Bowling Green 59 - Greenwood 56

Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky 01-18-08

Bowling Green Coach D.G. Sherrill whipped out a secret weapon tonight in his Purples' game against 14th District rival Greenwood. The secret weapon was not a play or a player. It came in the form of the 6'4" former Hilltopper three point assassin named Anthony Winchester. Topper Nation always called him "A-Dub," and he was the bane of Sunbelt teams for four years while he was on The Hill. I'm sure that Coach Sherrill thinks Winchester looks as good in purple as he did in red.

Leading up to tonight's game I had mental images of Blane Embry dressed up like a 1980s pop star and lip syncing the Tommy Tutone song 867-5309/Jenny to the Bowling Green faithful. He'd sing "Purples, I got your number; I'm gonna make you mine." The Greenwood Gators have held some sort of spell over the Purples for the past two or three years. They've got their number, and Embry's squads have had a good time with it.

Friday night, D.G. Sherrill may have changed that number to an unlisted one.

Both Bowling Green and Greenwood are good defensive ball clubs. Greenwood likes to play a tight man-to-man defense, and the Purples like to press and play man-to-man. It took over two minutes for either team to draw first blood, and Bowling Green's D.L. Moore did the honors with 5:50 left in the first quarter. The first quarter was pretty typical of a match up between these two squads: low scoring, and instead of trading buckets they trade surges. The Purples led 13-11 at the end of the first, but Tevin Barksdale had two fouls on him.

The second quarter didn't get better for Barksdale. He picked up his third foul when a Greenwood player turned in an Academy Award performance with a flop to the floor as Barksdale went around him. Ouch! It was a crummy way for him to pick up his third.

It hit me tonight that Greenwood's guards Mark Lacy and Austin Reed are Thing 1 and Thing 2. They wear those uniform numbers, and to opponents they are pesky like the creations in Dr. Seuss's "Cat in the Hat."

Other teams must feel like Coach Embry carries a big wood box into their gyms and undoes the hook when he releases #1 Lacy and #2 Reed on them.

"Those Things should not be in this house! Make them go!" Was that said by Dr. Seuss or D.G. Sherrill?

They do seem to be everywhere on the court, and they are both heady ballplayers. All they need are big, wild blue wigs. Their defense made Bowling Green look a little sloppy, but the Purples held on to their two point lead, 21-19. Both teams scored only 8 points in the second quarter.

I noticed that Greenwood's Dee Anderson was quiet in the first half.

In the third quarter Bowling Green was able to do what they've always had trouble doing against the Gators. They utilized their size and athletic ability against them. D.L. Moore asserted himself in the paint (he scored 19 on Friday), and the Purples went to the boards after any missed shots. The Purples did a great job of setting up their press after misses, too.

If they master the art of pressing after missed shots, they will be a tough team to beat as the season drifts into post season play.

D.L. Moore tried to dunk a ball tonight, and he looked good in the attempt. He was fouled and hit the ball off of the rim. He really got way up over the rim. I like when Moore uses his athletic ability and size to outplay his opponents. He's got the talent, but sometime I think his mind is already in Columbia and running slants for Steve Spurrier.

The third quarter of Friday's game was one of the best quarters of basketball I've seen this season. Both teams played hard and played well. Bowling Green led 38-33, but I sensed that this game had a lot more excitement left in it.

Here's some advice for fans, players and coaches that might just read the Pennyrile Pick and Roll: you must know where Dee Anderson is at all times, and you must have someone guarding him. If Coach Embry puts him on the bench, an opposing coach should send a player over to sit down next to him.

Dee Anderson finished Friday's game with 15 points, 14 of which came in the second half. I don't know how many he scored in each quarter, but I'm willing to bet that most of those points came in the fourth. He kept getting loose in Bowling Green's defense and made them pay. They left him open way too many times, and if they pressured him, Anderson made perfect passes for buckets.

Greenwood outplayed Bowling Green in the fourth quarter, but the Purples clung to a lead throughout the final 8 minutes of regulation. They also missed some critical free throws down the stretch.

The Gators had the final possession of the game trailing 50-48. After getting some ball movement around the Purples defense, Thing 1...excuse me, Mark Lacy, launched a light little floater from near the free throw line. The ball bounced around on the rim and dropped through the net at 0:00.

"Then those Things ran about
With big bumps, jumps and kicks
And with hops and big thumps
And all kinds of bad tricks.
And I (D.G. Sherrill) said,
'I do NOT like the way that they play!"

At the same time, I was expecting to see Coach Embry singing "I got it, I got it. I got your number from the wall...for a good time, a good time call."

When the overtime started, it seemed like Greenwood was going to send the Purples packing again. They jumped out to a three point lead. Bowling Green responded with some pressure basket and free throws.

The Purples finally won this critical 14th District game in overtime, 59-56.

In my minds eye, I could see D.G. Sherrill looking like a member of the old 80s band "Wall of Voodoo" and singing, "I wish I was in Tijuana eating barbecued iquana." Hey, Gators are big lizards, too.

OBSERVATIONS

Something in the Air: the atmosphere was electric at Bowling Green's gym tonight. There was a definite post season feel at Friday's game. Both teams played well and neither was going to back down. I figured out that Bowling Green and Greenwood could play five times this season. They've played three times already, and they could play in the district and then the region.

Marketing Opportunities: I wish I could convince the Bowling Green people to have a little fun with their concessions. First of all, their hotdogs should be called "D.G. Dogs." No one should ever call popcorn "popcorn" around BGHS. It should be "Purpcorn." Some pieces should be purple and some should be gold or a buttery yellow. Then, they should sell nothing but grape Nehi colas. Nothing says "winter Friday night" like a hot D.G. Dog, a bag of Purpcorn, a grape Nehi, and high school hoops.

Lee Brick and Block Award: Possibly every player on the court deserved this award for throwing up brick after brick after brick from the free throw line. Stefan Iverson for Greenwood gets the individual award, however. In the fourth quarter he shot the most hideous brick I've seen in a long time. It hit the backboard just left of the rim and hit with such force that I thought it was some Underwriters' Laboratory test on the strength of the glass.

Pick and Roll looks forward to receiving a sponsorship check from the fine folks at Lee Brick and Block. They can contact me by e-mail, and I'll send them my mailing address.