The numbers didn’t go Bowling Green’s way in its 76-64 loss to Kent State.
40: The number of solid minutes that BG coach Dan Dakich said his team needed to play to beat the Golden Flashes. 20: The number of minutes of good defense that Dakich believed he got from his team.
“We didn’t play 40 minutes as well as we could play,” Dakich said. “I thought we got about 20 good minutes of good defense.”
19: The number of minutes that BG center Len Matela played in the game. Matela ended the game four of six shooting, five rebounds, and eights points. They are numbers that BG’s big man is used to putting up in the first half. Matela got in early foul trouble and was called for two offensive fouls that negated field goals.
3: The number of times Matela punched the back of his bench chair after picking up his fourth foul and getting taken out of the game. After his final foul, Matela left the court in disgust.
“I give Kent credit,” Dakich said. “Stan (Heath) had a little set up to play his moves. Gerwick executed well and was able to take charges.
“Did it handicapp us, no question,” Dakich continued. “We have enough big guys to overcome that and I don’t think we played well enough to overcome that.”
16: The number of points that Kent State outscored the Falcons in the paint. The Golden Flashes had 36 total points down low compared to BG’s 20.
Kent freshman center Nate Gerwin had a career day down low, scoring 21 points on nine of 10 shooting from the floor.
26: The career high of points that Kent guard Andrew Mitchell scored. Mitchell was seven of 13 from the floor and hit some key shots in the second half to take the breath out of the Falcons. Mitchell also came up big on the defensive side of the ball
. “I thought Andrew did an outstanding job against Pardon,” Heath said. “He did a great job at going at him.”
29: The number of points BG guard Keith McLeod scored in the game. He was the only Falcon in double-figures.
1: The number of days BG has to prepare for Ohio, who currently sits in second place in the MAC East Division.