Seventeen points was as close as Bowling Green came to the Bulldogs on Tuesday night at the Montgomery County Invitational. Raef Yager made sure of it.
The blowout lead Mexico had built over three …
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Seventeen points was as close as Bowling Green came to the Bulldogs on Tuesday night at the Montgomery County Invitational. Raef Yager made sure of it.
The blowout lead Mexico had built over three periods on their way to a 59-42 win in the season opener began to erode in the final segment. The final eight minutes began with a comfortable 51-24 margin. But the Bobcats went on a 9-2 run and then dropped in back to back shots, with a plus one thrown in, bringing the score to 55-38.
Yager responded with a driving lay up. And when Bowling Green’s Gunnar Bryant scored on a put back to close the deficit to 17 a second time, Yager drew a foul and drained two from the line. With time winding down, the gap again at 17 and the Bobcats battling for one last score to make things respectable, he outmuscled everyone in the paint to haul in a rebound, allowing Mexico to run out much of the remaining clock.
“They just kept climbing,” Yager said. “I knew I could still be aggressive.”
The Bulldogs controlled the pace from the start, scoring quickly and forcing turnovers. Yager rolled one in to start things off, Jordan Mitchell hit two from the line and followed up with a lay up. Then Drew Blevins pounded straight down the lane for a powerful score.
Before two minutes had elapsed, Mexico was up 8-0. When Isaiah Reams peeled into the paint for another basket at the 3:29 mark, it was 16-0. Michael White made it 20-1 a minute later.
Bowling Green hit their first points from the floor just before the buzzer.
“Yes, but no at the same time,” White said when asked if he was pleased with the way the Bulldogs played. Citing turnovers that began to plague the team after the first quarter, he added “We could have done a lot better.”
Mexico outscored the Bobcats 24-3 in the opening frame, edged them 12-11 in number two and put up 15 to Bowling Green’s 10 in the third. But the final period turned in the designated visitors favor.
“We were up by a lot.” Blevins noted. “We could have controlled the game.”
Head coach Darren Pappas said that the team lost defensive structure at times as they pushed the pace on offense, allowing for turnovers and handing the opposition some fast break points. So while the outcome was not truly in doubt, both players and coaches saw room for improvement.
Yager referenced the 2019-20 season, when Mexico allowed several leads to slip away. So he returned to the floor in the fourth quarter on a mission.
“That’s a senior being a leader,” Pappas said of Yager’s late 4 point run and important rebound. “We’re going to need that from him.”
Nine different Bulldogs put points on the board during the game, led by Blevins’ 15. Reams scored 10, Yager had 9, White put up 8 and Mitchell added 6.
Daeye Miller (4), Dominic McKeown (3), Peyton Willer and Dante Billups (2 each) also contributed to the runaway.
