Bowling Green School struggled against a tough Simpson Academy team in a 64-27 setback at home Friday.
“We couldn’t get anything to fall and they play real physical and my team just wasn’t ready for their physicality,” Bowling Green School coach Jaron Edwards said. “They’re way bigger, way stronger than us and it hurt us at the beginning because they came out to a quick start. That big lead they had, we just couldn’t come back from it.”
Bowling Green struggled offensively early on, as Simpson went out to a 12-0 lead.
The run began when Bowen Kelly made a shot after grabbing an offensive rebound with 5:34 on the clock. Josh Flynt made it 6-0 after he made a pair of free throws each on a pair of trips to the line. Morgan Leonard made a steal and Kelly hit the layup for an 8-0 lead. Two Simpson steals led to Joe Berry making two layups and it was 12-0 with 3:18 left.
Rece Dillon put Bowling Green on the board with a pair of free throws to make it 12-2.
Simpson scored the final five points of the period to take a 17-2 lead through the first quarter.
Simpson had a 26-10 lead with 4:11 to go in the first half when Bowling Green scored five in a row.
Braden Edwards passed to Drew Wagner for a field goal at the 3:48 mark. The two connected for another bucket 33 seconds later and Nathan Jenkins split from the line. It was 26-15 with 1:50 left.
Simpson tallied the half’s final four points. It was 30-15 at the break.
The lead was still 15 at 35-20, but Simpson scored the last six points of the third quarter. Flynt made a layup with about 2:50 left. Berry made a layup after a Simpson steal and Kelly was good for two more with two seconds to go. It was 41-20 through three, as Simpson went on for the 64-27 win.
Wagner topped Bowling Green with eight points.
Jackson Dobraska recorded six points while Jace Schexnider had five, Edwards posted four and Dillon and Jenkins added two each. Dobraska made two 3-pointers and Schexnider had one.
Kelly led all scorers with 34 points.
Flynt posted 12.
Berry recorded eight while Cole Groover tallied six, Warner Watkins had four and Drew Williams added two. Groover made two 3-pointers.
Bowling Green bounced back from the loss with a 52-45 victory over East Rankin Academy at home Saturday.
Schexnider was Bowling Green’s leading scorer with 15 points. Schexnider dished out an assist and made a steal. He made a pair of 3-pointers.
Wagner recorded 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Dobraska posted nine points, six boards and a steal.
Edwards filled up the stat sheet, going for seven points, 11 boards, five assists, seven steals and he blocked a shot.
Dillon tallied seven points, five boards and a steal.
Jenkins had four points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Sammy Phelps added a rebound in the victory.