Falcons Fall in Muncie

The Falcons dropped the game last night in Muncie.  The game appeared to evolve pretty much as everyone expected...it was unlikely coming in that anyone would score 60 points and that is precisely what happened.  One team did not score 50, in fact.

With 10 minutes left in the game, BG was down 13.  As has often been the case, BG played well coming down the stretch, going on a 7 minute, 12-1 run to cut the lead to 2 with about 3 minute left. But from there on in, it was Ball State who made the plays.  BG had a shot go in and out that could have tied the game with 2:25 left, then Ball State made 2 free throws.  On BG's next possessions, we had three shots at the basket but none of them fell, and then Scaife raced to the other end of the court and buried a three to put the lead at 7 and that was the end of the game.

If a couple of those shots go down, we might be talking about a different story.  On the other hand, you probably can't make a living being down double digits on the road with 10 minutes left to play.

NCAA Basketball

Ball State was up to billing on the defensive end, preying on BG's inconsistent shooters to the tune of a 36% FG night.  Ball State also got to the line 26 times, and even including garbage time fouls, that is a pretty impressive performance.  I am sure that the coaching staff is not happy that BG tried 21 3s and made only 4, but it sounded from Todd Walker's call that Ball State was doing a really good job keeping the ball out of the post, as well as getting our big men into foul trouble.

As you can see below, however, it was FGs and FTs that made the difference.

NCAA Basketball

Scott Thomas had a rough shooting night but still ended up with a 10/10 double double--not to mention 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks over 0 turnovers--and Jakubowski and Brown both had 13 points.  Marc Larson stepped into the foul-trouble void well with 28 effective minutes (9 points and 8 boards). 

Essentially, you had a game that unfolded exactly as expected, and a Ball State team that is playing well, with confidence, and is used to being in really close games had the closing power this time.