The Falcon men’s basketball team lost to the Toledo Rockets Saturday night 101-75, and the loss drops the Falcons to 3-5 in MAC play.
“(Toledo) started to make shots, our defense started to break down,” Falcons head coach Michael Huger said. “We talked about how to not give them the 3s and how to take them away, and we did the right thing early, and then we started to fade and not do what we were supposed to do. … They were able to get those 3s off, and that’s what got them started. Then the drives: Fletcher was very good, he was very very good. All credit goes to those guys.”
The man who usually leads the way for the Falcons, junior forward Demajeo Wiggins, only held eight points and one rebound in this one.
“We got him the ball, and we made some shots — and we have got to defend as well,” Huger said. “We need to play on both ends, and we just stopped getting him the ball. … I don’t know what happened there.”
Offensively, the Falcons were led by a trio who scored 13 each; freshman guard Justin Turner, freshman forward Derek Koch and sophomore guard Dylan Frye produced on offense. It was on the defensive end where the Falcons broke down.
“Our young guys came in and played extremely hard, and that’s what it’s about,” Huger said. “We have got to play hard all the time, every possession, and we have got to do it on the defensive end. For us to be successful offensively, we have got to do it defensively, and we don’t do it on the defensive end. We struggle offensively, and that’s what happened tonight. We weren’t able to sustain the defense. We scored 75 points, which is enough to win the game, but you can’t give up 101. It all starts on the defensive end, and we have got to do a much better job defensively. We have got to be tougher defensively.”
The team was also satisfied with the effort from underclassmen players.
“Daeqwon (Plowden) and Derek (Koch) and those guys brought that intensity to the game for us. As freshmen, they did a great job coming in, and we were down one with Nelly Cummings, so Dylan played a little more point today. We did a really good job of that. Everything still starts with the defense and ends with the defense, and until we can get that corrected, the offense is going to struggle as well.”
The team will next play Jan. 30 at home against the Ohio Bobcats.
