BOWLING GREEN — On paper, Wright State is one of the most comparable teams to Bowling Green as a well-built mid-major team from Ohio that was picked to win its conference.
On the court, it was awfully hard to tell.
The Raiders embarrassed Bowling Green from the opening tip on Sunday at the Stroh Center and eased past the Falcons 85-67.
Wright State piled up 31 points in the opening 10 minutes, made two-thirds of its field goals in the first half, and led by a whopping 33 points — 54-21 — at halftime.
“That was a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping,” Falcons coach Michael Huger said. “They did a real good job of showing us what a championship team looks like.”
Bowling Green (4-2) seemingly had no answer for anything Wright State did, and by the time the Falcons created anything close to a response, it was far too late.
The Raiders (2-1) won 25 games and finished 15-3 in the Horizon League last season. Like the Falcons in the Mid-American Conference, Wright State was chosen to win its league in the preseason poll leading up to this season.
But what figured to be the Falcons' best non-conference home game was anything but. Wright State never trailed, built a double-digit lead within the first four minutes, and were ahead by 20 just past the midway point of the first half.
“We came out a little bit more relaxed on defense than we should, and they took advantage,” said Daeqwon Plowden, who scored 14 points for the Falcons. “They executed how they came and planned, and we were just stagnant on defense — a lack of energy and effort.”
The trio of Loudon Love, Tanner Holden, and Jaylon Hall all terrorized Bowling Green, but Love particularly damaged the Falcons inside. He had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds by halftime, and nearly every other statistic was just as ugly for the Falcons.
Wright State outrebounded BG 29-11 and outscored the Falcons in the paint 28-12 during the opening 20 minutes. The Falcons shot a woeful 8-for-34 in the first half and, despite a pair of timeouts to calm the waters, they simply could not stop the bleeding.
It was, by any measure, the worst half the Falcons have played this season.
“It was kind of embarrassing, them coming in here and punching us in the mouth and us being down 30 points at the half on our homecourt,” Plowden said. “It was pretty embarrassing. After the half, we tried to lock in as much as possible and just tried to fight back.”
Huger chuckled when asked about what the Falcons discussed at halftime.
“I can't give you a speech [or] what I said,” he said. “But we had a nice conversation about our defense and our energy and our effort.”
The Falcons outscored Wright State 46-31 in the second half, but never threatened as the Raiders’ lead never fell below 14. Kaden Metheny led BG with 15 points and Justin Turner added 13.
Holden finished with 19 points to lead all scorers, Hall had 17, and Love ended up with 16 points and 16 rebounds. The Raiders shot 55 percent from the field.
“Some days those shots are going to fall and some days they're not — but the defense, the energy, and the effort we can display on the defensive end is what I always look for,” Huger said. “That's the one constant in basketball.”
Bowling Green does not have another scheduled game until the end of the month, although Huger said BG will try to pick up as many as two games between now and then. The Falcons have an agreement with Defiance College but have not yet set a date.
BG’s next MAC game is Dec. 30 at Kent State.
First Published December 13, 2020, 7:02 p.m.
