After a dismal first half of play, the men’s basketball rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to knock off arch-rival Toledo.
The Falcons scored 53 points in the second half on 76 percent shooting, including six of eight on three’s, to stun the Rockets 70-69 in front of a rocking sellout Anderson Arena crowd.
“Our guys didn’t die in the locker room (at halftime), we had good leadership … you could tell they weren’t going to quit,” said BG head coach Dan Dakich. “It was just an unbelievable effort by our kids and I’m ridiculously proud of them.”
John Floyd drove to the hoop and found Germain Fitch under the basket for a layup with 27 seconds left for the game winner.
“The drive came available for Floyd and I made myself open so he could pass me the ball and I just made the layup,” Fitch said.
Justin Ingram’s three from the corner at the end of regulation was no good for Toledo and sent the fans storming on to the court.
Fitch was a spark for BG in the second half, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds. His put-back dunk off a missed Stephen Wright three-point attempt cut the Rockets lead to 10 and was a key play in an 18-2 run to start the second half.
The first half saw BG basketball at its lowest. The Falcons committed 17 turnovers, shot 30 percent from the floor, 37.5 percent from the line and totaled 17 points. BG struggled to get their offense set as the Rockets cut off passing lanes and had nine steals.
“We were pretty much embarrassing ourselves in that first half,” Fitch said.
Four Falcons scored in double figures and were led by John Reimold’s 17 points. After shooting 1 of 11 from the field in the first half, Reimold caught fire in the second half and hit three three’s to ignite the Falcons’ comeback.
John Floyd scored 13 points and his three with 13:33 remaining in the game gave BG a 38-37 lead, their first since the opening minutes of play.
Fitch had 12 points for the game and Josh Almanson added 10 , including seven points during the rally.
Keith Triplett led the Rockets with 26 points, 16 in the first half, on 9 of 17 shooting. Triplett, the MAC leader in steals, had four steals for the game and pulled down seven boards.
He was a constant target of harassment by the fans and appeared to lose control after committing his fourth foul with 8:48 remaining. Toledo kept the game close with him on the bench and he came back to hit two key jumpers in the final minute plus, each to put the Rockets up by one.
Ingram had eight second half points and finished with 11.
Dakich was impressed by the support of the crowd and gave them credit for the boost they gave the team.
“If that (game) is in a closed gym, we lose, not even close. Without that crowd, this game is over at halftime,” he said.
