BOWLING GREEN — By Jon Webb

Glasgow Daily Times

BOWLING GREEN — Head coach Steve Kirkpatrick told his Falcons they needed to do two things in Wednesday’s game against Russellville.

First, they had to outrebound the Panthers. Second, they needed to limit their turnovers to “12 or 15” to off-set Russellville’s foul court defensive pressure They accomplished one goal. The other proved to be the difference in the game.

Russellville forced 20 Monroe County turnovers to eek out a 49-45 victory in the first round of the Region 4 tournament at Western Kentucky’s Diddle Arena. The Falcons held a three-point lead with just more than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but a late turnover and a missed shot with 6.8 seconds to go shortened Monroe’s first trip to the Region since 2005. Kirkpatrick credited Russellville’s defense — and several Falcon near-misses at the goal — for the defeat.

“We knew what kind of pressure (the Panthers) would bring. And we had a lot of shots that just kind of bounced across the rim,” he said. “But you’ve got to give Russellville credit. Their defensive pressure was the toughest we’ve seen all year.”

The pressure didn’t seem to phase Caleb Sheffield in the first quarter. After Russellville’s Justin Bollenbecker kicked off the contest with a three-pointer at the 7:05 mark, the junior accounted for six of Monroe’s first eight points to help the Falcons grab an 8-6 advantage with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter. Sheffield added four more to outscore the entire Panther squad and send the Falcons into the second with a 12-9 lead.

“We knew Russellville was going to trap (defensively), so (our game plan) was to pass out of the trap where we knew we’d have numbers,” Kirkpatrick said. “I thought Caleb attacked the rim well (in the first quarter) and made acrobatic moves with his body to avoid charges.”

The Falcons’ lead soon vanished when Russellville took off on a 5-0 run is less than a minute to pull ahead by two. The Panthers’ time in front was even shorter, as Tanner Kendall, Keaton Rich and Neil Wilson combined for eight consecutive points that gave Monroe its largest lead of the game at 20-14. The Falcons protected the advantage until Russellville’s Kevin Temple tied the game on a three-point play near the tail end of the half, knotting the teams at 23 all.

The knot continued to tighten in the third. Monroe and Russellville exchanged the lead six times in the stanza, with the Panthers nabbing a 35-34 cushion in the end.

Chad Wilson ruined any Russellville hopes of fattening the lead, though. The freshman scored 19 seconds into the final stanza to put Monroe up by one. A pair of Russellville free throws briefly negated the score, but a Caleb Sheffield field goal and additional Chad Wilson bucket off an assist from older-brother Neil Wilson swiftly swung momentum toward the Falcons and sparked a Panthers timeout.

The timeout worked, albeit briefly. Russellville’s D.J. Quarles and Victor Hampton tied the game with a basket apiece before another Chad Wilson score — a three from the left corner — again elevated Monroe. In the true nature of the game, Temple answered with a three of his own, setting a 43-43 tie with 3:32 remaining in the contest. A Russellville steal and subsequent score put the Panthers up two 35 seconds later. Rich provided the inevitable response in the form of a jump shot that again deadlocked the matchup.

The Panthers utilized the following possession to run more than a minute and a half of clock. The Falcons were forced to foul with 50 seconds to go, and Temple handed Russellville two points worth of breathing room. An errant Caleb Sheffield pass on Monroe’s following possession gave Russellville the ball, but two clanged Panther foul shots provided Monroe another chance to tie. The Falcons were able to advance the ball to the post, but a final Neil Wilson shot hit the side of the rim. Two Bollenbecker free throws pushed Russellville’s lead to four and effectively secured the win.

Caleb Sheffield led Monroe with 14 points, while Rich added 13 and Chad Wilson 10.

The loss ends the high school basketball career of Neil Wilson, whom Kirkpatrick called a “rebounding machine.” It also signals the end of Monroe’s first winning season (13-12) since a 20-9 campaign in 2003-4 and represented Kirkpatrick’s first as leader of the program, but the coach deflected any responsibility for the turn around to his players and assistant coach Sandy Taylor, whom Kirkpatrick competed against as a player at Tompkinsville High School.