Purples trip Dragons in OT 65-59
Published 9:30 am Friday, January 23, 2026
Bowling Green’s boys’ basketball team proved something Thursday night against visiting Warren Central.
In District 14 this season, the climb from the basement to the penthouse isn’t so many flights of steps after all. The Purples, previously winless in district play, demonstrated that with a 65-59 overtime victory that sullied the Dragons’ once-perfect district mark.
All it took was a career night from lone senior Christian Muhire, a clutch buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation by sophomore Hudson Aikins and four minutes of extra play for Bowling Green (12-9 overall, 1-3 District 14) to reframe the district regular-season race. The win avenged a 65-49 road loss to the Dragons on Jan. 2.
“We have a ton of respect for Warren Central,” Bowling Green coach D.G. Sherrill said. “I mean, they’re a top-3, 4, 5 team in the state. And so to come in here tonight and do what we did as a .500 basketball team, an extremely young basketball team, to be able to grind that game … and it was one of those where both of us were grinding at the end, both missing free throws, both missing some opportunities, and so to grind out a win like this and really play in the overtime like we did – held them to one point and kind of took control in overtime, I’m just really proud of my kids. I’m proud of the fight they have and it really gives us something to build on.”
Warren Central (15-2, 3-1 District 14) watched a 35-33 halftime deficit balloon to 12 when the Purples scored the first 10 points of the third quarter. Muhire accounted for six straight points during that stretch, proving to be a handful on spinning drives in the paint. He finished the night with a game-high 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
“I just felt like it was something I had to do for my teammates,” Muhire said. “I’m the oldest on the team and this was a must-win game, a statement game. I just felt it was something I had to do for my brothers.”
The Dragons commenced to whittling on that 12-point deficit, with KJ Johnson’s 3-pointer and a pair of made free throws by Kaleb Prince trimming BG’s lead to 48-42 by the end of the third quarter.
That was just the start of a 14-0 run by Warren Central, which reclaimed the lead on Jeremiah McCombs’ 3-pointer that made it 51-48 with 6:24 left.
The Purples wrested back the lead, but Central led again at 56-55 on a Ryan Hulbert 3. The Purples then missed a pair of free throws — they went 2-of-6 from the line in the fourth – and the Dragons managed to burn more than a minute off the clock before Johnson drew a foul. He hit both free throws to push Central’s lead to 58-55.
Sherrill called a timeout with 14 seconds left in the game after not doing so in a similar situation in a 50-47 home loss to South Warren on Jan. 16.
“I didn’t want any one player to feel that pressure, so I had three different options,” Sherrill said. “And then it was just, ‘Guys, when it touches your hands, don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. You do this every day in practice.’”
Aikins ended up with the ball and created the space he needed to launch a 3 with about two seconds left on the clock – he drilled it to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Braylon Anderson hit a free throw to put the Purples in front to start the OT scoring, and McCombs matched it with one for the Dragons.
But that was it for Central, which did not score again. Muhire put Bowling Green ahead with one more basket in the paint, then Anthony Davis and Braylon Anderson iced the win by hitting four straight free throws.
Anthony Davis added 19 points, Anderson tallied 12 and Aikins scored eight for the Purples.
“Just not giving up – we kept going, even when there was a change in the game,” Muhire said. “We kept on going. The first time we played them, I felt like we gave up and we just let them go on a run. This time we didn’t let up. Even when things got hard, we rallied together as a team and told each other, ‘Hey, next play. Leave all the mistakes in the past and next play, next play.’ And we just built on that.”
Bowling Green is scheduled to play at North Hardin on Monday.
Ian Daniel scored 10 points and Prince had nine to lead Warren Central, which is set to play at Christian County on Tuesday.
WCHS 19 14 9 16 1 – 59
BGHS 18 17 13 10 7 – 65
WCHS – Daniel 10, Prince 9, Johnson 8, McCombs 8, Anthony 7, Byrd 7, Ry. Hulbert 6, Carter 2, Ra. Hulbert 2.
BGHS – Muhire 23, An. Davis 19, Anderson 12, Aikins 8, Ar. Davis 2, Staten 1.
Girls
Bowling Green 59, Warren Central 26
Bowling Green used a burst of 3-point shooting to pull away from district rival Warren Central for a 59-26 win Friday.
Bowling Green (9-9, 4-0 District 14) led just 19-14 at halftime – the Lady Purples won the previous matchup against the Lady Dragons 49-7 on Jan. 2. But after Aniyah Smith got the second half scoring started with basket inside off an inbounds play, BG got to work from beyond the 3-point line.
Jooniper Strow started with a trey, then Maddie Davenport hit back-to-back-to-back 3s to stretch the lead to 33-14 with 3:43 left.
“It was good for Maddie to see the ball go through the hole, so hopefully that’s a confidence booster for her,” Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “We had a really, really good offensive third quarter.”
Myra Mayberry finally answered with a basket for Warren Central (4-17, 0-4 District 14) to end the Lady Purples’ 14-0 run, but BG then scored eight straight to push the lead further out. Bowling Green outscored Central 26-6 in the third.
Mayberry, who tallied a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds, helped the Lady Dragons stay in the game in the first half. Dyamond Posey’s 3-pointer to open the second quarter got WC back within two at 11-9, but Bowling Green then scored six straight points.
Posey added eight points for Warren Central, which is at Logan County on Monday.
Amaya Brown led the Lady Purples with 12 points. Davenport had 11 points and Kymber Graves chipped in with nine points.
WCHS 6 8 6 6 – 26
BGHS 11 8 26 14 – 59
WCHS – Mayberry 12, Posey 8, Basham 4, Bowman 2.
BGHS – Brown 12, Davenport 11, Graves 9, Logan 5, Strow 5, Ware 5, Pratt 4, A. Smith 4, Wells 2, Woods 2.
Best of Best Winners
