HOLLAND — When teams figure out that Bowling Green 5-foot-10 senior guard Jacob Amspoker can hit shots from 25 feet, he might have to have go back further to 30 feet. It probably would not make a difference.

Amspoker hit seven triples, including five from 23 to 25 feet, scoring a game-high 31 points to lead BG past Springfield, 63-46, in a Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division tilt Tuesday.

BG had no one else reach double figures, but 10 Bobcats got into the scoring column and they did not need anyone else to put up big numbers.

The Bobcats shot 52% (25-for-48) from the field, and a lot of that came down to Amspoker’s ability to score from anywhere on the floor.

BG improved to 9-10 overall and even their NLL record to 4-4, but any hopes of sharing an NLL title were dashed as Sylvania Southview (14-4, 6-1) defeated Napoleon (12-7, 4-4), 52-49, with two league games remaining on the slate.

Springfield (5-14, 1-7) looked to impose an upset on the Bobcats at the start, grabbing a 17-10 first quarter lead behind the play of freshman guard Kai Taylor, who had eight first quarter points and finished with a team-high 19 points and four rebounds.

Springfield coach Kyle Linehan said the 5-9 Taylor is starting to grow up, and that was visible Tuesday.

“Kai is definitely coming into his own,” Linehan said. “He hit a little bit of a wall midseason, just kind of a freshman wall, and since you can tell the game has just slowed down for him.

“There are still times when he plays like a freshman, tries to do a little bit too much, but his ball-handling, his decision making is something that we will need going forward.”

The Bobcats kicked their offense into gear starting the second quarter, outscoring the Blue Devils, 20-6. Amspoker said the offense was sparked by the defense.

“We picked up the defensive intensity, which got us going in transition, and we were moving the ball better and getting more smart with the ball,” Amspoker said.

BG coach Mason Roth said that defensive intensity meant shutting down Taylor in the second quarter, who scored at will in the opening stanza.

“We actually started to sit down and guard a little bit,” Roth said. “I think our effort was real bad in the first quarter. He’s (Taylor) really good, but we gave him a lot of easy stuff early.

“We weren’t switching ball screens very hard and we gave him a lot of space, and he made some shots, and that’s our own fault for not being ready.

“He still got a couple tough buckets, but the defense made it tough. I thought we guarded a lot better, but midway through the end of the first near the start of the second, we put a group in that really started to guard and got the job done defensively making everything difficult for him.”

BG senior guard Garret Bateson hit a triple to tie the game at 23-23 with three minutes remaining in the half, the only other trey by any Bobcat besides Amspoker.

Then Amspoker followed with a 24-foot swish to give BG a 26-23 lead they would not relinquish. The Bobcats closed the half on a 10-0 run, leading 30-23 at the break.

BG senior guard Brayden Freyman finished with six points and two steals, junior guard Ja’ceous Shannon scored six points, and 6-3 senior guard Ahmir Ruffin had five points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Senior guard Grant Sonner and Bateson put up three points apiece, senior guard Kyle Sickler had two points and two steals, junior forward Tomas Meek scored two points and senior forward Reece Rath added one point.

As good as Amspoker was from beyond the arc, the Bobcats made only 45% (5-for-11) of their free throw attempts, they committed 13 turnovers, and held a 28-25 edge off the glass.

The Blue Devils shot 39% (15-for-38) from the floor, made 12-of-17 from the charity stripe (71%) and were guilty of 16 turnovers, 10 of them steals by the BG defense.

Springfield senior guard Izaac Moses had nine points and two steals, junior guard Nate Pope had six points and two steals, and junior guard Nate Green added six points.

Senior forward Aaron Adams scored four points, junior forward Drew Martin had two points and a team-high six rebounds, and junior guard Camren Whitmire had four rebounds for the Devils.

Friday, BG hosts Division I state-ranked Toledo Whitmer (17-2) in an NLL divisional crossover game, then the final week of the regular season the Bobcats have two Cardinal Division games hosting Clay (12-7, 6-2) on Feb. 20 and at Fremont Ross (5-14, 2-6) on Feb. 23.

Amspoker believes the team has a little momentum going their direction, especially since last Friday’s 57-49 overtime win over Napoleon.

“Obviously we’ve had some ups and downs, but I think we’re on a pretty big up right now after beating Napoleon and now getting this big win, so we just want to keep the momentum going into the tournament now,” Amspoker said.

In the Division II tournament, BG, the No. 3 seed, will host the winner of Toledo Central Catholic (6-14) and Toledo Woodward (3-15) at 7 p.m. on Mar. 1 with the winner advancing to the district semifinals.

“We’re just trying to take it one day at a time,” Roth said. “We’re trying to progress, to play our best basketball come March 1. I imagine it will be Central Catholic and we’ll be ready for them.

“We scrimmaged them this fall so we know what we are getting our hands into. As long as we keep progressing and we take care of what we want, that’s what we are looking for.”