BG Notches Nice Win Over Drake

Not saying Drake is going to be a Sweet Sixteen team or anything, but this was a solid matchup for the Falcons and BG was able to put them away with relative ease--thanks to finally making some shots--and at 6-2 hopefully the team can keep building.  My own view is that while the schedule is soft, the team is a little bit better than I expected them to be so far.  Alcegaire, in particular, is making a real difference.

Most of the first half was tightly contested, with the leading changing hands a number of times.  It was tied 30-30 and then BG went on an 8-0 run to lead 38-30 with about 2 minutes left.  The Bulldogs rallied to cut the deficit to four at the half.  Four minutes into the second half the game was tied again, and BG went on a 3-minute 11-3 run (5 points from Denny) to take a lead they would not relinquish.  Drake ran the lead to 2 again, but BG went on an 11-1 run to pop it up to 12 with 6 minutes left and from then on in the lead only dipped inside 10 once as the Falcons cruised home with the 75-63 win.

The difference in this one was shooting.  BG has struggled to make shots--especially from 3FG range--in its earlier games.  Not so yesterday.  BG shot 49% overall and 65% from 3FG (which is just ridiculous...11 of 17) and when you do that you are going to be very difficult to beat.  BG had 1.14 points per possession, which is really good.  Meanwhile, Drake was supposed to be the hot shooting team, but they shot 42% and 25% and that role reversal was the difference in the game.  All the other measures were very similar.

Individually, Zack Denny was the man of the night.  He's been slumping a little bit, but he hit 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting and 4 of 5 from 3FG.  He also added 7 rebounds.  Wes Alcegaire also had a very nice game, scoring 17 on 5 of 11 and 3 of 6 shooting...he's a very solid MAC player.  Pep Joseph, who has been struggling to find his rhythm this year had 10 points on 4 of 8 and 2 of 2 shooting.  He also had 4 assists with 3 turnovers.  Spencer Parker did not score much, but he added 9 rebounds and 5 assists to go with 3 turnovers.

So, BG is 6-2 with 5 straight wins.  They travel to play SE MO State on Tuesday...they are 0-7 against the #35 schedule to date in the country with only one really bad loss.  BG ran the table on their homestand but have not played a true road game since FGCU.  It remains very interesting to watch this program evolve under Coach Huger.