After cruising to victories in their first two games of the City of Hopkinsville Toyota Holiday Classic, the Hopkinsville Tigers saw a step up in competition on Wednesday when they took the court against undefeated and highly-ranked Bowling Green.
While the Purples also rolled in their opening two matchups, they needed eleven 3-pointers and 29 points from Turner Buttry to turn back the Tigers 70-63 and improve to 9-0.
After a back-and-forth 1st quarter, Olajuwon White scored on consecutive possessions to give the Tigers a 10-8 lead. However, in a sign of things to come, the Purples’ Turner Buttry drilled a 3 from the corner just ahead of the buzzer for an 11-10 Bowling Green advantage.
Bubba Leavell had a pair of 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter, with the second giving the Tigers a 23-22 edge with two minutes left in the half. With seconds on the clock, Antonio Williams scored on a tap-in for the Tigers and they led 27-24 at the break.
Hoptown opened up a four-point lead after another 3 from Leavell, but the 3rd quarter belonged to Buttry and the Purples. Buttry poured in 18 points in the frame, including four 3-pointers, and his last one with :15 left gave Bowling Green a 55-42 advantage.
The margin stayed around 10 points for much of the 4th quarter, but a Daisjaun Mercer 3-pointer with 2:04 to play got the Tigers within seven at 66-59. With :23 left, KC Cabiness scored in the lane to trim the lead to five, but that would be as close as Hopkinsville could get.
The Tigers see a three-game winning run come to an end to stand at 4-3 overall. They will look to get back on track after Christmas when they travel to Eastern High School to take part in the City of Middletown Holiday Classic.
Bowling Green 11 13 31 15 — 70
Hopkinsville 10 17 15 21 — 63
Bowling Green (9-0) — Buttry 29, Wardlow 13, Starks 12, Barber 9, Ritter 4, Bailey 2, Gurley 1
Hopkinsville (4-3) — Leavell 14, Mercer 13, Manning 8, Cabiness 7, Smith 6, Williams 6, Johnson 5, White 4
