Kent State 77 Bowling Green 64

Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Kent State Golden Flashes
Venue: Anderson Arena (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

At this point of the season, following a team that's now 12-17 and 2-13 in the MAC, I'm just enjoying watching the guys play and hoping to see some improvement. The problem is that it's hard to see that when they're playing one of the best teams in the conference (and definitely the team with the best, most consistent program). On the bright side, the Falcons didn't commit nearly as many fouls as they usually do. Of course, they gave up a ton of easy baskets and allowed Kent State to shoot nearly 61% from the floor (as opposed to 57% from the free throw line), so maybe that's not a good thing. The loss of Erik Marschall for the rest of the season to a knee injury suffered in the last game at Akron contributed to Kent's absolute dominance in the post.

And yet, for as much as the Flashes clearly dominated this game, BG was able to keep it relatively close. They were within 7 points with 2:20 left in the game, but some missed shots and turnovers let Kent push it out to the final margin of 13. The Falcons, as always, played hard. They just need to cut down on their mistakes and they're going to be tough to beat. It doesn't seem likely that they're going to make a huge improvement in that area at this point in the season, but you never know. I know they're tough enough to scare a team (and hopefully more than one) in the MAC Tournament coming up next week. First, though, they have to deal with the Miami RedHawks, who are coming to town on Sunday for the regular-season finale.

One thing I realized before this game is exactly how young the Falcons are. On Sunday we'll be honoring and saying goodbye to two seniors--the MAC's leading scorer, Martin Samarco, and center Matt Lefeld, whose minutes have been limited in his career due to bad and extremely painful feet. There are two seniors and only one junior--guard Ryne Hamblet, who transferred in this year from a junior college. Everyone else on the roster is an underclassman. I think there's a ton of talent there. Nate Miller is an absolute stud; Marschall is going to be very good; and Brian Moten has become a very solid contributor. They're all sophomores. For the freshmen, Ryan Sims has shown some very good things (he's a heck of a shooter), and Otis Polk is going to be a monster--he's 9th in the conference in blocked shots right now, and he's only averaging 8 minutes per game. Maybe I've got my orange-colored glasses on, but I think this team is going to be at least decent next year, and they've got a shot to be very good the year after that.