In the pre-game words of Coach Orr, BG had put themselves "in position to win a championship." And, for about a quarter of the game or so, BG played as well as they are capable of and things were great...guys slashing to the basket, getting fouled, grabbing rebounds--it was great. And then for the final 10 minutes of the game it was back to what we have seen too often and Oral Roberts became the Top Mayans and left the Falcons standing at the altar.
Here's what I mean. About 12 minutes into the first half, ORU was up 24-14. For that remaining 8 minutes, BG outscored the Golden Eagles 21-2 to take a 9 point lead into the locker. Holmes scored 7 points on the run and Spencer had 9.
The game was pretty much even for the first 9 minutes of the 2nd half, as BG led 49-41. Things were still looking pretty good. And there, as they say, "the laughter turned to sadness."
BG was outscored 22-7 for the remaining 11 minutes of the game and that counts a 3 in the last minute, meaning that in the 10 minutes up until that, BG had managed only 4 points...which, if you were to extend things out would mean you would score 16 points in an entire game. (Note the flat line for BG in the 2nd half on the chart below. It is just incredible. Honestly).
And so, ORU won the game by 7 and I guess we saw the best and the worst we are capable of.
It will be interesting to see how good ORU ends up being. This would have been a nice win for the Falcons to get.
ORU had 1.05 points per possession and BG had .93 points per possession, both of which are pretty unwinnable numbers for the Falcons.
We noted in the preview that the teams were pretty similar, and that showed up in the stats. BG and ORU shot pretty even, had the same number of FGs, ORU made only 1 more 3 than BG and had 1 fewer turnover. BG did a great job on its defensive boards and won the rebounding battle. In fact, the difference in the game was at the foul line. ORU had 18 fouls and BG 17...and ORU shot 15 free throws to BG's 12.
However, the Golden Eagles made 13 out of those 15 (87%) and BG continued to be one of the worst FT shooting teams in the country, making 7 out of 12 (58%). There are 6 points right there in an evenly matched game.
Individually, Spencer Parker continued to be the surprise player of the season. He scored 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting to go with 4 rebounds. Anthony Henderson also had his best game of the season, getting 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Cam Black double-doubled at 10 and 13 and Holmes had 9 and 6, though he shot poorly and fouled out. Jehvon Clarke was back to struggling again after a decent game against Presbyterian. He was 3 of 12 shooting, with 3 assists and 4 turnovers.
Orr and Denny did not play. I just throw this out there...it will be interesting to see what happens when Orr comes back. This team needs Parker on the floor...I think you could move Orr to the 2, but you gotta have Parker out there.
BG falls to 2-4, 1-4 in D1 games. BG gets an opportunity on home floor Monday when WKU comes to town. BG did show some improvement in this game, and maybe they can put it all together on home floor with what would be a nice win.
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