The Bowling Green Falcons took down the Eastern Michigan Eagles by a score of 70-63 in a tremendous overtime game.
The game featured everything from the Falcons being down by 17 at the half, to junior forward Demajeo Wiggins suffering a scary-looking injury, to the Falcons not attempting a field goal in overtime. When all was said and done and the clock struck zero, the Falcons had more points and cinched the win.
“Great second half by my guys, we were able to stick in the game with our defense,” coach Michael Huger said, “We were able to play really good defense in the second half, and that was what got us back into the game and got the lead for us. We were able to win in overtime with our defense.”
At halftime, the score was 38-21 with Eastern Michigan leading. Bowling Green could not find a way to penetrate the Eagles’ zone defense and was having their own struggles on defense as well.
Coach Huger took his team into the locker room and told the team that the players that would give the most effort would play. Those words turned into gold as the team played magnificently in the second half and in overtime.
Although the team did not attempt a field goal in overtime, they made 10 free throws and played stout defense to come out on top.
“The first thing I said to the team after the win was go to the crowd,” Huger said ,“Go thank the crowd for coming out. They don’t have to pay their money to come see us so make sure you thank the crowd and we will talk about the game later.”
Several players stood out in this game, but it was Demajeo Wiggins and senior guard Matt Fox who made the biggest plays of the night. Fox made a game-tying three point shot at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime. Fox finished the game with 12 points and scored four of five shots.
Wiggins was the team’s catalyst, as he scored 17 points and 15 boards while playing tremendous defense on a very tall and long Eastern Michigan squad. At one point midway through the second half, Wiggins collided knees with an Eagle player and could not put any pressure on his leg as he was helped off the court and into the locker room.
Coach Huger’s initial reaction when Wiggins went down was “Oh goodness. Is he alright? Is he going to come back in the game? Who am I going to sub in right now? Everything like that went through my mind. Is it season-ending? I did not know what it was. He is a guy that has not been hurt in three years and now he has been hurt twice in two games. He doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know how to react to that because he has never been hurt so those were my first thoughts, just thinking is he alright, is he out for the season, is it just a bang, is it something like that, who am I going to sub in? Those are my thoughts right there.”
Eventually Wiggins would jog back onto the court and was in the game just moments later. After the game he said it was just a knee-to-knee collision and he is alright now.
The Falcons outscored the Eagles 39-22 in the second half and 10-3 in overtime.
The Falcons play Tuesday, at home, against the Western Michigan Broncos.
