BOWLING GREEN — Trey Diggs gave Bowling Green a chance when all looked lost, and Justin Turner took it from there.
Diggs came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points that kept the Falcons afloat, then Turner erupted for 20 points in the second half — and 13 in the final 3:10 of regulation — to push Bowling Green past Ball State 67-61 on Tuesday at the Stroh Center.
The victory was Bowling Green’s seventh straight, marking the program’s longest winning streak in the Mid-American Conference in 40 years.
For Diggs, who did not score in the Falcons’ previous game at Toledo, the avalanche started with just a few buckets in the first half.
“I haven't been scoring very much and shooting has been kind of down, but I did feel that this really helped me with my confidence and that I kind of needed this breakout game,” Diggs said. “After the second 3, I feel like the rim — it was big. I couldn't miss, really.
“Once I get in rhythm, it's kind of hard to stop making it.”
Bowling Green (16-5, 7-1 MAC) scored just three points and made only one field goal in the first eight minutes of the game against Ball State (11-9, 4-3), which entered the game with the No. 1 defense in the MAC.
The saving grace was that BG’s defense matched Ball State’s, allowing the Falcons to overcome an early 12-2 hole by outscoring the Cardinals 32-11 during the rest of the half.
The Falcons’ bench did much of the damage, scoring 23 points in the first half alone.
Diggs had 14 points during 11 first-half minutes, including a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer and send the Falcons into the locker room ahead 34-23.
Led by Tahjai Teague, who had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, Ball State charged back into the game with a 20-4 run to start the second half and, for much of the final 20 minutes, Diggs looked to be Bowling Green’s only weapon on offense.
At one point in the second half, Diggs had seven made field goals, while the rest of the Falcons were 8-for-40. But Teague’s presence forced BG to essentially abandon playing a center in favor a small lineup that ended up winning the game.
Daeqwon Plowden had 15 rebounds playing as a de facto center with Diggs playing power forward, and it was that exact lineup that keyed the win.
“That was the difference in the game, once we were able to do that,” Falcons coach Michael Huger said. “They had to make an adjustment and go small as well, and our small lineup was better than their small lineup.”
Diggs scored eight straight Falcons points to keep BG within range, then hit a 3 to cut Ball State’s lead to 54-52 with 4:20 to go.
Bowling Green shot a mere 22-for-60 from the floor as a team, but scraped together a late 12-0 run that established a lead they would not lose.
Turner took over, scoring 10 of the 12 straight BG points that gave the Falcons the lead for good.
BG, which has won all seven games during the streak by single digits, prevailed in yet another tight situation. Coupled with Buffalo’s win at Akron, the Falcons now hold sole possession of first place in the MAC as the league nears the halfway point of the schedule.
“The thing is, when you win these close games, it gives you more confidence to know that we can win at the end of the game,” Huger said. “No matter what the situation is, if we can keep it close, we can always give ourselves a chance. We’ve proven that night-in and night-out.
“Hopefully, we can get some blowouts — I hope — but I’ll take them any which way we can get them.”
First Published January 29, 2020, 2:14 a.m.
