MAC Tournament First Round
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Ball State Cardinals
Venue: Stroh Center (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None
Game Story | Box Score
I travel to the Toledo area, of which Bowling Green is a part, once a month for work, and it's kind of amazing how rarely my trips coincide with home games for BG hoops. When it happens, as it did tonight, I'm stoked to be able to make the trip down for the game. The funny thing is, this is the second time I've seen the Falcons play in person this season, and both games have been against Ball State.
Fortunately, both were victories, although they were quite different games. The first was a lower-scoring, defense-oriented affair. Tonight, with rim defender Richaun Holmes out for BG, it was much faster paced. The cool thing to see is that they could play well and come away with victories using both styles. This game got tight for a bit in the second half, but the Falcons were able to keep their poise, weather the storm, and put it away, even without their best player.
They were able to do it because of a big night from the backcourt, with senior guards Anthony Henderson and Jehvon Clarke scoring 20 and 19, respectively. They were both really impressive in a way that we never really saw from them under Louis Orr, which makes me sad that they don't have another year under this coaching staff, so they can continue to grow and get better as players (and the same goes for Richaun, a fellow senior, who was great before this year and has become incredible).
For a tournament game, I have to say the atmosphere at the Stroh left a lot to be desired. It did get a little loud when the game got close, but having some more people in the arena definitely would have been a lot cooler. Just bad timing, I guess--it's spring break for BGSU, and it definitely showed in the student turnout. Other than the pep band, there were only a handful of people in the student section, and there were no cheerleaders (although the dance team was there). I don't know if it's spring break for all/most of the MAC schools, but if so, I wish they would just move the first round of the tournament to Cleveland with the rest of the games. I wouldn't have been able to make it myself, but the crowd overall probably would have been better. These guys deserve to play in front of a good crowd.
At any rate, the Falcons are now moving onto Cleveland for the first time in four years, and hopefully they can make some noise. Personally? They've made major strides this year, and I'm ecstatic about the improvement they've shown; however, I don't see them as MAC Champion material. I'd love to be wrong about that. As it is, they've won 20 games for the first time since 2001-02, which was the end of Coach Dakich's first go-round. Being there to see it was pretty awesome.
Game Story | Box Score
I travel to the Toledo area, of which Bowling Green is a part, once a month for work, and it's kind of amazing how rarely my trips coincide with home games for BG hoops. When it happens, as it did tonight, I'm stoked to be able to make the trip down for the game. The funny thing is, this is the second time I've seen the Falcons play in person this season, and both games have been against Ball State.
Fortunately, both were victories, although they were quite different games. The first was a lower-scoring, defense-oriented affair. Tonight, with rim defender Richaun Holmes out for BG, it was much faster paced. The cool thing to see is that they could play well and come away with victories using both styles. This game got tight for a bit in the second half, but the Falcons were able to keep their poise, weather the storm, and put it away, even without their best player.
They were able to do it because of a big night from the backcourt, with senior guards Anthony Henderson and Jehvon Clarke scoring 20 and 19, respectively. They were both really impressive in a way that we never really saw from them under Louis Orr, which makes me sad that they don't have another year under this coaching staff, so they can continue to grow and get better as players (and the same goes for Richaun, a fellow senior, who was great before this year and has become incredible).
For a tournament game, I have to say the atmosphere at the Stroh left a lot to be desired. It did get a little loud when the game got close, but having some more people in the arena definitely would have been a lot cooler. Just bad timing, I guess--it's spring break for BGSU, and it definitely showed in the student turnout. Other than the pep band, there were only a handful of people in the student section, and there were no cheerleaders (although the dance team was there). I don't know if it's spring break for all/most of the MAC schools, but if so, I wish they would just move the first round of the tournament to Cleveland with the rest of the games. I wouldn't have been able to make it myself, but the crowd overall probably would have been better. These guys deserve to play in front of a good crowd.
At any rate, the Falcons are now moving onto Cleveland for the first time in four years, and hopefully they can make some noise. Personally? They've made major strides this year, and I'm ecstatic about the improvement they've shown; however, I don't see them as MAC Champion material. I'd love to be wrong about that. As it is, they've won 20 games for the first time since 2001-02, which was the end of Coach Dakich's first go-round. Being there to see it was pretty awesome.
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