job. I was proud of them. They fought. Jarek has been texting me since we lost Friday night, ‘Coach, I’m not done on Tuesday. I’m not losing on Tuesday.’ When he started that I think it resonated with the rest of the team.”
The Dragons held a 10-4 lead early, but Greenwood (17-13) battled back and tied the score 12-12 on a layup by Landon Meador with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.
That was enough time for Warren Central to regain the lead with a corner 3 from Armani Byrd at the buzzer giving the Dragons a 15-12 advantage.
The 3 was the start of a 13-0 run that allowed the Dragons to take control. Warren Central held Greenwood to four points in the second, building a 27-16 halftime advantage.
“We just really started guarding and we made everything tough for them,” Unseld said. “Early we were zone pressing them some and gave them some wide-open looks, so we switched it to man-to-man where we could stay in front of them and use our length more. I think that bothered them.”
The lead never dipped below 11 in the second half. A 3 from Ian Daniel pushed the margin to 44-25 late in the third quarter. The Gators cut the deficit to 46-31 heading into the fourth, but Warren Central went on a 19-3 run in the fourth to blow the game open.
Dominique Anthony added 12 points and Robert McAfee finished with 11 points.
“It feels great,” Kirk said. “I got all the stress off me now. We are already going to region, so it feels good.”
Warren Central finished with a 41-23 rebounding margin, including 18 offensive rebounds.
“Our energy level was great and that’s all it was — energy and effort,” Unseld said. “They made a complete effort to go (to the boards). I told them that the ball might not fall early because of the situation and your emotions, so chase the rebounds down early. Get some layups and the rest will come. We had a bunch of different guys do their part.”
Nick Simpson led Greenwood with nine points.
Warren Central advances to face Bowling Green at 6 p.m. on Friday. The Dragons swept the regular-season series in a pair of tightly-contested battles.
“Friday night is for fun,” Unseld said. “We are playing with house money on Friday. You want to win and compete, but at the end of the day you want to stay healthy and get ready for Diddle.”
GHS 12 4 15 11 — 42
WCHS 15 12 19 23 — 69
GHS — Simpson 9, Hatcher 8, Pettus 6, Meador 6, Tuttle 5, York 3, Sampson 2, Sisson 2, Troutman 1.
WC — Kirk 21, Anthony 12, McAfee 11, Byrd 9, McCombs 4, Daniels 3, Strow 2, Ry. Hulbert 2, Ra. Hulbert 2, Cousin 2, Carter 1.
