FORT MYERS, Fla. — The early-season tests didn’t stop coming for the Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team Wednesday.
Tuesday’s victory over Milwaukee was BGSU’s most complete performance yet, and head coach Michael Huger was excited by the amount of energy and effort displayed by his team.
The Falcons kept that up for 20 minutes on Wednesday, but their opponent in the Fort Myers Tip-Off Palms Division championship game brought just a little bit more in the final 20 minutes.
The Falcons dueled with preseason Big Sky Conference favorite and defending regular season champion Southern Utah in a neck-and-neck first half, but the Thunderbirds ultimately pulled away in a chippy second half for an 87-73 victory at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
“Energy and effort in the second half,” Falcons coach Michael Huger said. “Didn’t think we brought the same energy and effort as we did in the first half, and that was the difference in the game in the second half. They came out with more energy. They’re older, more experienced, been around for a while, 20-win team last year, so they know how to win the games.”
Bowling Green went cold offensively in a lowly second half, shooting 26.9 percent (7-for-26) from the field and 21.4 percent (3-for-14) from 3-point range. Aside from the 6-0 run BGSU closed the game on with mostly reserves playing in the final two minutes, the Falcons were outscored 45-29 in 18 minutes.
“We just didn’t get stops, and I feel like having consecutive possessions where we didn’t get stops or get rebounds or finish the play, I felt like that’s where things officially started to go wrong,” Daeqwon Plowden said. “We just didn’t do the little things tonight.”
BGSU (2-4) got off to an 8-3 start on a pair of corner 3s from Plowden and Trey Diggs, and a pair of Myron Gordon free throws. BGSU went down 24-20 after a jumper by Tevian Jones, but went on a 12-3 run to grab a 32-27 lead off of Diggs’ layup with 5:37 left in the first half.
The Thunderbirds (3-3) came back to take a 42-36 lead with 1:49 until halftime on Jason Spurgin’s second-chance bucket. Kaden Metheny made a layup for BGSU with 1 second left in the period to cut the halftime deficit to 42-38.
Plowden led Bowling Green scorers with 18 points. Josiah Fulcher had 11, including making 4 of 4 from the free throw line. Diggs had nine points, but made 1 of 7 from 3.
Southern Utah had four players in double figures, led by John Knight III’s 19 points. He scored 17 of those in the second half.
Jones scored 16 points, Maizen Fausett had 14, and Marquis Moore 10 for the Thunderbirds.
The beginning of the second half was hot with emotion, as Diggs went up for a dunk and came down gazing at SUU’s Jones. The Thunderbirds went down the other end, and Jones made a 3-pointer over Diggs on a second-chance effort. Jones glared back at Diggs and was called for a technical foul.
“It was just competitive basketball at the end of the day,” Diggs said. “We’re both high-level athletes, and you want your team to win. He got a couple buckets, I got a couple buckets. We were just going back-and-forth. It’s nothing personal. After the game, we talked. Respect to each other. He’s a good player, I’m a good player, so that’s kind of what it was.”
The Thunderbirds boomed to a 63-47 lead with 13:27 to play as part of a 10-2 scoring run in the span of 1:55 in the second half. Bowling Green at one point went five minutes without a field goal.
“We had great looks, so I’m not sure until I watch the film on what exactly [Southern Utah] did, but we had great looks,” Huger said. “We had wide-open 3s that we missed, and when you miss those shots, that makes it difficult when they’re getting rebounds and going out in transition and being able to score in transition before your defense gets set.”
The Falcons return back to Ohio for a 2 p.m. contest Sunday against Chicago State at the Stroh Center.
First Published November 24, 2021, 8:38 p.m.
