Foul trouble and a deep Detroit-Mercy team spelled doom for the Bowling Green basketball team Saturday afternoon, as the Titans used a 10-1 run late in the second half to pull away from the Falcons and won 75-61 at Calihan Hall.
In all, Bowling Green was whistled for 33 fouls in the game, while Detroit was called for 20. The Falcons were especially limited by foul trouble to Kevin Netter and Germain Fitch, who played a combined 11 minutes in the first half.
Detroit jumped quickly to a 9-0 lead two minutes into the opening half, and extended that lead to 10 at 15-5 minutes later on a Mark Maxwell jumper. The lead remained in the 10-point range for the rest of the first half, and was extended to 14 after four Terrell Riggs free throws with three minutes left in the half. A three by BG’s John Reimold cut the lead to 11, and Detroit’s Willie Wallace and BG’s Ronald Lewis exchanged free throws for a 35-24 Detroit halftime lead.
“I thought we were really focused at the start of the game, and re-focused at the half,” UDM Coach Perry Watson said. “I thought it [our start] gave us a chance to feed off our defense. … Our spacing was really good, and our perimeter players being able to knock down shots and allowed us to make plays inside.”
BG Coach Dan Dakich talked about the pace the Titans established throughout the game.
“I thought they established a pace tonight that surprised us in the first half,” Dakich said after the game. “It’s a pace that we hadn’t really seen in practice, and it’s a pace I’ve been moaning and fighting our guys to play at for awhile.”
The Titans jumped out early in the second half as well, as leading scorer Willie Green scored six straight in 42 seconds that extended the lead to 47-29.
However, a 13-4 BG run over the next four minutes that included 8 points from Reimold cut the lead to nine, and BG would cut the lead to six, at 54-48, minutes later on two Cory Eyink free throws.
After Riggs and Green hit baskets, Elijah Warren hit a three and followed with another jumper on the next possession to extend the UDM lead to 65-51. BG would get as close as 12 on two late Reimold free throws.
“When we held off their run, that was really encouraging, because early in the year, we are all trying to find ourselves and trying to find guys who will step up,” Watson said. “Eli [Warren] and Jimmy Twyman stepped up and made some big shots. That’s the encouraging thing.”
Green led the Titans with 22, while Riggs chipped in 20 and Warren eight. Reimold led BG with 14, while Cory Ryan had 12 and Josh Almanson 10 for the Falcons.
“They got anywhere they wanted,” Dakich said. “They had five shots at the shot clock buzzer, which you have to get them credit for staying with their shot. … We had to work a lot harder to get any of our shots. Their defense was going a lot harder than our offense, and it looked like their offense was going a lot harder than our defense, which leads to fouls.”
Fitch and Lewis fouled out for BG, while Eyink, Netter and Ryan finished with four fouls.
“The guys they kept bringing in were good, especially when you have Maxwell and Wallace making baskets down there,” Dakich said. “And they set themselves up through Riggs and Green, who are two great players to set yourself up through.”
