The Bowling Green men’s basketball team plodded to a 2-0 preseason record with an 89-70 win over Shawnee State last night at Anderson Arena.
Much like last week’s win over Argentina Select, the Falcons looked lethargic on offense and struggled to build a lead through much of the first half. Coach Dan Dakich said the game may be a preview of BG’s style of play this year, win or lose.
“I think our team is going to be a grind-it-out team,” he said. “Its not going to be a team that dominates you and beats you by 30.”
BG’s 19-point lead at the final buzzer was their biggest.
The game started out slow and never really sped up. BG’s Len Matela scored the game’s first two points on a lay up 15 seconds in, and the score stayed 2-0 for nearly two minutes until Matela hit a jump shot. Shawnee State lay dormant until their backcourt of Andre Horton and Antwain Lavender started hitting perimeter shots. At one point midway through the half, Horton hit four three-pointers in the span of six Shawnee State field goals, the last giving Shawnee their third lead of the game at 24-23.
The Falcons started drawing fouls, getting to the line, and converted enough free throws to go into halftime up 36-30. They finished the half 8-for-15 from the line, 14-for-26 from the field. BG got a slight scare in the first half when Brent Klassen took a shot to the jaw and was knocked to the ground. He lay motionless for a few seconds. Klassen did not return.
“He got it in the chops and he got knocked out for a minute,” Dakich said. “I just felt like, don’t play him.”
Dakich said he was fairly certain Klassen would be ready for the start of the regular season Nov. 17 in Alaska.
Shawnee State started the second half with a 5-0 run that included another Horton three-pointer to make it 36-35. The Falcons kept pushing their lead out to five or six points, only to have Shawnee cut into it. They continued to struggle on offense, especially with their perimeter game. BG converted only three 3-pointers in the second half, two by Brandon Pardon and one by Erik Crawford.
However, the Falcons did start to pull away in the final 10 minutes. A Kevin Netter lay up with just under nine minutes to play pushed BG’s lead into double figures to stay at 69-58. Josh Almanson pushed the lead to 15 with a lay-up at five and a half minutes. Shawnee State’s perimeter game cooled off considerably in the second half as they made just two 3-pointers in the final 18 minutes, none by Horton or Lavender.
Horton and Lavender were Shawnee State’s top two scorers with 22 and 14 respectively. Horton finished 5-for-9 from beyond the arc, Lavender 2-for-6.
BG’s leading scorer was Matela with 20 on 8-for-10 shooting from the field.
Netter scored 19, and Crawford, Almanson and Germain Fitch also got into double figures with 11, 10 and 10 respectively.
BG started a three-guard set of Pardon, Crawford and Kris Gerken, but Dakich did not say whether the lineup would stick in the regular season. Almanson and Matela rounded out the starting five.
Note
Keith McLeod missed last night’s game after nearly starting a fight against Argentina
