The Bowling Green boys’ basketball team was able to step up defensively, pulling away for a 72-47 win over Allen County-Scottsville in the German American Bank Shootout on Saturday at Bowling Green High School.

Leading by four at halftime, Bowling Green (8-5) held the Patriots to 15 points in the second half to seize control and bounce back from Friday’s loss to District 14 rival Warren Central.

“It was live ball turnovers that hurt us (against Warren Central),” BG coach D.G. Sherrill said. “Live ball turnovers benefitted us tonight. I thought we got in their legs a little bit, got them frustrated. We didn’t always have the right rotations, but I think our quickness and our depth kind of got to them. You kind of saw it flipped from what we had to deal with last night to what we had to deal with tonight.”

The Purples never trailed, scoring the first four points and closing the first quarter with an 8-0 spurt to make the score 22-9.

The advantage grew to 15 points early in the second before Allen County-Scottsville (5-7) started to chip away. The Patriots closed the half with a 12-3 surge to trim the deficit to 36-32 at the break.

Bowling Green would quickly put the game away, opening the second half with a 14-0 run. The lead grew to as many as 29 points in the second half as ACS shot 6-for-18 in the final two quarters.

It was the kind of defensive effort Sherrill said he hopes to see going forward as the Purples prepare for the bulk of district play.

“I think I totaled up the record of district opponents last night when I got home,” Sherrill said. “They are like 27-5 or something like that, so it really is a loaded district. We are the No. 4 team in our district right now. We’ve got to prove to everybody we can beat these bigger, stronger, older teams. Central has so much length and depth. We are going to have a hard time turning them over and I don’t know how much success we are going to have against South Warren and Greenwood. They’ve got good play and are strong. We’ve got to play fast and you saw tonight what we could be.”

Anthony Davis led Bowling Green with 17 points and eight rebounds. Arlando Davis and Braylon Anderson added 11 points each.

“Arlando has got all of it in him,” Sherrill said. “I think it is just his transition from football has been a little bit slower this year., but it is all there. We are seeing glimpses of it now. A.D. can be as good as he wants to be. He’s a five-tool guy. He can do everything with the ball. And then I thought we got some good play out of our bench. This was a good bounce back for us.”

Aiden Grainger led Allen County-Scottsville with 10 points.

Bowling Green plays at Taylor County at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Allen County-Scottsville hosts Warren East at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

ACSHS 9 23 7 8 – 47

BGHS 22 14 22 14 – 72

ACS – A. Grainger 10, Ty. Turner 9, Pedigo 7, Spears 6, Morgan 4, Temple 4, Tr. Turner 3, J. Coffey 2, K. Coffey 2.

BG – An. Davis 17, Ar. Davis 11, Anderson 11, Dotson 8, Muhire 8, Staten 5, Akins 5, Johnson 4, Doyle 2, Woodard 1.

Girls

Hopkins County Central 38, Bowling Green 30

Hopkins County closed with an 8-2 run to rally from a double-digit first half deficit and stun the Lady Purples in Saturday’s German American Bank Shootout.

“The second and fourth quarters we were not disciplined defensively,” BG coach Calvin Head said. “We’ve got to be more mentally tough, even when shots aren’t falling. We actually had some good looks. Sometimes they just don’t fall, but you have to keep guarding.”

Bowling Green (6-5) shut out the Lady Storm in the first period and led 11-0 after a free throw from Amaya Brown in the opening seconds of the second quarter. Hopkins County Central (9-5) got its first field goal with 7:35 left in the second and kept chipping away, tying the score 14-14 on a 3-pointer from BriNiyah Dulin to end the first half.

Bowling Green regained the lead in the third and went into the final quarter up 22-21. Hopkins County Central opened the fourth with a 3 to take its first lead of the day. Jooniper Strow answered with a 3 to briefly give the lead back to the Lady Purples, but a jumper from Tyah White put the Lady Storm back in front.

A Brown free throw tied the game at 26-26 with 5:28 remaining, but two layups put Hopkins County Central in front for good. BG got as close as two, but a layup and steal for another layup in a four-second span in the final minute clinched it for the Lady Storm.

“The person taking the ball out of bounds has to have discipline and toughness,” Head said. “This week coming up we have to clean all that stuff up. Our good spurts were really good. Our bad spurts were really bad. I think if we eliminate the turnovers in the second and fourth quarter we probably come out on the other end of it.”

Brown led the Lady Purples with eight points. Bowling Green shot 27% with 17 turnovers.

Bowling Green will host Greenwood at 6 p.m. on Friday.

HCCHS 0 14 7 17 – 38

BGHS 10 4 8 8 – 30

HCC – Menser 12, Carney 9, White 8, Mason 5, Dulin 3, Marsh 1.

BG – Brown 8, Woods 6, Stow 6, Davenport 6, Smith 2, Hall 2.