Youngstown State.....BG Gets Needed Win

Well, after a pretty weak performance against North Dakota-a team you'd like to think BG could beat--they came right back the next day to play Youngstown State, and it was a game where they played much better and picked up a needed win.  I'm not saying it was a season-saving win or anything, but I feel like when you start to put losses together, you can end up in one place and with a win you're a least in a place where you know you can win.  You know how it is.  It is a struggle but you can struggle in the middle or at the bottom, and it would be better if it could be the middle.

While the lead for BG was never huge, it was consistent.  BG took the lead 11-8 in the first half and never trailed again.  BG popped it up to 10 with 2:48 left in the first half and from then in the Penguins got it down to 3, and then BG had an 11 point lead with about 6 minutes left and it was never a one possession game again. BG ended up winning by 7.

BG had two key wins that were the difference.  There was a slight advantage in field goal shooting.  Overall BG shot 45% and Youngstown shot 37%.  The difference you see here was much closer because the Penguins took nearly half of their shots from beyond the arc...and in fact shot 42% from beyond the arc, which was better than the overall shooting and that increases their overall effective FG%.  Anyway, the other advantage was FT shooting.  This was a disaster for BG against North Dakota, but BG was much better--though not great--making 19 out of 28--while YSU only made 10 of 19.

Individually, BG had five players in double figures, which was a nice change of pace after wondering if we had any effective scorers after Saturday's game.  Wes Alcegaire led the team with 21 points on 7 of 16 shooting and 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and 7 rebounds.  Denny had 17 on 5 of 10 shooting, 11 rebounds and 3 steals.  Rasheed Worrell, after having 1 point in the last 2 games, scored 15 points on 7 of 7 shooting.  Ismail Ali had 11 points on 2 of 4 shooting to go with 7 assists over 2 turnovers.  Finally, Spencer Parker had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 turnovers.

BG finishes the trip to Florida Monday night playing Florida Gulf Coast, which beat Youngstown State in 3OT and then beat North Dakota relatively easily in the 2nd game.