It was one of those games you face in late January in the MAC. There's rarely an easy night, especially when you are still growing, as the Falcons are. EMU comes in having a dreadful year, but they bolt out to a 12-2 lead on the Falcons floor and the game is on. BG begins dipping into the bench, and eventually gets back to a 3-point halftime lead.
In the second half, BG led by 6 before EMU actually took the lead with 12 minutes left. The game ping-ponged back and forth for four minutes, and then BG got five straight stops, and scored 7 points (5 by Scott Thomas) and led by 8. BG was doing a real good job of closing that out, with Danny McElroy hitting a key shot with 2 minutes left to put BG up 8 again. In fact, BG was up 9 with :34 left, under what should be pretty comfortable circumstances.
It did not, in fact, end quite as nicely as all that. BG committed 2 fouls, had a turnover, and missed 2 free throws in those last seconds, and a near turnover that was saved only because BG had the arrow. There was also a very close call where EMU's Coach Charles Ramsey flipped out because he wanted another jump ball call, but alas, a foul was called and that was that. Now, BG was up 4 when that happened, so as loud as Ramsey wants to yell, it wasn't like the game was in the balance.
As frustrating as that time was, EMU never had the ball and a chance to tie the game, and the Falcons ground out a win that really needed.
Here was the big part of the game. First, the Falcons struggled with starting guards Joe Jakubowski and Luke Kraus on the floor. They both checked out, and more or less, did not check back in. Joe played 4 minutes and Kraus played 6. Meanwhile, though, Jordan Crawford and Dee Brown played very effectively and kept the Falcons competitive at guard.
Even more importantly, though, was that BG had foul trouble on the front line. Torian Oglesby got his 3rd foul 10 seconds into the half and his 4th foul with 14:40 left, and Calhoun got his 3rd with 17:51 and his 4th with 9:15.
This with the Falcons facing the team with Brandon Bowdrey, probably the top power man in the MAC. Coach Orr went down the bench to Danny McElroy, who has played off and on, and Mike Dabney, who has not played any significant minutes since the games at Calihan Hall.
Those guys certainly delivered when the team needed it. Dabney played only 15 minutes, but added 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 key blocked shots, and McElroy played 23 minutes with 6 points and 11 rebounds. He had some really tough boards in heavy traffic and made a huge contribution to the win.
Just to put it in perspective, Dabney had not played at all since SLU, and had played over ten minutes only once, against Detroit. But Coach Orr said after the game that he practices well and had the coach's confidence because of that. Obviously, he tied or equalled career highs in points, rebounds and blocks.
McElroy, meanwhile, played only 9 minutes against Akron and 2 against Toledo, yet was able to make this contribution out there today.
And, not to belabor the point, but they did it when the team really needed it.
Scott Thomas had a really good game, if only cursed by the fact that we are used to it. He had 16 points and 4 rebounds on 6-9 shooting, for an offensive rating of 178. Crawford had 14 points on 6-8 shooting, 7 assists and 4 rebounds for an offensive rating of 139.
On a team basis, BG shot 50% for the game, and in both halves, for a very solid night. The game was slow paced (62 possessions), and BG had 1.09 points per possession. While EMU had a respectable 1.01 points per possession, they only shot 39% for the game. Eastern was blistering in the first half with 70% from 3, and then 2-12 in the second half, but their inside game picked up in response. As you can see below, basket-making was the difference in the game.
A last note. Bowdrey is a really good player. He went off for 25 points and 15 rebounds. We had no serious answer for him, and he has a really nice touch around the basket. (Offensive rating 138). He is as good a player as the MAC has.
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