Falcons Lose 2nd Straight Heart-Breaker

Another night in what is turning into a long season...BG lost their 2nd straight buzzer beater and this one was even more heart-wrenching than the first one.

Look, the Akron thing was a different story.  BG had been down most of the game and even if Diggs doesn't make that shot the game is still going into OT, and you don't know but you figure BG has at best a 50/50 shot.  The game was far from won if he missed that shot.

Last night was different.  BG had led the entire way.  Kent's biggest lead of the game was 1 point.  And, if Kent doesn't nail that 3, BG wins. In fact, if they just hold him to a deuce there's an overtime on the way.  BG had already stopped them once with a Black blocked shot...so BG had to defend the basket for 3 seconds.  And, Kent did not have a timeout to set up a play.

Nonetheless, they found their shooter and he was open and he drained a buzzer beater off the inbound pass and BG had another brutal defeat.

This one was different.  You needed to get this one.  You had it most of the way and you needed to defend for 3 seconds and Kent made the play.

BG has now lost 5 out of 6 after the back to back wins over WMU and OU and is now in 10th place in the MAC.

NCAA Basketball

It was an up and down gain.  Senderhoff decided to bench his starters at the beginning of the game and was rewarded by seeing the Falcons rip off a 13-0 run to open the game.  He put the starters back in again and with 8 minutes left in the half Kent had the lead.  Things switched back again and BG went on a 13-4 run to end the half (about 6 minutes) and lead by 8 at the break.

BG punched the lead up to 11 early in the half, but Kent scored 10 straight in just over 2 minutes to make it close.  The remainder of the half was closely contested.  BG led by 5 with 4 minutes left, but Kent closed on an 11-5 run to win the game, including the sequence mentioned above.

It is difficult for a game to have closer stats than this one did.  It was not a pretty contest.  Both teams had 19 turnovers (27.5% of possessions) which is awful.  BG had .88 points per possession and Kent .9, both of which are borderline stagnant.  Nobody got to the line very much--in fact, Kent had 19 fouls and BG only netted 11 free throws.  Offensive rebounds were even as well.

The difference was shooting.  BG shot better than Kent--46.3% to 39.7%.  However, Kent had 22 3FG attempts, which are riskier shots, and they made 41% of them, which is a lot.  In total, the difference in the game was Kent making 9 3FGs and BG making 4.

College Basketball

Individually, the story of the game was Kent native Cam Black, who had a career night.  He scored 18 points on 9 of 11 shooting, added 9 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks, including the last second block that set up the final sequence.

Jehvon Clarke also had 18 points on 7 of 16 shooting, which is reasonable, and he added six assists over 1 turnover.  Anthony Henderson had 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting, 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers.

Besides Black, BG's inside game struggled.  Spencer Parker had 7 points on 2 of 6 shooting and 5 turnovers, and Richaun Holmes had a season-low 4 points and took only 5 shots.  After 12 straight games in double figure for scoring, he has now been in single digits in 3 of the last 6 (during which time BG is 1-5).  I know teams are focusing on him, and I think Clarke and Henderson have produced as a result.

So, that is the story of a disappointing loss for the Falcons.  They play at Ball State on Saturday.  The Cardinals are 1-10 in the MAC and 4-18 overall.  Two of those 4 wins are non D1 wins.  You have to think that this is one you could win.  Problem is, that's exactly what they think when they see us coming.