Bowling Green brought multiple local connections to Caldwell County Saturday afternoon, but the Purples left Princeton with a 65-63 victory after a physical contest at the CAB gym.
Bowling Green head coach D.G. Sherrill played on Caldwell’s last team to reach the 2nd Region final in 1987.
Purples sophomore guard Hudson Aikins is the son of former Tiger Trevor Aikins — and first cousin to Caldwell sophomore Pax Aikins.
The Aikins family figured prominently down the stretch.
Pax gave Caldwell a 59-57 advantage with a 3-pointer with 2:11 to play.
Hudson countered with a 3 at the 1:47 mark to put Bowling Green back in front 60-59.
The Purples never trailed after that, but Caldwell battled down to the last second before suffering the two-point setback.
The Tigers (11-11) led for much of the contest but succumbed to Bowling Green’s press at times late in the game.
Caldwell took its biggest lead at 51-44 late in the third quarter.
However, Bowling Green (14-10) tied the game going into the fourth quarter on a steal and 3-pointer by Embree Dotson from the midcourt logo at the buzzer.
The teams traded the lead several times in the final frame before Bowling Green finally prevailed.
Anthony Davis led the Purples with 20 points. Dotson had nine while Braylon Anderson added eight. Hudson Aikins and Tre Thomas each had seven.
Caldwell got 25 points from Daelyn Lander. Pax Aikins had 16 and Dayton Wilson nine. Kese Wilson had 13 rebounds and four points.
It was only the second meeting all-time between the two schools. Bowling Green has taken both.
Caldwell will play at home again on Monday when it hosts Crittenden County for homecoming.
Bowling Green 17 16 18 14 — 65
Caldwell County 13 19 19 12 — 63
Bowling Green (14-10)—An. Davis 20, Dotson 9, Anderson 8, Thomas 7, Aikins 7, Muhire 5, Doyle 4, Ar. Davis 2, Brooks 2, Slaten 1.
Caldwell County (11-11)—Lander 25, Aikins 16, D. Wilson 9, Boyd 4, K. Wilson 4, Mitchell 3, Roach 2.
