Utilizing their top two players and pushing the ball for most of the game, the men’s basketball team cruised to victory at Eastern Michigan.
John Reimold scored 24 points, 14 in the second half, and hit five of nine three-point attempts, while Josh Almanson was perfect from the field (7-7) and had 15 points as the Falcons (10-2, 4-0) dominated the Eagles (9-5, 3-2) in the first half and never looked back, winning 79-63 at the Convocation Center.
“We were able to control the game really from the first couple minutes on,” said head coach Dan Dakich.
BG trailed only once after EMU guard Danny McElhinny hit a three for the first points of the game.
A collective team effort led by tough defense and quality shots pushed the Falcons lead into double digits with just over 10 minutes left in the first half after a Cory Eyink three. BG’s defense put the clamps down and never allowed the Eagles to get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.
As the Falcons picked up the tempo in the early going, they started knocking down shots consistently. They finished the game hitting 33 of 62 field-goal attempts (53%), including nine three’s.
Reimold struggled to find his shot in the first half as he hit one of four three’s, but came out gunning to start the second to help build a secure lead.
“(Reimold) was getting really good looks in the first half and I told him ‘You’re going to keep shooting, you got some makes coming,'” Dakich said.
The Falcons also received a huge boost off the bench from Mawel Soler, who for the second straight game achieved his career-high in points, finishing with 12.
Soler was tremendous on the defensive end as well, drawing two key charges in the first half during an 18-4 BG run.
“He’s all over the ice,” Dakich said of Soler’s play. “He’ll block out a guy, jump over a guy, rebound, fall down, hit a guy, guy will hit him, and he’s really fun to watch. He’s come on nice and he’s worked at it.”
The Eagles received bad news just before tip off as leading scorer John Bowler (15 PPG) was unable to play with a disc problem.
Darryl Garrett’s 19 points paced Eastern and Markus Austin chipped in 12 points.
