Same Old Story Leads to MBB Win for Falcons

So, as the teams ran into the locker room at halftime, the Falcons found themselves in an all-too-familiar position--losing big, in this case to the tune of 45-34.  And yet, despite that, the Falcons were able to pick up a third-straight home win, 83-81 in yet another thriller.

This one was a little different, in that BG came out hot and cut the lead down but WMU kept pushing it back up again until they had it back to 10 with 6:22 left.  In other words, for all the battling, BG had netted only 1 point by 6 minutes left.

BG then went on a 15-4 run to finally take the lead--though that did not happen until there was 1:13 left on the clock.  So you have a five-minute period where BG was getting a lot of stops, which has been the hallmark of these comebacks.

The last couple minutes were relatively crazy.  This kind of thing sometimes happens.  There was one official who blew an early call that went against BG.  He called Caldwell for tripping a Bronco when the young man only slipped.  During an ensuing timeout, BG played the replay of the call over and over again, like 8 times.

Well, so the part that sometimes happens is that the same official seemed to spend the rest of the night being right in the middle of every big call and emphatically blowing every one of them.

For example, the two Koch FTs that put BG ahead with 1:13 left were the result of a ridiculous call against Brandon Johnson when he was jockeying in the paint for position, same as had been going on the whole game and never called.

WMU was up 1 heading into BG's last possession and BG ran the ball upcourt off a rebound.  So coaches vary.  Some like the timeout, some like to let it roll.  BG let it roll, but Coach admitted after the game that he was trying to call timeout but no one saw him.  So BG let it roll.

Lillard launched a three that missed, but Wilder was called for hitting him on the shot...something that's tough to see when you look back at the replays.  We'll take it, mind out.  There was also the "screen" set on Frye on Ball State's winning shot.  (This game also featured a charging call on a Wilder drive that was just unbelievable).

Anyway, BG down 1, Lillard shooting 3.  His first shot might have been the worst free throw I ever saw.  It chunked onto the flat part of the back of the rim and just bounced forward enough to fall into the basket.  The next two were easy and BG led by 2 and the Broncos came down and got a good look at a 3 but missed the whole.  (Compounding their issues was that Wilder had fouled out on the Lillard shot).

Coach Hawkins left the floor gesturing and shouting at the officials, and it was one of those nights when its tough to play on the road.

No one played much defense in this one.  BG scored 1.27 points per possession and WMU shot 1.24 points per possession.  That's BG's best offensive game this year against a D1 opponent.  (The game was played at WMU's pace of 65 possessions per game).  As you can see, most of it is pretty close.  The key difference was FTs.  Both teams shot a high percentage, but BG made 22 out of 27 and WMU only made 11 out of 14.  WMU was called for 22 fouls and BG 14.

BG played a very tight rotation.  All 5 starters played more than 30 minutes, which means they played most of the game without a true PG in the game.  Koch played 33 minutes, his most this year and that includes some overtime games.  Caldwell, Cummings, Plowden and Fox all had low minute totals.

The big game was Justin Turner.  He shot AWFUL in the previous game, but he was incredibly efficient in this one.  He scored 29 points on 11-13 and 2-3 shooting, plus 5 of 6 at the line and 3 steals.  That's a hell of a night, especially when you are guarding Thomas Wilder as well.  Wiggins had a 13/12 double-double on 6 of 9 shooting while he was in the paint with Western's two gigantic Centers.  Lillard scored 18 on 5 of 13 and 2 of 5 shooting, plus 6 of 6 at the line, including those three clutch shots at the end.  Derek Koch had 8 points and 8 rebounds and Dylan Frye continued to struggle with his shot, but give him credit, if the shot isn't there he isn't forcing it.

So, if the season ended today, BG would have a bye.  Sadly, it does not end today.  BG is the only team with two games with Buffalo left, the first of which is Friday at Alumni.  Bigger picture, BG has a 2-game lead over the #9 team, which is what they need to finish at least #8.  No one has an easy schedule coming home....EMU has to play UT twice, for example.  I like our odds.  To be sure, we need two more wins, and if we can keep playing well, there are two wins out there. 

BG is also 16-10 with 5 games left plus the tournament.  If BG lost their next 6, they would finish 16-16, so one more win and they should be able to notch a winning record.  (There's a possible CBI or CBIT loss hanging out there, too).  Anyway, let's win two more and notch some landmarks in the rebuilding of the program.