Falcons Win Again, Remain in First Place Tie

10 games into the MAC season, this statement is still true:  the Bowling Green Falcons are in first place, tied with 3 other team at 7-3.

This is also true:  last year, BG won 6 games in MAC play.

The 7th win came in DeKalb, and it certainly did not come without struggle.  BG has been getting and conceding big second half leads lately, but for the second straight game made the plays it needed in the final minute to put away the win.

The Falcons won two road games in the week.

The beginning of the game could not have been worse.  BG opened in a man-man, as they normally do, and (in Chris Jans' words), NIU "shredded" it.  with 8 minutes gone in the game, NIU had 18 points.  Meanwhile, BG's offense was dreadful, and the Falcons had only 4.

So, at that point, things are not looking so good.  Jans switched the Falcons to a zone defense and then the Falcons got to work on cutting the deficit.

Which they did.  With 3 minutes left in the half it was down to 9 and then BG went on a 9-0 run to have the game tied with about :30 left.  NIU got a late 3 and led by 3 at the half, but I think it was important that BG had the game tied that late.  That's a nice comeback and you have done from playing your worst basketball in quite a while to being right back in the game.

BG came out of the second half smoking, blasting an 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time.  The Falcons kept the pressure on, and with 8 minutes left in the half stretched the lead to 51-41.  At that point, the second half score was 23-10 in BG's favor.  (Remember, NIU had 18 points in the game's first 8 minutes).

The lead got as high as 13 with 7 minutes left.  NIU battled back, but BG still led by 8 with 3 minutes left.  The score at that point was 63-55, and you'd have to feel like you were in pretty good position.

Unfortunately, BG would not score again until :19 were left, and NIU went on a 7-0 run.  They never tied it, but with :47 left they had the lead down to 1 and BG had the ball.  With :38 BG called time and then with :19 left Jehvon Clarke made a mid-range jumper (for the second game in a row) when the team really, really needed a basket.

BG up 3, NIU came down and got a dunk that was way too easy and BG was up 1 again with :11 left.  NIU latched big time pressure on BG on the inbound (they have seen game film) and BG got the ball to Henderson who was fouled.  There was :06 left.  Henderson made both FTs and BG was up 3 again.

After a timeout, BG elected to foul NIU before they could launch a 3.  That's the right move and I don't understand why more teams don't do it.  Or all teams.  If a 3FG is a low percentage shot, the only lower one is trying to miss a FT on purpose and get the rebound.  As it happened, it almost worked out...NIU made the first, missed the second and then Richaun Holmes very nearly put it back in the cylinder, but he was able to end up with the rebound.  He converted his 2 FTs and that was the game.

NCAA Basketball

Note:  It was a homecoming for Holmes who playing near his hometown and he had a bunch of fans in attendance.  There were also some of the Jans family from Iowa in attendance.

It was actually a day when neither team played effective defense.  The score totals were not that high, but the game had only 63 possessions as well.  BG scored 1.09 points per possession and NIU had 1.03.  BG typically holds opponents to .93 and that's the 6th worst defensive performance of the year.

BG shot 49% and 29% for the game while NIU had 38% and 41%.  Not often you see a team shoot better from 3FG than from 2FG, but NIU shot only 36% on 2FGs against 68% for BG.  How did the game get so close?  The key factor was offensive rebounds.  BG contained this in the first matchup but NIU crashed the boards effectively.  NIU also had +2 advantage in FTs, though BG did shoot 74%.

College Basketball

Richaun Holmes had a big night for the home folks.  He scored 18 on 7 of 11 shooting, had 2 3FGs, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks.  Jehvon Clarke had a nice night too and has to be in the running for best 6th man in the MAC.  He scored 18 on 6 of 10 shooting, making all 4 of his 2FGs and added 4 assists.  Spencer Parker came off the bench for the first time and he seemed to respond, scoring 16 on 6 of 9 shooting and 4 rebounds, including vital scoring as BG got back in the game in the first half.

Beyond Clarke, BG's guards are continuing to struggle to shoot.  Austin did have 4 assists (and 4 turnovers) and Denny had 6 rebounds.

Coach is talking about playing more guys.  Gomez got into the game and contributed 5 solid minutes.  He also talked about playing Tisdale, but JD remains under the weather.

The Falcons now have a home against WMU and travel to Ball State on Saturday.  WMU will be a good test for the Falcons as they play the physical style that has given the Falcons trouble.  Still, we are at a place in the program where you can think that BG has a good shot at winning them both.

Nice, huh?