Bowling Green men’s basketball fell to Toledo 84-66 at the Stroh Center on Saturday night. They are now 10-7 overall and 6-5 in the conference.
BGSU started the game off with 16 missed shots in the first four minutes, but quickly picked up their intensity after Daeqwon Plowden pulled a three from the wing.
Kaden Metheny and Trey Diggs quickly added to the score to give the Falcons a boost as well.
BGSU struggled with fouls in the first half, causing Jacob Washington to sit out only six minutes into the half, finally coming back in with a minute left.
As fouls started to rack up for the starters, bench players were quickly looking for ways to get in and change the game, scoring 18 points off the bench.
Trey Diggs led the Falcons at the half with 11 points, but the team was still down by 12 with the score being 40-28 and going into the second half.
“They’re first place for a reason. They did a great job of moving the ball, sharing the ball. They made the runs and we couldn’t stop the runs and that was the difference in the game,” BGSU head coach Michael Huger said.
In the first two minutes of the second half, Metheny and Justin Turner were able to get the Falcons going with two buckets to start the Falcons on a 4-0 run.
Josiah Fulcher held the boards for BG with a team high of eight defensive rebounds, while Plowden held the team high of four offensive rebounds.
BGSU outdid Toledo in steals with Caleb Fields having three, Turner and Diggs having two and Plowden taking one for a team total of eight.
With 8:36 left in the half, BGSU started to push the ball more with quick shots and more ball movement.
However, the intensity was short-lived after Diggs received a technical, followed by Spencer Littleton, a guard for Toledo, also receiving his first technical of the night.
The team looked for their open shots in the paint, scoring 24 points from inside the key. However, BGSU struggled tremendously on their outside shots, only making 22% from the three-point line.
Both teams struggled with free throws tonight, as BGSU held 40% from the line and Toledo ended with 62% from the line.
“Right now, we’re not playing well and we gotta figure out why we’re not playing well, which we know and now we gotta fix the defense. That’s really what it is. We have to do a lot better job than that,” said Huger.
Diggs held the game high for the night with 17 points, four rebounds and two steals. Fulcher followed with 12 points and nine rebounds.
“We just need to try and get back to our real identity. We know that we’re a top-level team in our conference which is obviously not seeming like it right now but we just need to attack it one game at a time. Hopefully, we get a win at Eastern and bounce back from this drought.” Diggs said.
Bowling Green’s next game is at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 2 at 7 p.m.
