 BOWLING GREEN 73, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 70 “I talk to our guys about persevering and enduring and never stop playing and this was a good example of that,” BG head coach Louis Orr said.
FINDING A WAY IN OT
After starting the season 1-8 with the one win over a Division II team, the Falcons are finally at .500 (11-11). BG is 10-3 in its last 13 games, including a 6-2 mark in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons have three MAC road wins, including a double-overtime and an overtime victory. With Buffalo and Kent State’s games being postponed because of the weather, BG is now alone in first place in the MAC East.
“Give credit to Bowling Green, they understand how to play and are a disciplined team,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. “Anytime you play against a zone you have to make shots and we just didn’t make enough plays.”
The Falcons led by nine, 51-42, after a three-point play from A’uston Calhoun with 9:33 left in the game.However, the Huskies rallied to force overtime as BG missed four of its final five free-throw attempts in regulation.
NIU’s Antone Christian made a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to tie the game at 66.
The Falcons had the final 15.7 seconds of regulation to work with, but could not get a good look at the basket and Jordon Crawford forced up a shot in the final seconds.
BG also missed its last three free-throw attempts in overtime, but still pulled out the win.
Nate Rucker gave NIU a 68-66 lead early in the overtime. BG’s Scott Thomas, who scored a season-high 23 points, made two free throws to tie the game at 68 with 3:52 left.
BROWN PUTS BG AHEAD TO STAY
NIU’s Cameron Madlock, who started his college basketball career at Bowling Green, missed two free throws with 3:25 left. BG’s Dee Brown then hit a jumper with 2:15 left to put the Falcons ahead to stay. Brown finished with 12 points and has scored 34 points in the last three games coming off the bench.
NIU turned the ball over after Brown’s hoop and Calhoun gave BG a four-point lead with 1:26 left, 72-68, on a short jumper in the lane. Calhoun finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, his second double-double of the season.
The Huskies controlled a loose ball after BG’s Danny McElroy had blocked a shot and NIU’s Lee Fisher was fouled with 46.7 seconds left. Fisher made both free throws to cut BG’s lead to 72-70,
With 27.6 seconds left, Thomas made 1-of-2 free throws to put the Falcons up three. Thomas was 7-of-13 from the field, but only 9-of-15 from the free-throw line in the game.
After Thomas’ free throw, McElroy disrupted a 3-point attempt by DeMarcus Grady, who is the quarterback of the NIU football team, and Michael Patton missed a 3-pointer for NIU.
The Huskies then fouled McElroy, but he missed both shots with nine seconds remaining.
Xavier Silas, who came into the game averaging 24.2 ppg, then missed an open 3-pointer and the Falcons held on.
'OH, NO' TURNS INTO 'OH, WELL.'
“The last shot at the end was the one guy who I didn’t want to get an open three and he got one,” Orr said.
Silas finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, but had eight turnovers.
Northern was 4-of-22 on 3-pointers.
“We defended the three well. They were 4-for-22 and that’s less than 20 percent and that was one of our goals,” Orr said.
NOTES: NIU is 7-13 overall and 3-5 in MAC play ... Two NIU starters, Jeremy Landers and Tom Toler, both missed the game with the flu ... The Falcons received a special exemption from the NCAA and left Bowling Green at 5 p.m. on Monday to travel to the game ... NCAA rules limit starting travel in the contiguous 48 states to 48 hours before game time. The Falcons left 51 hours before game time ... The team then spent the night in DeKalb after the game ... The Falcons made nine steals against NIU with Thomas having four ... BG blocked six shots in the game with McElroy getting three and Mike Dabney getting two ... BG hosts Western Michigan Saturday in the second game of a women’s-men’s doubleheader ... The men’s starting time is set for 5 p.m. with the women’s game starting at 2 p.m.
|
