Heartbreaking loss, Part I

It was a heartbreaking result to get...on the road, major conference team and the Falcons had several chances to win the game and were just one play short from what would have been a huge win.

This is not to be critical.  I think we played pretty well and we are ahead of where I thought we would be at this point.

Having said that, the game was right there and it could have been and a triple overtime loss, while great entertainment, has to just rip the heart out of our guys.

I just listened to the presser and Coach Orr was about as down as I have heard him.  He normally is, to say the least, pretty evenly keeled, and he was proud of the effort but you could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"Tough, tough, tough game," he said.

And he's right about that.

Look, with 14 minutes left, BG was down 12 points.  BG went on a 20-6 run over the next 6 minutes, with 12 of those points coming from Jordon Crawford, who had not scored at all in the first half.

That run continued and BG was leading by 4 with less than 90 seconds left.  With 1:07 left Crawford nailed another 3 and BG had a 7 point lead and you just gotta figure you get the win at that point.  That's a huge lead for one minute.

USF came down and hit a 3 with :44 left to reduce the deficit to 4.  BG turned the ball over but then got a turnover on the other end of the floor and now had :22 left with a 4 point lead.  They fouled Calhoun, who had made 20 straight free throws, but missed the front end of the 1 and 1, and USF came down and hit a layup to cut it to 2 with :14 left.

They fouled Calhoun again, this time he split the pair with :10 left and USF came down and hit a clutch 3 to force overtime.

No two ways about it.  That's very disappointing.  One free throw, one basket, and the game is over.  (Todd Walker also mentioned that BG had the chance to extend the lead earlier and had some empty possessions which also would have made the difference).

So, onto OT.  On the road, you gotta feel like we're in real trouble.  This time it was the Bulls who led by 4 with :33 left.  After the lights literally went out and there was an extended break to fix them, USF missed the front end of two 1 and 1s and Jordon Crawford got into the lane and made 2 layups and then Holmes blocked a buzzer beater and this time it was the Falcons cheating death.

From then on, however, it was the Falcons who had the chances to win.  The second overtime was pretty slow...Crawford hit another bucket to put BG up 3 with :32 left, but Victor Rudd did it again, running down the floor and nailing another 3 to tie the game.

Still, BG had the ball with :25 left and coming out of a timeout.  They held for the last shot and Crawford took and missed a tough jumper.

If you think this is crazy, you actually haven't seen anything yet.

Teams get tired in OT and you see less scoring, and in fact, that's how these things keep going so long.  So for the first four minutes of the 3rd OT, USF did not score at all.  BG had hoops from Calhoun and Crawford and led by 4.  Rudd hit a layup to cut the lead to 2 with :59 left.

BG ran clock and with :32 Erger turned the ball over.  However, there was a scramble on the floor and USF called a timeout they did not have, which is a technical foul.  Crawford hit both free throws. With the Falcons now up 4, USF came down and for reasons which are hard to fathom was allowed to drive right into the lane and get a basket with a foul.  They missed the free throw, and with :27 it was a 2 point lead.

And here is the game's key (or at least conclusive) segment.

BG inbounded the ball under heavy pressure.  BG threw a long pass to Anthony Henderson who was racing to the basket.  Coach Hopson said after the game that he should have just pulled it out, but he went to the basket and if he gets the hoop then BG's up 4 and the game is close to being in hand.  Instead, he is blocked and neither kills the time nor gets the basket.

Or the foul.  The Falcon's bench was apparently going crazy about the lack of a foul call.  Even in the post-game, Coach Orr, who never complains about the officials, indicated that he felt Henderson was fouled.

USF, of course, runs right down the floor, Rudd drives the baseline, gets the basket and also a blocking foul on Erger, another call that Coach Orr cited as being doubtful, in his mind.

Of course, Rudd nails the free throw and now they lead by 1 with :13 left.  BG still had one last chance, but Calhoun missed a 3 and that was it.

NCAA Basketball Stats

That's the story.  BG had about 5 chances to put it away, and it would have been a very high quality win.  They didn't and it goes down as a "tough, tough, tough" loss.