BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University’s men’s basketball team experienced a little flashback on Saturday.
For the second consecutive contest, the Falcons fell behind by double digits early but made a strong comeback to nearly take the lead. Northern Illinois, led by sophomore guard David Coit, made several huge shots down the stretch, however, to hold off BGSU 86-78 in Mid-American Conference play at the Stroh Center.
“We show that we’re capable of doing it, now we’ve got to do it from start to finish instead of waiting. We just continually wait, we don’t compete from the start,” BGSU coach Michael Huger said. “We wait until we’re down, and now we want to compete.
“That’s the frustrating part for me as a coach, is trying to figure out how do we compete from the beginning. It’s mind-boggling to me right now, and I’m going to continue to work and continue to try to figure out a way.”
The Falcons, who fell in similar fashion to Ball State (69-60) on Tuesday, suffered their third straight loss and sixth in the past eight games to drop to 10-13 (4-6 MAC). Northern Illinois (10-13, 6-4) led the entire way in winning for the fifth time in its past six games.
The Huskies started 9 of 10 from the floor, including making their first five shots, to jump out to a 21-7 lead less than seven minutes into the game. Northern Illinois, which entered the game averaging 70.5 points per game (11th in the MAC), extended its lead to 29-18 with 9:59 left after Zarique Nutter drilled a corner 3-pointer.
BGSU pulled within 44-37 at halftime after Samari Curtis found Chandler Turner for a reverse layup in transition, then hit Gabe O’Neal for a fast-break score off a Turner steal in the final minute. The Falcons narrowed their deficit to 51-49 with 15:31 left after Leon Ayers III sank a baseline jumper.
The Falcons, however, missed out on a few opportunities right at the basket. Northern Illinois responded with a 17-3 run to push the lead to 16 with nine minutes left.
“We just have to stop getting to that point where we’re down so much that we have to fight back, because we fight back and then we just get gassed or something,” Curtis said. “We just have to stop getting to that point. We’re a better team than that.”
The Falcons had another run in them. O’Neal scored four straight points, Turner drained a corner 3-pointer off Kaden Metheny’s pass, and Metheny’s jumper cut Northern Illinois’ lead to 70-67 with 3:54 left.
That was as close as the Falcons came. Coit buried three straight 3-pointers to push the Huskies’ advantage to 79-70 with 2:13 left.
“We have to do the fight consistently,” Huger said. “We only fight when we’re down. When we were winning, we were fighting from the beginning until the end, and it’s a big difference when you fight from beginning to end.”
Free-throw shooting, which has been strong for BGSU all season, proved to be costly, as well. The Falcons, who entered the game third in the MAC at 75.2 percent, made just 58.3 percent (14 of 24) from the line.
“We just have to lock in at practice,” Curtis said. “We shoot free throws every day after practice, so it’s not like we’re not practicing them. So we’ve just got to lock in during the game, encourage each other to make them, and get up there and knock them down.”
Turner finished with 21 points and five rebounds, while Ayers chipped in 20 points for BGSU. Curtis tallied nine points, five assists, and four rebounds off the bench.
Coit had 21 points to lead five Northern Illinois players in double figures. Nutter had 18 points, Darweshi Hunter added 13, and Harvin Ibarguen and Oluwasegun Durosinmi both had 10.
The Huskies shot 53.3 percent (32 of 60) from the floor and 70.6 percent (12 of 17) from the free-throw line. The Falcons were 49.2 percent (30 of 61) from the floor.
BGSU will be back in action at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Kent State.
First Published February 5, 2023, 12:48 a.m.
