| (Photo: Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune) |
Bowling Green survived Ball State’s final surge to slip past the Cardinals, 65-64 Wednesday in Anderson
Arena.
The Falcons are now 12-12 overall and 7-3 in the Mid-American Conference East. Kent State leads the East
at 7-2 while BG, Buffalo and Miami are all 7-3.
BG was able to gain the win when Ball State did not go for a 3-pointer in the final seconds, despite
trailing by three points.
“On the last possession, we have got to have time and score recognition,” Ball State head coach Billy
Taylor said. “With 5.7 seconds left we have to get an opportunity for a 3-point shot. We got all our
shots in the paint instead of looking to tie the game up.”
Bowling Green led by seven 65-58, with 24.7 seconds left to play after Dee Brown split a pair of free
throws.
Tyrae Robinson nailed a 3-pointer for the Cardinals with 18 seconds left to make it 65-61.
The Falcons then turned the ball over against Ball State’s pressure with 14.8 seconds left, not even
getting the ball out of the backcourt.
“We all assumed that they were going to foul us and they didn’t. We kind of got caught off-guard,” BG’s
A’uston Calhoun said about the turnover.
As Ball State’s Jarrod Jones was going for a layup, he was fouled with 5.7 seconds left.
Jones made the first three throw, but chaos ensued when he missed the second.
Ball State’s Randy Davis got the loose ball, but instead of looking to go outside the arc, he attempted a
2-point shot. It missed and Malik Perry was able to tip the ball in at the buzzer to account for the
final margin.
“That’s the only thing we were going to give them was a 2-point shot, instead of a 3-point shot. I guess
that’s just what they chose to go with,” Calhoun said.
BG head coach Louis Orr was pleased that his team was able to hold on for the win, after a disappointing
loss to Western Michigan last Saturday. The Falcons have won 10 of their last 13 games.
“We responded to the challenge late in the game … Our guys stepped up and hit some big baskets,” Orr
said. “We made enough plays at the end to win.”
Ball State started the game quickly, making its first six shots, and was up 15-6 less than five minutes
into the game.
The Falcons picked up the defensive pressure and Orr went to his bench with Cameron Black and Danny
McElroy coming in to play inside and Jordon Crawford and Luke Kraus taking over at the guard spots.
The Cardinals did not score in a span of 6:07 and BG crawled back into the game.
The game was tied at 21 with 6:33 left in the first half, but the Falcons closed the half on a 10-4 run
to take a 31-25 lead into the break. Calhoun had three baskets to spark the run.
“It’s been a challenge for us, defensively, to get off to a good start,” Orr said. “We changed up our
defenses. We trapped in different areas. We tried to get them out of rhythm.”
In the second half, the Falcons were able to build a 10-point lead, 53-43, with 7:31 left in the game.
Ball State then did a good job of taking Scott Thomas and Calhoun out of the offense and that defensive
effort helped the Cardinals get back into the game.
Robinson made two free throws with 2:36 left in the game to pull the Cardinals to within 57-56.
Calhoun then scored on a low-post move, made a steal at Ball State’s offensive end, and hit a 12-foot
jumper on a pass from Thomas, to put BG up five, 61-56, all in the span of 31 seconds.
“You just read the defense and see what they give you,” said Calhoun, who led BG with 15 points and seven
rebounds.
“We noticed that they just starting playing the same action in the same ways and they weren’t changing
that,” he continued. “So it they don’t change things, we have to adjust to what they do and I think we
did a good job of doing that and that helped us.”
Crawford got a defensive rebound, came down the floor and hit a 3-poiner with 53 seconds left to provide
the Falcons with enough cushion to hold on for the win.
NOTES: Ball State falls to 14-9 overall and 6-4 in the MAC West, but the Cardinals still lead the West
with Western Michigan second at 5-4 … Jones finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds and Perry added 10
points and 11 rebounds for Ball State … Crawford added 10 points for the Falcons while Thomas had a
game-high nine assists … The Falcons had 13 steals in the game with Kraus making four … BG’s bench
out-scored Ball State’s, 23-17 … The Falcons scored 32 points in the paint … Orr used his 10th
different starting lineup of the season with Brown replacing Kraus … BG concludes its six-game swing
through the MAC West Saturday at Central Michigan with tipoff at 6:30 p.m.
