MBB Picks up Road Win

 The Falcons came away with an overtime victory over Appalachian State in Boone NC yesterday.  It was a nice win for BG.  They were favored by 2 and ended up in OT with the win.  Certainly there is room for improvement, but I think we'd be happy to win that one under any circumstances.

App State led most of the way in the first half and had an 8-point lead with 3 minutes left to play at 31-23.  The Mountaineers are known for good D and they were putting it on the Falcons up to that point.

BG closed the half on a modest 11-5 run, with 6 points by Plowden, 3 by Matheny and 2 by Fulcher.  The deficit was down to 2 at the half.

BG had the game tied about 2 minutes in and took the lead with about 15 to play in the game.  BG went on a 14-4 run to get the lead to 10 with about 11 minutes left.  BG held things stable for about five minutes, still leading by 10 with 6 to play.

App State then went to a zone, and as often seems to happen to BG, the wheels came off.  Honestly, I'd zone us every time, we just seem completely confused when it happens.  BG went about 3 minutes without scoring then App State got the lead down to 2 with about 3 minutes left to play.  BG was up 4 inside the last minute when the unconscious Alomancy hit a 3 and was fouled by Metheny.  The FT was converted, the game was tied and both teams failed to score on possessions and onto OT we went.

In the OT, BG was up1 with a minute to play.  They gutted out a huge stop and took a charge, and then Caleb Fields hit a ridiculous 3 with the shot clock running down to put BG up 4.  App State drained a 3 with :06 left to get it to 1 again, but then BG engineered a foul of Justin Turner.  He made the first, missed the second (his first miss all year).  That's one of those plays, though, where getting the play going off the rebound actually takes more time than getting it out of bounds and their half court shot missed and BG had the win.

It was more of a typical game you will see in MAC play.  It was 69 possessions--pretty average--and BG had 1 point per possession and App State had .98.

BG won the game shooting.  BG made 60% of their 2FGs and 33% of their 3FGs and took 40 of their 61 shots from 2FG.  App State took 33 of 62 from 2FG and shot 33% from 2 and a scorching 45% from 3, which kept them in the game.

The grad transfer Alomancy might have had a career night nailing 3FGs.

As you can see, the turnovers were even, there was a slight advantage on the boards to ASU, and made 15 of 17 FTs while BG made 9 of 11.  BG is 11th in the nation in FT shooting right now.

The turnovers are concerning.  Last year, BG was #8 in the country with a 15% turnover rate.  It helped make up for not always having the greatest shooters.  BG had over 18% turnovers in 3 of their last 4 games last year and are over 22% in their last 2 games.  You have youth handling the ball, but last night 13 of the 18 turnovers were by non-FR and 8 by seniors.

As for individuals, Justin Turner had himself a game.  I noted that he had a big game at Crisler but was forced to use a lot of possessions to get there.  He had 24 on 24 shots.  Last night, he had 25 on 15 shots, which is a pretty dominating performance.  ASU went to the zone seemingly to contain him, and it mostly worked.  He was 9 of 14 on 2FGs, 0-1 on 3FGs, 7 of 8 from the line, 3 rebounds, 3 TOs and 4 steals.

Caleb Fields had 10 points on 8 shots, including the game-winning dagger.  Daeqwon Plowden had 10 on 4 of 7 shooting and 8 rebounds.  Diggs had 10 and 6 rebounds, shooting 1 of 3 from 3FG.  Dylan Swingle had 9 on 4 of 8 shooting in 24 minutes.

Note that Mattiss is out until probably late December or the New Year.

Last note:  literally as I wrote this BG announced they have scheduled Purdue Northwest for Thursday.  It's a DII team.  More on them later.