And all the laughter turned to sadness

With One Game Left... #MACtion pic.twitter.com/ER8UCi4iDZ
— Jeremy Guy (@JGuyMAC) March 4, 2015

Here's the thing.  As I said, it was coming down to the end and everybody had a chance to play their way into byes and titles and all of that.  But you had to win your way in.  And last night Kent State won their way in and beat BG on the Stroh Center floor.  This leaves BG out of the bye picture unless they win @Buffalo Friday...and the Bulls are scorching hot.  On the other hand, this is the MAC.

BG did not play badly.  Coach Jans said it and I would agree.  Kent State just made shots when they had to.  Kent has a winning tradition and every time BG had a chance to blow the lead to 7 or 8 one of those guards would drill a big shot.  That's what teams do that are hard to beat.

There were some issues at the end...where BG did not play well.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Kent State entered the game as a middle of the pack team shooting the 3FG.  That wasn't what happened last night.  Kent was 13 of 21 from beyond the arc for the game.  That's the highest percentage by far that BG has allowed, though, worringly, the second highest was against Buffalo.  It is also the largest number of 3FGs allowed, and the next highest was 10.

It is also Kent's best 3FG shooting night of the year and ties the most they have made. They made 13 against WMU...but on 31 attempts.

Without that, BG wins this game.  But, you have to give KSU credit, they have a big inside weapon and that opens up the outside and they took advantage.

Our guys fought hard and even with all that gaudy shooting really should have won the game, and that's what makes it an extra-heartbreaker.

One minute into the second half Kent was up by 11.  From there, BG went on a 14-2 run over 4 minutes and popped into the lead.  In fact, you can extend the run out...BG led 57-51 with 12 minutes left, making it a 21-4 run.

Here's where the heartbreak begins.  BG maintained the lead, most of the time in hard-fought, one possession scenarios.  It was an absolute possession-by-possession dogfight but Kent never got into the lead from 14:45 until....

So, with less than 4 minutes left BG again led by 6.  Kent nailed 3FGs on consecutive possessions and BG answered only with a 2FG, so the lead was down to 2.  BG then did what they needed to do...they got 2 stops inside 2 minutes and had the ball leading by 2 with 1 minute left to go.

You run clock, you make a basket, you are up by two possessions and the game is yours.  Place is rocking...it is right there.

Instead, just a crazy, sad, tragic thing happened.  Richaun Holmes had the ball just over the timeline, was under no pressure and he wanted to get it to Clarke.  He bounced the ball to him and Clarke was behind the timeline and it was a 100% unforced error, an over the back call that just stopped all the momentum and energy right in place.

Holmes and Clarke both played heroic games in their Senior Day game at the Stroh and without them there's no lead in the second half, so I'm not being critical.  It was just one of those things, but it was a catastrophe.

Kent came down and drained a 3FG (what else) to take their first lead (+1) in 14 minutes.  There were :46 left on the clock.  BG had the ball, Parker got to the paint but at a bad angle and missed a close shot.  Kent rebounded and BG fouled twice to get into the bonus.

With :13 Kent had a 1-1.  They missed the front end and then BG got a gift, a huge incredible break...Hall was called for a foul on the rebound of the FT and BG was shooting 2 FTs with :12 left in a 1 point game.

Holmes strode down to the line.  I don't think there was a person in the arena who didn't think he was going to hit both.  Up 1, BG would be one stop from victory.  Unfortunately, the officials went to the monitor and determined that it was Dickerson was fouled.  He is one of BG's worst FT shooters and, in the tragic vein of the entire game, missed both FTs.

BG fouled again.  Manley split the pair and BG called time out, down only 2 with :08 left.  They designed a play, popped Clarke behind a double screen, and he had an open look for a game winning 3 and it just didn't go in.  It was close, just didn't fall into the basket.  I totally support playing for the win, we executed the play, the good shooter had the ball, it just didn't fall into the basket.

This time, Kent hit both FTs and Holmes had a 3FG at the buzzer but it was over...81-80.

That's how it happens.  Kent made crazy 3FGs, but BG had them beaten for the entire second half, and failed to execute in the final minute of the game and that meant none of it mattered.  BG went from being 1 minute--even one possesson--from a bye to facing a very tough road to a bye.

It was a truly entertaining game and our guys gave a great effort.  The end reminded me a little of some of the struggles last season in the final minutes...just really sad to see it end that way, just one play from a huge victory...one of those defeats where you are just shocked and quiet for an hour afterwards.

More later.