The Russellville Panthers outscored Bowling Green 27-8 during a 7-minute, 15-second span in the regional semifinals Monday at Diddle Arena.
It wasn’t enough! Bowling Green held on to win the low-scoring contest 44-41.
The Panthers had dug themselves into a hole-more like a bottomless pit-in the game’s first 21 minutes. They hit just 17.6 percent of their shots
and committed 11 turnovers in the first half on the way to a 21-9 deficit at the intermission.
As impossible as it seems, things got worse!
Russellville didn’t break double figures for almost another three minutes. Devonta Bryant’s tip-in with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter cut
the lead to 26-11. Still BGH expanded the margin to 20 at 33-13 on Tevin Barksdale’s 3-point play with 3:05 showing on the third-quarter clock.
Then the tide turned toward the Panthers.
Bryant scored on an assist by D.J. Quarles, Kevin Temple put together a 3-point play, Charleston Sydnor hit a pair of free throws, and Temple
swished a 3-pointer. Bowling Green got a free throw to fall, but Quarles hit a layup with nine seconds remaining to cut the lead to single digits
(34-25) entering the final quarter.
The Panthers weren’t through. Temple scored three points again on a layup and a free throw. In fact, the Panthers hit 14 free throws without a
miss during the comeback with Damian Elam, Temple, Bryant and Quarles connecting.
Trailing by only one point with 3:05 remaining, the Panthers had the game well in hand. The only drawback was that their most experienced player
and their only all-season regional performer, Elam, had fouled out with over 12 minutes remaining in the game.
The free throw string came to an end when Sydnor missed a pair with 3:05 left. But then Bryant hit the second of two free throws to tie the score
at 41-41 with 2:04 left in the game.
BGH, however, shut the Panthers down the remainder of the game for a 44-41 Purples win. Barksdale, who always seems to have the ball in his hands
at the end of games, scored the winning three points as part of his game-high 17. He also tied Quarles for game-high rebounds with 8.
Russellville’s Trevor Clark rebounded Barksdale’s miss of a second free throw with 26 seconds. The Panthers worked for a shot, and Coach Pardue
called timeout with 10 seconds left. Three-point shooters Temple and Daniel Pardue were in the lineup, but they didn’t get the ball for a shot.
A potential tying 3-pointer put up by D.J. Quarles came off the front of the rim with a little over a second left, and BGH rebounded and held the
ball for the final buzzer.
Temple, who got a rare start after being named player of the game in Saturday’s win over Allen County-Scottsville, led the Panthers with 13 points.
Bryant had 9 and Quarles 8.
The Panthers doubled their shooting percentage of 36.6 in the second half but finished with a frigid 27.8 percent in the game, including 2 of 8
from long range. RHS out-rebounded the Purples 33-30. Supporting Quarles were Elam with 5 and Bryant, Clark and Sydnor with 4 each. The Panthers made
only 5 turnovers in the second half, finishing with 16. BGH had only 11 turnovers. Komero Neblett was credited with 2 of the Panthers 5 steals.
The most impressive stat was the Panthers’ 19 of 24 free throw shooting. Elam and Quarles went 4 for 4, Bryant 5 of 6, Temple 4 of 6, and Sydnor 2
of 4. The Purples got only 9 of 17 foul shots to fall.
Russellville finished with a 20-10 record. Bowling Green improved to 25-6.
Bowling Green, which had survived a 3-overtime nailbiter against Cumberland County on Saturday, survived this contest, too, and went on to beat
Franklin-Simpson 54-47 in Tuesday’s championship game.
Score by quarters:
1) BGH 8-4, 2) 21-9, 3) 34-25, Final)
Bowling Green 44, Russellville 41
RHS (41)
Kevin Temple 13, Devonta Bryant 9, D.J. Qaurles 8, Damian Elam 4, Charleston Sydnor 4, Daniel Pardue 3, Clark, Neblett, Hampton
BGH (44)
Tevin Barksdale 17, Charlie Williams 9, Jeb Richardson 8, Victor Smith 4, Daurion Ray 3, Tommie Boyce 3, Turner, Geegan, Gorman, Geegan, E. Smith,
Hollis