Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Akron 56 Bowling Green 55

Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Akron Zips
Venue: Stroh Center (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

It's a rarity when my work schedule has me in Toledo on the same day as a BG basketball game, but it happened tonight. I was glad for a chance to make my second visit to the Stroh Center, with a chance to see the Falcons take on the hated Akron Zips.

For the most part, I thought BG played pretty well in this one. It certainly looked like they were going to pull out a victory, as they were tied or ahead for over 39 minutes of gametime. Alas, it's a 40-minute game, and Akron was able to pull it out with a last-second shot that probably should have been negated by a charging call. I was pretty salty about that when the buzzer sounded, but the drive home afterwards helped me to put things in perspective. Had they done just a few more things right, they would have been able to hold on. With even one more made free throw (a 4 for 9 night is not something to be proud of), Akron's last shot would have resulted in overtime instead of a loss.

Still, Akron is always tough, and while I'm not going to pretend that a close loss is a moral victory in a game they should have won, there were some encouraging things. Sophomore center Cam Black had a really nice game, with ten points and seven rebounds, and I thought freshman guard Jehvon Clarke did a good job running the point off the bench. If those two can continue to contribute at that level for the rest of the season, BG should be in decent shape.

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