Purples roll into state championship game

Published 2:32 pm Saturday, March 29, 2025

By Micheal Compton

LEXINGTON — There was less drama, but the same result, for the Bowling Green boys’ basketball team, which rolled past South Oldham in Saturday’s semifinals of the Boys’ Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena.

Bowling Green (31-6) used a barrage of long-range shooting early and kept the hot-shooting Dragons from having a similar night from long range to earn the program’s third trip to the state title game since 2015 — the first time since 2017.

“We have an opportunity,” Bowling Green coach D.G. Sherrill said. “We are one of two teams that have an opportunity. We have been blessed to get here before and we understand this moment, so we are going to embrace it.”

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After only leading for 20 seconds in Friday’s quarterfinals, the Purples nearly went wire-to-wire in Saturday’s semifinal win.

South Oldham scored the first basket, but Bowling Green got a 3-pointer from Deuce Bailey to take the lead and never looked back. Seven straight points from Joe Hurt helped BG build a 14-8 lead after one.

The lead grew to 22-11 after a 3 from Luke Idlett with 5:57 left in the half, the first of four second-quarter 3s. The Purples’ margin grew to 32-18 before the Dragons scored eight straight to trim it to six.

The Purples closed the half with the final five points — including a 3 from Idlett that made the score 37-26. Bowling Green shot 7-for-11 from 3 in the first half.

“We told the boys last night in our team meeting that they shoot it well, but we do too,” Sherrill said. “We haven’t had a game where we have just busted loose and hit 3s, shoot game shots. You are in the Final Four. You have to make shots. Joe hit a big one. Luke hit three or four that kind of loosened us up. When we were hitting those 3s, we bounced a little bit.”

South Oldham (31-6) got the deficit down to 40-34 early in the third, but BG quickly answered with a 10-2 spurt to push the advantage back into double digits. The lead was 50-38 heading into the fourth, with 13-4 run to start the fourth basically putting the game away.

“In the third quarter they got a couple of 3s off that pushed the rim, a couple that were long,” Sherrill said. “We were pressuring them a lot in the halfcourt, but they had to play yesterday too. These games, consecutive games, you are going to get to their legs. I did think in the fourth quarter we started to see some fatigue on their half.”

Bowling Green shot 60% from the field, including 8-for-14 from 3, while holding the Dragons to 8-for-35 from 3.

“I’m just really proud of my guys,” Sherrill said. “Watching them play (Friday) and then watching some film on them last night, they shoot the 3 so well. We talked about running them off that line and containing the 3-pointer. I thought we did a great job of that. I don’t know how many 3s they hit, but it wasn’t 15, so we did a good job of guarding the line.”

Hurt led the Purples with 26 points, going 10-for-13 from the field.

“All of our players can score, so it was just my night tonight,” Hurt said. “I feel like I did pretty well. Teammates moved me the ball well — wide-open shots.”

Idlett added 12 points, while Braylon Banks finished with 11 points.

Julian Miles had 18 points to lead South Oldham.

SOHS 8 18 12 13 — 51

BGHS 14 23 13 23 — 73

SO — Miles 18, Burnside 9, Fithian 8, Bee 7, Wurchteri 7, Estrada 2.

BG –– Hurt 26, Idlett 12, Banks 11, Bailey 7, Carpenter 7, Wardlow 7, Doyle 2, Davis 1.

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

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