In a hotly contested game throughout, Bowling Green Men’s Basketball was able to escape with an overtime win Monday night over Appalachian State 78-76. 

It looked like the Falcons were going to run away with it at the beginning of the second half as they were able to push their lead to almost ten, but the Falcons could never put the Mountaineers away with the game eventually going to overtime. 

With the win the Falcons move to 2-1 on the season and will play their first MAC contest against Buffalo at home on Sunday. 

In fact, it was Appalachian State that had the shot to win the game with 0.8 seconds left in regulation. The shot fell short however and the game continued into overtime. 

That wouldn’t be the end of the theatrics however, as in overtime Kaleb Matheny would hit a big three late in the period. The freshman starting in this third game of the season had eight points on the night.

Then Daeqwon Plowden would get a big block after a Metheny turnover, leading to an easy Trey Diggs layup on the other end to make the score 74-71. Appalachian State would get a two to bring the score within one, then Caleb Fields would cash in on a desperation stepback three with 8.3 seconds left to give the Falcons a four-point lead. 

Even then the Falcons would still have trouble putting Appalachian State away as they would give up a three with 4 seconds left. Then at the free throw line Turner would make the first and miss the second giving Appalachian State a good look at a game winner. But the shot again would be just long and the Falcons would find a way to escape with a win.

It was all Justin Turner for most of the game for the Falcons as the graduate senior led all scorers with 25 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the field and 7 of 8 shooting from the free throw line. He also had three assists, three rebounds and four steals on the night.

The next leading scorers for the Falcons were Plowden, Fields and Diggs with 10 as well as Dylan Swingle with nine.

Swingle in particular played the best game of his career for the Falcons as he showed some strength on the inside and was able to make a few nice post moves as well. 

Appalachian State is a team that gave up only 67 points per game last season and that defensive minded play has certainly carried over into this season as the Falcons had a lot of trouble in their lowest scoring affair of the year.

The Falcons turned the ball over 18 times and shot only 33% from three. Despite that the Falcons were able to shoot the ball well from the field going 31 of 61 in the game.

Defense however, was the reason the Falcons were able to win this game. Head coach Michael Huger said that defense would be a focus after giving up 96 points to Michigan in their season opener. Tonight the Falcons held Appalachian State to 76 on 39% shooting from the field. 

The Falcons will now look to get their first conference victory over Buffalo on Sunday. The Bulls were picked fourth in the MAC this season.