Onto Next Year…
This game was one for the books, the Adair County Indians (30-6) faced the Bowling Green Purples (29-6). Although the Indians gave it their all, they still fell short, in the upset of the season, falling 52-51 in overtime, at the UK HealthCare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16® held at Rupp Arena.
Directly from the bench, Bowling Green came out hot. The Indians fell back after the Purples rapidly brought the score to 6-0 with 5:52 left on the clock. After a foul from the Purples, the Indians finally scored from a Connor Loy, (14 points and nine rebounds), free throw. Then Isaiah Cochran, (14 points and eight rebounds), scored a layup less than a minute later to bounce the score to 6-3. Another foul from Bowling Green led to a ball possession switch, with Cochran making another two points to have the score become 9-5 against Adair. Loy pushed the basket with another two-point toss, the Indians slowly chipping away at the score deficit. Cochran dodges inwards towards the basket, getting two layups back-to-back. Bringing the score to a knotted 11-11, Adair barely whispered into the lead 13-11 before it was pushed right back 13-13 at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter started with the ball in Adair’s possession, Carter White who tallied four points for the game, scored on a jump shot with barely 30 seconds played in the quarter, the score becoming 15-13 in the Indians’ favor. Cochran laid it up again with 5:30 left on the clock as he brought the score up to 17-14 with Adair’s lead. Following a timeout White shoots a two to push the Indians to 19-18. Loy picks up a bad pass from the Purples, and the ball bounces around the Adair County team before another foul is called on Bowling Green. With White, (Dawson) Gilbert, Loy, (Brayton) Coomer (13 points), and Cochran on the floor, playing the first half hard, the final score before halftime is 20-19 against the Indians.
Immediately as the buzzer sounded resuming the game from halftime, the Indians still worked on getting their heads in the game. The score rose on the Purples’ end at 26-21 with 5:31 left, as they came out in the third quarter with a few transition baskets. With a timeout called at 1:54 remaining, the score was still weighed in Bowling Green’s favor 30-23. Blane Bardin and Lane Grant scored the only three-pointers of the game, and ended the quarter 34-26, the Indians trailing.
The fourth quarter started slow, though the Indians bounced back into a rhythm briefly and brought the score to 36-28 with 6:15 left on the clock. After Loy received a hook-line-and-sinker from Bowling Green, the ball was once again taken from the Indians. Loy becoming the main player attacked by the Purples, he was also at the receiving end of an elbow to the eye, causing a two-shot intentional foul to be called. Play after play the Indians were against not only themselves, but the opposing team as well. By the end of the fourth, the score had tied 42-42. Leading the teams into a four-minute overtime.
During overtime the teams went neck-to-neck when it came to shots, Adair County led late 51-50. Before Bowling Green penetrated the lane on a power-driving layup. Then on a last-second heave, the Indians fell just short of the buzzer, making the final score of the game 52-51. Adair County drops their opening round decision to the Bowling Green Purples in the Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16. The Indians trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, they shot 21-46 from the field while going 7-8 from the free throw line in the game.
“We fought back,” head coach Deron Breeze said. “Unfortunately someone has to win and someone has to lose, and we ended up on the wrong side.”
(By: Jenna George)