BG Men Battle, lose to St. John's

BG faced its first real test of the season--and maybe it's toughest test--and posted a very solid effort, lasting until the final possession against the St. John's Red Storm before losing 84-80.  It was a good enough effort that Coach Huger was actually able to say with some credibility that BG should have won the game.

I'm going to say this.  I know we're picked dead last and I might have my orange glasses on, but I think this team is better than a lot of people think.  We shall see.

It was a pretty entertaining basketball game.  St. John's led by as much as 9 in the first half before BG rallied and led at halftime by 2.  BG came out fast in the second half and had stretched the lead to 11 before 4 minutes were gone.  BG was still up 8 with 12 minutes left and the Johnnies did not take the lead until there were 9 minutes left to go. 

At that point, BG was in the middle of what would be a 10-minute streak without a FG and the Red Storm had stretched their lead to 6 with 6 minutes left.  They led by 9 with a minute left, but BG wasn't done.  Lillard hit 2FTs to cut it to 7 and then in the next possession Frye got a steal and fed Lillard for a and-one and BG had the lead cut to 4 with :43 to play.  BG fouled and Ponds split a pair to make it 5, but Justin Turner scored on the other end to make it 3.

BG fouled Heron and he missed both ends and BG came down and Turner scored again to cut it to 1 with :10 left.  BG got another foul and Heron split the pair this time, missing the second one.  Wiggins got the board and when he tried to advance the ball Mustapha Heron stepped in front of it to seal the win with the steal.

And, in fact, turnovers are the story of the game.  Our preview noted that St. John's forced a lot of turnovers and they did in this one as well, turning BG over 20 times and only committing 8 of their own.  BG shot the ball really well (50% and 48%) and had a great day on the boards.  Turnovers was the sole area where BG struggled.  Coach said that the effort had been to avoid live ball turnovers, but even given that you can't give up that many possessions and win a game against a good team on the road.

BG ran a really short rotation.  Only six players played over 10 minutes and the 7th, Laster, played exactly 10.  Coach said that he went with the short rotation to avoid matchup issues and that you would see BG return to a more typical rotation in the future.

Justin Turner had a very big game.  He scored 24 on 9 of 15 and 4 of 7 shooting, adding 4 rebounds and 4 assists.  That's the kind of line that would make him a top-flight MAC performer.  Dylan Frye scored 18 on 7 of 13 and 4 of 7 shooting, with 6 turnovers being the downside of his line.  Even having said that, he seems to be playing more confidently at the point.

Lilliard had 13 on 3 of 6 and 2 of 5 shooting.  Wiggins had the world's oddest double double.  He attempted only 4 shots, but made 10 of 14 FTs to go with 12 rebounds.  He also had 5 turnovers as they put a lot of pressure on him.

So, BG goes to 1-1, but this was an effort you can build on.  Next up is VCU.