Bowling Green boys basketball falls to Ballard in KHSAA tournament’s final eight
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BVM) — A hardfought season has come to an end for the Bowling Green High School boys basketball team after the team fell to the Region 7 Champion Ballard Bruins 61-53 in the quarterfinals of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. on April 2.
The two teams were well–matched throughout the game trading blows as two heavyweight teams should. Purples’ star guard Isaiah Mason once again took the lead for Bowling Green during the contest as he finished the day with 17 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal in his final high school game. Jacobi Huddleston, who would later become the lone Purples representative on the All-Tournament team, also had an excellent day from the guard spot adding 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a block.
The Bruins were led by a pair of players who would later be named to the All-Tournament team in Chaunte Marrero and Maker Bar. The pair harassed the Bowling Green interior with Marrero scoring 13 points while grabbing nine rebounds with three blocks and a steal. While only contributing five points offensively, Bar was a defensive force for the Bruins with six blocks and two steals and even added seven rebounds. Gabe Sisk was the strongest offensive weapon for Ballard as he scored a game-high 22 points with four rebounds and three steals.
Though most of the game’s categories were pretty even, the Bruins had a distinct advantage in capitalizing on Purples’ mistakes. Though the teams were close in the amount of turnovers with the Purples coughing the ball up 16 times and the Bruins giving it away 15 times, the Bruins were able to use the Bowling Green turnovers to their advantage more effectively as they scored 19 points off turnovers compared to just eight points by the Purples. Though the Purples effort on the offensive glass led to them outscoring the Bruins 19-6 on second-chance points, a poor shooting day doomed Bowling Green as their 32.3% from the field, including 19% from beyond the arc, buried the team’s chances.
While the season may be over for the Purples, it was a successful one for the program. The team won its first regional championship since 2017 which was also the last time the team made it into the state’s Sweet 16 tournament. The team was also able to get the program’s first state tournament win since 2017 when the program won its first state title after beating University Heights in the first round. Individually, Mason was honored as the Region 4 Player of the Year and will move on to play basketball for in-state Northern Kentucky University.
In the meantime, Purples fans won’t get much of a reprise as the girls basketball team takes on Region 10 champion Bishop Brossart on April 7 at 2 p.m. EST at Rupp Arena.
