Saturday, February 07, 2009

Rain of Threes puts out Chips Fire

The Falcons picked up their fifth straight win on Saturday night in Mt. Pleasant, taking home a hard fought 67-61 win. The key element to the game was the Falcons ability to hit the trey coming down the stretch, which kept a persistent Chippewa team at bay. Scott Thomas hit 3 treys in a relatively short period of time, and Brian Moten, who has been struggling for weeks, finally found his stride when the game as on the line and canned five threes.

That, and a night where BG shot free throws really well and Central did not, and you have a victory on a night where we easily could have lost the game. And I think that is the point as much as anything. On the road, we trailed for almost the whole game, but we kept it within reach, and then finally put the game away. The Falcons also came up with some key blocked shots in the final possessions, notably by Chris Knight and Nate Miller.



It certainly wasn't a pretty victory, but I don't think we get those kind. We didn't play very good defense in the first half, and Marcus Van was blowing us away. We also shot horribly, and over the entire game we made far too many turnovers. And while Central is not that good a team, I think that tonight is the kind of game this team would have lost this year and maybe in the early parts of this year.



In additon to Moten, who finished with 19, Nate Miller also had 1o points, 12 boards and six assists. Clements added 13 points.

Instead, we took the blows and did enough to win.

I understand that we are breezing through the intra conference games, and that the real tests lie ahead. The West has STILL only won two games against the East. But that's five in a row, and that's a good thing for this team.

Different people seem to be coming through on different nights. To wit, Otis Polk had an off night after some strong games. Moten came through in this game, as did freshmen Scott Thomas. Ultimately, the test will be whether we have the pieces we need in each game at the Q. It is clear we do not have anyone--with the possible exception of Nate Miller--who can produce day in and day out.

Of course, those players are few and far between. You don't just have them hanging around. But, if anyone can put it together, anything could happen.

Of course, there are about six teams in the MAC right now who could say the same thing.

No comments :