Bowling Green hung with Sylvania Southview for three quarters, and then the roof fell in for the Bobcats during the fourth quarter as the visiting Cougars pulled away for a 62-52 victory Tuesday.
It was the first conference game in the newly-realigned Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division, matching two of the teams expected to finish at or near the top of the standings. Southview improves to 4-1 overall while BG drops to 3-3.
The biggest problem the Bobcats had was trying to stop senior guard Micah Bays, who scored a game-high 27 points to along with seven steals and five rebounds.
Bays was so getting at getting to the rim, that about all BG could do was foul when he got there. Bays was 11-for-15 from the free throw line.
“Once he gets going he’s hard to stop,” BG coach Mason Roth said. “He’s a really good scorer and presents a good problem.
“I thought (BG senior guard) Ahmir (Ruffin) did a good job for the most part, but once he got rolling, he’s tough to stop.”
Southview had their own issues — trying to stop BG’s perimeter shooting — and they held the Bobcats to just 4-of-19 (21%) makes from the arc.
“We know (senior guard Jake) Amspoker and Ruffin are great three-point shooters, so that was our focus this week was to make sure that we chase them off the three-point line and make them drive and attack our two bigs down there,” said Southview coach Dennis Springs.
Amspoker still scored a team-high 23 points and had five rebounds and two steals, but just one triple. Most of his scoring was on jump shots inside of 15 feet, eight-foot floaters that looked indefensible, and he also was able to reach the rim from time to time.
In the first half, BG’s defense forced eight Southview turnovers, and the Cougars hit only 9-of-26 shots (35%) from the field. Even worse, they made just 3-of-10 free throws, but they still led 24-21 at intermission.
Springs was impressed by the Bobcats’ tenacity, which gave the impression that BG was the quicker and more athletic team.
“They are a super tough team, Man,” Springs said. “They play super hard.
“I warned our guys all week that this is probably the hardest playing team that we will see all season. I told them they’re playing hard because of their toughness and they were tougher than us in the first half.”
Sparked by Amspoker, BG opened the second half on a 12-2 run. Amspoker scored on a 15-foot jumper, two 10-foot floaters, and Ruffin had a steal and a layup, giving the Bobcats a 33-26 lead just over three minutes into the half.
However, Southview scored the final six points of the third quarter and then went on a 14-2 run early in the fourth as BG’s offense began to struggle against the Cougars’ half court trap.
Springs thought the trap, which persevered in part because of Southview’s superior size, started to “wear down” the Bobcats. The Bobcats shots were not falling anymore, either.
“We just went cold midway through the third,” Roth said. “We came out really hot, forced a couple turnovers, and we missed a couple and they started going.
“Our defensive effort was really good and we did a good job of making them get the ball out of their best players’ hands. Then, they did a good job adjusting,” Roth continued.
“Give credit to them — the ball stopped going in for us and started going in for them and that’s the game of basketball.”
Southview ended up being the better-shooting team, making 21-of-49 field goals (43%), including 16-of-30 (53%) from the charity stripe, and the Cougars finished with 12 turnovers.
BG shot 32% (18-for-57) from the field, made 12-of-15 free throws (80%), had 16 turnovers, nearly half of them steals by Bays, but the Bobcats did win the battle off the glass by a 40-34 count.
For BG, Ruffin finished with eight points, seven rebounds and two steals and senior guard Brayden Freyman had seven points and six rebounds.
Junior forward Karter Shank scored five points, senior guards Grant Sonner and Garrett Bateson scored three points apiece, and junior forward Tomas Meek grabbed four rebounds.
Southview sophomore forward Jaron Witcher had 16 points and eight rebounds and junior forward Dylan Morrow had five points and five rebounds.
Senior guards Zack Carter and Joey Zobrist scored five points each, junior forward Brandon Ingram scored four points, and junior forward Max Powers had six rebounds for the Cougars.
(photos by Kieran Percival/BGHS)
