The Bowling Green Men’s Basketball team fell to the Central Michigan Chippewas Saturday on a poor offensive outing.
The Falcons had won all three of their Mid-American Conference road games prior to Central Michigan against Ohio, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. This match up against the Chippewas was the second of the season, the last being a loss in the Stroh 67-79.
The Falcons struggled with the ball in their hands, ending the game with 14 turnovers and shooting 23-62 for just over 37 percent.
Central Michigan took advantage of the sloppy Falcon defense, scoring 19 points off turnovers by the final buzzer.
The Chippewas were also quicker to the loose balls and rebounds, out rebounding the Falcons 42-36.
“They out worked us. They played harder than we did,” head coach Michael Huger said. “Every loose ball they got. They set the tone early on what it was going to be. We just didn’t have that fight tonight.”
Central Michigan had only seven players score in the game, one of which scored two at the free throw stripe and one that had only one field goal. The offense was primarily dependent on the starters.
The starters were more than enough to get the job done behind Chris Fowler’s game-high 27 points, 21 of which came in the first half, on an efficient 9-14 shooting. He was also effective at the free throw stripe, hitting eight of his 10 attempts.
Braylon Rayson and Rayshawn Simmons also put up double digits with 19 and 10 respectively.
The three ball was an effective weapon for the Chippewas while it was a liability for the Falcons. BG went 2 for 12 behind the arc for just 16.7 percent in the game while CMU went 9 of 22 for 40.9 percent.
“We gave up too many opportunities on offense. We left a lot of empty possessions. We got our guys who are supposed to be our shooters afraid to shoot. We can’t have that,” Huger said. “We weren’t very sharp. This is the first time I’ve seen that on the road from our guys, where they weren’t sharp and ready to go from the beginning. We have to go back and regroup and get ready for Ball State.”
The Falcons are now in the bottom half of the East Division of the MAC with a 4-4 conference record and a 13-8 record overall.
CMU is one game behind the best record in the MAC and they are on top of the West Division. They move to 5-3 in the conference and 12-9 overall.
BG will return to the Stroh on Tuesday for a matchup against Ball State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
