Plowden spurs big close for Falcon MBB

Well, BG went to Kalamazoo needing a win and they got it.  It was relatively close.  I actually think WMU is playing really hard. They almost beat Akron at the JAR.  A win is a win.  It wasn't a great performance.  But good enough.

Much like the Akron game, BG came out strong and had a 9-point lead 5 minutes in.  With 9 minutes left the game was tied.  BG blew the lead back to 10 and led by 9 with 4 minutes left.  WMU then finished strong, but WMU finished with a 10-2 run to only trail by 1 at the half, which had to be good for them and disappointing for BG.

BG blew out to an 8-point lead but 2 minutes later WMU had the game tied again.  WMU had the better of the play for awhile, leading by 7 with 10 minutes left.  Three minutes later BG had the lead down to 1 and from there it was a pretty tight, compelling game unless you were a BG fan freaking out.

WMU led by 3 with 2:55 left when Daeqon Plowden took the team on his back.  

He hit a 3FG to tie the game.

BG got a stop and he cleared the board.

He was fouled and made both FTS, BG up 2 with 2:03 left.

The teams traded stops and then Plowden hit a layup with 1:08 left to go up 4.  

At this point, WMU had gone almost 2 minutes without scoring.  Fortunately for BG, that continued.

Gordon missed the front end of a 1-1 and then WMU missed 2 3FGs.  Curtis was fouled and he split his 2FTs to put BG up 5 with :41 left.  

WMU missed a 3FG and Plowden cleared the board and was fouled.  He split the pair and the lead was 6 with :31 left.  BG for a steal and Chandler Turner was fouled.  He missed both of his FTs with :19 left and WMU came down and hit a layup with :13 left.

BG got a stop, Turner was fouled again.  He missed the first one and then hit the second and BG led by 5 with :13 left.  Gordon got a steal and hit both of his FTs with :10 left and it was finally over.  BG was 5 of 9 from the line in the last minute and was blessed by the inability of WMU to make a shot.

BG's defense is very frustrating and has been all year.  Even after this game, BG remains last in the MAC in defense.  In this one, the stats were better than the eye test.  WMU had 1.04 points per possession, which is right on the MAC average.  (The MAC has the seventh highest offensive efficiency/7th lowest defensivefficiency in the country.)

BG meanwhile had 1.14 points per possession, which is their second best in a MAC game this year.

BG shot the ball well--58% on 2FGs and 42% on 3FGs, both winning numbers.  They were also good on the offensive boards.  They had way too many turnovers and while they did a good job getting to the line--incuding the fouling at the end of course--but made on 14 of 21.

WMU did not shoot well.  They were good on 2Gs--BG really struggles on keeping teams from the rim--but they made only 25$ from 3FG while trying 45% of their FGA s from 3FG.  That is tough to win.  They were better on turnovers, were good on the offensive boards but did not get to the line.

Plowden lead BG with a high quality game.  He scored 20, 6-8 from 2FG and 2-2 from 3FG.  He made 5-6 from the line and added 7 rebounds. Samari Curtis had 10 points on 3 of 5 and 1 of 4 shooting, 5 ewbounds, 4 assists and 1 turnover. Gordon had 10 on 1 of 1 and 2 of 2 shooting, 4 assists and 3 turnovers.

The only regulars missing were Metheny and Young.

BG got the win they needed.  Two home games this week and 2 victories needed this week.