Bowling Green 52 Ohio 49

Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Ohio Bobcats
Venue: Anderson Arena (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 4:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

Here's the situation: OU is loaded and supposed to be pretty good this year, with a couple of signature wins under their belt already this season; BG is pretty much the opposite, with a thin bench and picked to finish at the bottom of the MAC East. Apparently there's not much else to do in Athens on a Saturday afternoon, so a whole bunch of OU fans decided to take advantage of the fact that BGSU is still on holiday break and fill up the best seats in the house. They were rewarded with some enthusiastic and vocal BG fans around them (hey, I'm not sitting anywhere else just because someone else has invaded my house) and also with a great view of their overrated team being taken down by a team with much less talent but much more desire. And there are few wins sweeter than that.

This game gave lie to the cliche of "no blood no foul," showing that sometimes even with blood, there's no foul called. BG's freshman PG Joe Jakubowski got absolutely jacked in the face during a triple-team, with no call, despite the fact that the officials had to call time just a moment later to get him off the floor and mop blood of the court. The old ladies in front of me took advantage of the timeout by praising OU for their tough defense, while I took advantage of it by suggesting to the refs that perhaps they should be replaced by law enforcement officials who take a dimmer view of mugging than they apparently did.

Despite the win, I definitely wouldn't say the Falcons played very well on the offensive end. They certainly didn't shoot very well. They did get some decent looks, but just couldn't get the ball in the hole. They did do a better job of dealing with pressure, though, when OU started off the game by trying to play the same way Duquesne did against BG. The Dukes were a lot quicker than the Bobcats, though, and BG was generally able to get the ball into the frontcourt.

Defensively, though, they did play well, especially down low. They did a nice job of taking the ball away from the Bobcats, which was nice to see. Really, they just did well with hustling, flying around, getting to loose balls. Seeing 6-9, 285-pound Otis Polk lay out to grab a ball that was saved inbounds and then call a timeout was truly something to behold.

Also, in contrast to Wednesday's game, it was good to see a squad of cheerleaders and a high school pep band at this one. It just helps the atmosphere so much, which was huge in this game. Otherwise, the Bobcat fans may have ruled the arena, which I'm sure is what they've had in mind. Instead, they were put back on the road for the long drive with the sour taste of defeat in their mouths.