CLEVELAND — Music thundered from the speakers at Quicken Loans Arena as confetti fell on the best team in the Mid-American Conference, leaving the most star-crossed program in the league with only another repetition of history.
Bowling Green’s NCAA tournament drought lives to see a 52nd year after the Falcons lost Saturday in the MAC title game 87-73 to No. 18 Buffalo, the unquestioned heavyweight that became the first MAC team to win the league tournament four times in five years.
Just like Bowling Green’s previous run to the MAC title game, in 2002, a legitimate mid-major power was waiting. That team was Kent State, which eventually advanced to the Elite Eight. On Saturday, it was Buffalo, the first MAC team to win 30 games since Kent State that season.
A Falcons team from which nothing was expected — they were picked to finish dead last in the conference preseason poll — came within one game of the NCAA tournament with a group that was, from mid-December on, harmonious and better than the sum of its parts.
Bowling Green was a special team.
Buffalo was a historic one.
“Buffalo was the better team tonight,” Falcons coach Michael Huger said. “They played extremely well. They’re the champs for a reason.”
Tournament MVP Jeremy Harris scored a game-high 31 points for the Bulls. Daeqwon Plowden and Justin Turner each had 16 for Bowling Green.
The Falcons (22-12) rallied from a 15-point deficit in the first half and pushed the Bulls (31-3) to the limit in a second half that had 12 lead changes, but it was Buffalo that controlled in crunch time, outscoring BG 24-8 in the final 8:02.
“Really, they just made the plays that needed to be made,” Turner said.
Buffalo nearly ran away with the game during the first 12 minutes. Its defense forced Bowling Green into nine first-half turnovers as the team built a 28-13 lead.
Then Bowling Green came alive.
The Falcons hit 10 of 11 field-goal attempts and clawed back into the game. Plowden made the team’s first 3-pointer in eight tries, Caleb Fields banked in a triple of his own, and the Falcons added a 7-0 run to finish the half. They were down by just one, 39-38, a similar push to BG’s comeback win against the Bulls on Feb. 1.
“We knew that the game was a game of runs and the game could go any direction just from that day,” Plowden said. “We know that we are capable of beating them, but they were the better team tonight.”
Turner’s 3-pointer on the Falcons’ first possession of the second half gave Bowling Green its first lead of the day, and the jockeying was under way.
Buffalo finally pulled away when Davonta Jordan hit a 3-pointer with 8:02 to go for a 66-65 lead, and the Bulls never trailed again.
Bowling Green briefly cut UB’s budding lead to three, but Jayvon Graves knocked down a corner 3 with 4:08 to go. UB never looked back.
The Falcons contained CJ Massinburg and Nick Perkins to 22 total points, but Graves had 17 to go with Harris’ 31, and Jordan scored 12.
“Those other guys stepped up,” Huger said. “And that’s what really good teams do when other guys step up, and they did it in a big way tonight.”
The Falcons will await their postseason destination Sunday. Huger said the Falcons will accept an invite to a postseason tournament even if they are not selected for the NIT.
Bowling Green made its best run at the MAC title in nearly two decades, but will have to settle for another try next season, with four of five starters returning.
“I think the future is bright for Bowling Green basketball when you bring back the talent we are,” Huger said. “And we’ve got to work. We’ve got to work to get back to this point.
“The guys are hungry. They see now what it’s like out there; they can taste it. Now we’ve got to go out an accomplish it.”
First Published March 17, 2019, 1:51 a.m.
