 EASTERN MICHIGAN 55, BOWLING GREEN 50
Eastern Michigan made Bowling Green pay dearly Saturday night for its squandered possessions as the Eagles scored 18 points off 19 Bowling Green turnovers on the way to a 55-50 Mid-American Conference men’s basketball victory.
BG is 9-11 overall and 3-4 in the MAC. EMU, meanwhile, is 10-11 on the season and 5-2 MAC. The latter is good enough to move Eastern into sole possession of first place in the MAC West.
Eastern Michigan likes to slow things down and limit its opponents’ opportunities to score. The slow pace, the turnovers, and a 13-of-22 effort (59.1 percent) from the free-throw line were too much for Bowling Green to overcome.
“A lot of times, it’s about who can play the game on their terms,” BG head coach Louis Orr said. “Eastern -- they dictate tempo and that makes every possession crucial.
“The 19 turnovers, that was the biggest culprit ... Those are 19 shots you didn’t get,” he added. “It’s a possession game and you can’t have empty possessions and, at the end of the day, we had too many of those.”
Bowling Green survived nine first-half turnovers as the game was tied at 25 after the opening 20 minutes.
A 3-pointer by Dee Brown put BG up, 32-29, with 15:53 left in the game. EMU responded with a 10-0 run, including two 3-pointers from Darrell Lampley, to pull ahead, 39-32, with 11:14 left. During EMU’s run, the Falcons had four turnovers and missed two shots.
Freshman Jehvon Clarke hit a jumper to stop EMU’s run. A’uston Calhoun added two free throws and Cameron Black hit a jumper in the lane to pull the Falcons to within 39-38 with 8:12 remaining.
It took over four minutes, but Bowling Green finally gained a 43-43 tie on Clarke’s 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:39 left. Just 17 seconds later, Lampley put the Eagles ahead for good with a triple from the right corner.
A Torian Oglesby free throw brought BG to within 46-44 with 2:54 left, but EMU’s Antonio Green nailed a three from the corner to make it 48-44 with 2:28 remaining.
The threes for both Lampley and Green came as EMU penetrated, and when BG’s 2-3 zone moved to contest the layup, the ball was kicked out to an open shooter.
A layup from J.R. Sims increased EMU’s lead to 51-44 with 1:03 left.
BG’s Jordan Crawford nailed a 3-pointer with 41.2 seconds left to pull the Falcons within 51-47.
Lampley then made two free throws with 34.5 seconds remaining and Crawford countered with three free throws with 29.5 seconds left.
The Eagles’ Anthony Strickland closed out the game with two free throws with 6.3 seconds left.
BG’s primary inside players accounted for 12 of BG’s 19 turnovers.
“Our big guys ... they got caught in some spots where they didn’t necessarily react well,” Orr said. “We hurt ourselves; we got some illegal screens.
“I knew they were a pretty good team in converting turnovers into points,” Orr added.
Calhoun led the Falcons with 12 points and nine rebounds while Brown added 10 points. BG shot only 16-of-46 from the field (34.8 percent). Lampley was the only EMU player in double figures, finishing with a game-high 20 points.
“It you look at it, he’s the one guy who is capable of having a big game for them offensively and he did that,” Orr said about Lampley. “When you play the game the way they play it, that’s his job when the game is close, to make big shots and big plays.”
NOTES: Bowling Green, now 2-8 overall on the road, plays Wednesday at Western Michigan ... With the win, Eastern Michigan is alone in first place in the MAC West ... BG’s 16 points in the paint were its lowest total of the season ... The Falcons had 13 offensive rebounds, but had only six second-chance points ... Crawford had six rebounds to match his career high ... BG’s Scott Thomas had one steal and is now tied with Keith McLeod for fourth on BG’s career list with 176 steals ... Three of BG’s five starters played 37 or more minutes.
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