How do you like that?
The path to that result was far from certain for most of the way. With hot shooting/spotty BG defense, the Pirates took the lead early, leading by 12 in the first half, 8 at halftime, and then back at 12 again in the second. It was a surprise. Hampton had been among the worst shooting teams in the country for two games this year and BG had been defending the shot well, but the world turned upside down for the first three-quarters of the game.
HU was leading through most of the second half. They had a 12 point lead early in the half. BG got it down to 2 with about 9 left, but the Pirates built it back up again. BG got it to 2 again with and then finally strung a couple stops together, leading to a Justin Turner layup to tie the game with 4 minutes left...for the first time since very early.
HU called time and then was called for an offensive foul on their end. Justin Turner scored again (3 straight baskets in this key sequence) and BG had the lead. The teams traded stops for a minute and a half or so until Wiggins was fouled picked up a Lillard blocked shot and split the pair.
With 1;01 left, BG was up 79-74 on a Lillard jumper. But HU was still in the game. Fisher made a 3 and then Wiggins was called for an illegal screen and Fisher hit a 2 and the game was tied again with :22 left.
BG lined up their hot hand in isolation, and Justin Turner drove and took a shot, but missed. Lillard with the board, missed the putback and then Wiggins was there with a tap in as the buzzer sounded and the Falcons finished the game with a 81-79 victory.
Statistically, BG was outshot for the game. Their shooting wasn't too bad--that's about average and they shot 45% and 38%--while Hampton struggled from the 2FG range (38%) but made 46% of their 3FGs to balance that out. Note they came in making 17%. Anyway, BG won the turnover battle and the rebounds were pretty even, with two very good rebounding teams. Hampton is a really good FT shooting team, making 18 of 23 and BG was poor, at 10 of 16.
Overall, the Falcons had 1.05 points per possession and Hampton 1.03 points.
BG was led by Justin Turner, with 21 points on 10-22 shooting. He added 4 assists and 2 blocked shots and guarded Hampton's big scorer during the time when he finally cooled off. Michael Laster had his best game as a Falcon, scoring 15 on 7 of 12 shooting and 4 steals. Wiggins did the double double again, scoring 13 and grabbing 11 rebounds, though they make him work for it more than they usually do. He shot 5 of 11 with 3 turnovers.
Lillard had 11, most on 6 of 9 FTs. and Plowden also had 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting with 8 rebounds in 23 minutes played.
So, BG moves to 3-2. They are right back at it again tomorrow against either Detroit or Loyola, MD, who are playing right now. For an overall assessment, you'd like to think you could have had a less difficult time with this one, but they did end up getting the win. Most teams in the MAC are probably better than Hampton, so BG will need to continue to grow its game by the time it starts league play. But, better to do that on the backs of a win.
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