[Stardust]

Runners-up? Not anymore.
The Bowling Green boys’ basketball team seized control in the second half Tuesday night, winning the Region 4 Tournament championship with a 60-47 victory over Warren Central at E.A. Diddle Arena.
“They’re not a team that you can just beat,” Bowling Green coach D.G. Sherrill said. “You’ve got to knock them out. You’ve got to take it from them. I’m just really proud of the way our kids responded in the second half.
“It wasn’t a thing of beauty offensively. You had to gut check. You had to make free throws. You had to rebound.”
The title is the 13th in program history for the Purples (29-6) and their first since 2009. They’ll advance to the PNC/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 Tournament, which begins March 14 at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
The victory also loosened Warren Central’s grip on the crown. The Dragons had won eight of the previous 10 region championships, including two straight over BG.
“In this rivalry, you could win 50 games, and if you lose this one, you get fingers pointed at you and people are laughing the rest of the year,” Sherrill said. “We know what kind of pressure there is with winning this game. We’ve had opportunities the last two years and not been able to finish.”
The Purples finished in a big way Tuesday, taking control with a 7-0 run to end the third quarter and maintaining with 17 made free throws in the fourth.
Bowling Green made 21 of 25 free throws in the game, with sophomore guard Nacarius Fant and senior guard Scooter Hollis each netting 7 of 8.
“Coach got on us early in the season about not making free throws,” said Fant, who scored a game-high 17 points. “Late in the season, you’ve got to have them.”
The Purples started the game with a 7-0 run, capped by a Fant 3-pointer at the 6:24 mark of the first quarter.
Warren Central (25-9) followed with seven straight points of its own, and the Dragons took an 18-17 lead into halftime.
“At halftime, I just looked at them and said, ‘In 16 minutes, someone’s going to Rupp Arena,’ ” Sherrill said. “ ‘I’m going next week. Do you all want to go or not? Do you for once want to outwork Warren Central in this game? Do you want to cut some nets down? It’s up to you.’ ”
The teams made a combined 15 of 48 shots in the first half, but picked up the scoring after the break by converting 23 of 35 field goal attempts.
The Dragons started the third quarter with a 7-2 burst, claiming their largest lead to that point at 25-19 with 6:03 to play in the frame.
Bowling Green scored three straight baskets over the next two minutes, and after Warren Central tied the game at 32 with a three-point play by sophomore guard Rondell Green, the Purples opened a 39-32 advantage at the end of the third with a 7-0 run.
“We missed our opportunities to be up six or eight points,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “We missed front ends of free throws. We missed some point-blank layups. Then they make a little run and that hurt us.”
After falling behind 46-38 with 3:07 remaining, the Dragons made three field goals the rest of the way. Bowling Green made 14 free throws from that point, including seven by Fant and three by Hollis.
“We felt like we let the last two years slip, and we wanted to finish this out,” Hollis said. “The last two games, we didn’t start as well as we wanted to, but we finished well (against Russell County). That got us over the hump and carried over late in this one.”
Bowling Green was outrebounded 26-22 but shot 73.3 percent in the second half. Hollis finished with 13 points, while senior guard Dareon Simmons added 12.
The Purples scored 43 of their 60 points in the second half.
“Our guys seemed to be in the right spots at the right time,” Sherrill said. “We played a little harder in the second half. We played a little harder than Central did and we showed a little more desire to get the 50-50 plays. I’m proud of our guys because we earned it.”
Green paced Warren Central with 11 points, while junior guard Nathaniel Walker chipped in nine. The Dragons graduate four seniors but will return a core group of underclassmen next year.
“When you win six in a row and eight of the last 10, it’s hard to win these,” Unseld said. “Somebody else is going to win it eventually. But now that’s something for us to look forward to and something to fight for next year. I don’t think anyone will underestimate us for a while.”
Bowling Green will play Region 8 champion Oldham County at 11 a.m. CDT March 15 in the first round of the state tournament. The Colonels advanced by beating Collins 50-40 on Tuesday night in the Region 8 title game.

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