Bowling Green’s battle with Ohio last night turned into some healing chicken soup for the Falcons.
After a good kick in the gut at Kent State by the Golden Flashes Monday, BG recovered nicely with a strong 80-64 winning performance against the Bobcats at Anderson Arena last night.
“Our mindset was to win this game,” BG center Len Matela said. “We tried to put Monday back in our minds. I had to come here with something different.”
Something different was Matela’s 25 point performance on 10 of 11 shooting from the field. It was a quick recovery for Matela from the Ken game, where the Merrillsville, Ind. native’s frustration was evident with the disgusted look on his face after fouling out with only eight points in 19 minutes.
The win also raised the spirits of the Falcons by propelling them in the MAC East standings. BG and Ohio are currently tied for second place with 7-4 division records behind Kent.
“I was very proud of our kids tonight because this is our third game in five days and I thought we had great energy and enthusiasm,” BG head coach Dan Dakich said. “This is as talented a team in our league as there is. We didn’t drag tonight.”
Just before tipoff, the BG crowd started chanting ÔDave is better,’ directed towards former Falcon Dave Esterkamp’s younger brother Steve who plays for Ohio. Steve answered the crowd by starting off the scoring with a three-pointer to give the Bobcats the early advantage. Esterkamp was silenced offensively the remainder of the game, finishing with six points. A major part of that was the defensive performance by BG guard Keith McLeod.
“Keith’s defense is incredibly overlooked, and it probably should be because of the numbers he is put up offensively,” Dakich said. “I watch everybody in our league, and I think I have seen every team on tape at least twice. There are a lot of good defensive players, but I don’t think there are any better than him.”
BG freshman guard Kris Wilson came into the game and hit a big three to give the Falcons their first lead of the night at 20-19. The Falcons then went on with a 6-0 run to take a 26-21 lead. The Falcons went into a halftime with a 35-31 lead.BG made a statement with its inside presence in the second half. After getting dominated by Kent’s inside presence two nights before, the Falcons came back and went straight at the heart of the Bobcat defense. Matela was five of six in the paint in the final 20 minutes. McLeod was also able to find his way through Ohio’s presence early on. He scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half.
“The second half I really thought they broke it open by dominating the inside,” Ohio coach Tim O’Shea said. “We really had no answer for Matela tonight. I thought he played a very good game.”
After Ohio center Patrick Flomo tied the game up at 41, the Falcons went on a 9-0 run. BG would build its advantage to 70-55 on a Matela layup. The Falcons would hit their final 10 free throws in regulation to finish the win.
