Right now, there is only one motto for Bowling Green: If the Falcons win, then someone else around the Mid-American Conference is losing.
It’s too early to determine where Bowling Green will find itself come MAC Tournament time. There’s a small shot that Kent State could hit a wall, allowing the Falcons to make up a three-game lead and capture an East Division championship. More realistically though, BG is in a cat and dog fight with Miami and Ohio to grab the No. 3 seed and earn a MAC first-round bye. For now, all the Falcons can do to control their own destiny is put Ws in the win column.
Eastern Michigan is next on the list for the Falcons with a 7 p.m. engagement at Anderson Arena tonight. And if the Falcons (18-5, 8-4) win, then someone around the MAC is losing. It could be Kent State, who has an 8:05 bout with Northern Illinois. Or maybe Ohio, who is only a half-game behind the Falcons. The Bobcats host Central Michigan. First the Falcons have to focus on the Eagles (5-19, 1-12), a team that has run into hard times in Ypsilanti.
Eastern bolsters a young squad, led by a majority of underclassmen. Sophomore Ricky Contrill paves the offensive way for the Eagles. The sophomore guard is third in the league in scoring, averaging just over 20 points a game. Eastern is also a tired squad. Last Saturday, they blew a five-point lead with just over a minute left and lost in overtime to Northern Illinois. Their previous outing against Western Michigan turned into a double-overtime thriller which Eastern found itself on the losing end of.
“We’re looking for a break,” said Eastern coach Jim Boone. “Things haven’t gone our way this season. I think we’re playing some good basketball. We are much more competitive and are doing the right things to win.”
“They’ve had so many games come down to the wire,” said BG coach Dan Dakich. “They’ve had some tough breaks.”
The Falcons are coming off their own marathon stretch in which they played five games in 10 days. BG won four out of the five games during that stretch. In their last two games, the Falcons’ post game and bench has emerged to give the team a second option besides senior guard Keith McLeod. The Falcons’ shooting has been solid in those two games, with 59.6 and 61.2 percent field goal percentages against Ohio and Marshall respectively. “It was good for the team to win two games where McLeod didn’t have to pour in 30,” Dakich said.
Despite McLeod’s eight-point performance against Marshall, he is still sixth in the nation in scoring averaging 23 points per game. Fellow guard Brandon Pardon is ninth in the country in assists at 6.7 per game.
BG will get even more rest time after Eastern, getting the weekend off to prepare for Toledo Monday on the road.
