Falcons Win on Turn Back the Clock Night

No one announced that it was Turn Back the Clock Night at the Stroh Center last night.

But BGSU and EMU provided the 2,000+ fans in attendance with a display of basketball that would have looked perfectly normal in the pre-shot clock days...when the balls had laces...and the two-hand set shot was the offensive weapon.  It would have looked right at home in Eppler.

BG won the game 46-44, a game they absolutely had to have.  It is the lowest winning point total for a BG team since March of 1976, the second to last game ever coached by Pat Haley.

It was a dreadful night of offensive basketball.  People are going to talk about how it was a "defensive struggle" and if these two teams were not among the 50 worst shooting teams in college basketball, I might buy it.

EMU shot 28% for the game...they made 5 second half field goals.  BG shot 35% from the game, and 23% from 3.  Compounding the awful shooting was turnovers.  If BG has had a saving grace on offense, it was that they took care of the ball.  As poorly as we shoot, we just can't afford to give up possessions.

In a 60 possession game, BG turned the ball over 20 times, which is 33.3% of its possessions and nearly double our normal rate.  EMU turned the ball over 17 times.

So it was a turnover and missed shot plagued game.

College Basketball Stats

A'uston Calhoun shot 7 of 11 for BG, which just puts a sharper spotlight on the other players.  BG's guards (Crawford, Orr, Clarke, Henderson, Erger) shot 9 of 34 for the game.

As you might expect, it was a tight game most of the way.  With 5:13 left, the game was tied at 41.

With 2:32 left, EMU made a FT to go up 44-41...the last points they would score on the night.  Calhoun had a layup off a scramble and BG had it down to 1 with 1:48 left.

The final minute+ was highly frustrating....topped off by an exciting finish.

BG had the ball with a chance to take the lead.  BG calls time to set their play up.  As long as I watch this team, I will never understand how we can call time out and then come out and see that the play was to dribble around the perimeter, work a couple ball screens, be moving away from the basket with :05 left on the clock and then launch a low percentage jumper.

Coach said something in the presser about EMU being able to take you out of your plans.  If it only happened against EMU, that would be one thing, but this team cannot get a good shot in late game situations and last night we were barely able to penetrate the 3-point arc.

So, on the first possession, we ran the clock down and Calhoun missed a jumper.  EMU cleared the board and BG got a stop.  ANOTHER TIMEOUT.  This time, BG gets the ball upcourt and Crawford just shoots it.  He missed it, but Chauncey crashed the lane really hard, went to the floor for the ball and created a tie-up and BG had the arrow.

BG had one more chance.  Timeout Falcons with :12 left.  Crawford had the ball on the inbound, there was nothing open but he ended up getting some traffic at the top of the key and launched a 3-ball from approximately the Sebo Center and this time he hit it and BG had a 2 point lead with about 7 seconds left.

I give Crawford credit.  He was having a dreadful night (more later) but he still was pulling the trigger at the end when the team needed it.  There was only one way BG scores on that last possession and he was willing for it to be him or not be him.

Anyway, EMU called time and then they had more than enough time to get a shot off.  However, when they got the ball to Thompson, Chauncey Orr really made him work for it, didn't foul him and then forced Thompson to take a guarded, long-distance shot that fell short and the Falcons at least had the win.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Obviously, Crawford is the hero of the game, but you can't look past Orr in the last minute.  He made two huge plays.  Without that offensive rebound, we probably lose.

For BG, the only player with a strong individual performance was Calhoun, who had 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting and 7 rebounds.  Crawford had 11 on 4 of 16 shooting with 4 turnovers and 9 freaking turnovers.  (Coach said in the post-game said that some of our turnovers were because of how we were attacking their zone, a statement that is somewhat like saying we wore our tire our driving on roads.)

Anthony Henderson had 9 points on 3 of 8 shooting.  He's certainly not there but he is improving and the team needs what he does really badly.   He was 2-5 from 3FG.

Holmes had 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in 20 minutes.

As if in summary, I saw on twitter this morning that 52 years ago on this very day, James Darrow, who was honored at last night's game, scored 52 points in a game.  Just him.

BG improves to 1-1 in the MAC.  The season looks rough in general but very rough with a home loss to EMU this early.  That fate was avoided.  Next, BG travels to Oxford seeking the season's first road win.