BG MBB Wins at WMU

 The BG MBB team went on the road last night and picked up a win I think they needed pretty badly.  You don't want to fall into an 0-2 trap and WMU is a team that looks right now to be destined to be in the bottom of the MAC...we are at least looking for the middle.  And after leading Akron most of the way, you'd like to put a second decent game on the court.

And they did.  It wasn't always pretty but it was good enough.  And there are no bad road wins in the conference.

The first 12 minutes were closely played.  With 8 left and the game tied, WMU went on a 19-5 run over 6 minutes to take a 14-point.  This is a hidden danger point for BG.  You have a short bench, 2:27 left to play and you're close to getting blown out of the gym.

Instead, BG rallied, going on an 11-1 run to close the half down only 4 and very much still in the game.

Coming out of the locker room, BG fell quickly down 9--and it looked like another run was coming--but the Falcons rallied back to tie the game with 13:20 to play. Most of the remainder of the half was played at a one-possession game, back and forth.  

With about 3 left, Derrick Butler was fouled shooting at 3FG--highly disputed by Stephens.  He made two of three FTS, Felt and Butler got a blocked shot/jump ball in the paint and Butler dunked the ball to put BG up 4.  WMU missed the front end of a 1-1 and Johnson hit a 2FG and BG was up 6 with 1:48 to go.  Those little spurts late in games are critical, and BG did it while playing a very shallow rotation.

BG made 7-8 at the line coming home and won the game by 4 points.

The game was played at 69 possessions.  I think with BG's injury issues, that's a survivable pace for us. 

WMU came into the game making 28% of their 3FGs, which is terrible.  They made 19% against BG.  Also, they came in allowing only 24% on their defensive boards...a true team strength...and BG ended up with 39% of the available offensive rebounds, their second strong game in a row with that metric.

BG scored 1.2 points per possession and WMU had 1.14, so it wasn't a great defensive game for the Falcons.  BG made 61% on its 2FGs--a big improvement over the Akron game--and 35% on 3FG.  BG made 13 of 17 inside the restricted area.  Turnovers were even, as were FTs.  

On that...BG had a terrible first half at the line, making only 5 of 12.  They made 10 of 13 in the second half, much closer to where they have been.

Trey Thomas is really having a good spell when they need it most.  He was injured most of last year and struggled earlier in the year, but he's looking like the player we thought we were getting from Vanderbilt. He had 22 points on 3 of 10 and 4 of 5 shooting, 4-5 at the line and 3 assists over 0 turnovers. He was +9 for the game.

Derrick Butler had 19 on 6 of 8 and 0 of 6 shooting, 7-9 at the line and 7 rebounds. Marcus Johnson had 14 on 5 of 8 and 1 of 3 shooting, scoring a big basket to tie the game with 6:30 left and then the basket that put them up 6 late. He also had 7 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 turnovers.

Javonte Campbell had 12 on 5 of 6 2FG shooting, 2 of 5 at the line and 2 steals.  He is 2nd in the nation in steals per game.

BG had only 44 bench minutes.  Wilgues Junior Exacte played 25...he's what you would expect as a guy making up for missing a year...he makes good plays and then he makes head scratchers.

The Falcons move to 1-1.  A similar game looms in Muncie, with a road game against a team that has struggled this year. The key is to continue to build on what's working....we have strengthened ourselves inside even with Towns and Khayat injured...