BGSU men’s basketball (14-10, 5-6) fell 91-54 on the road against Arkansas State (15-10, 6-6) in the second leg of the Mid-American Conference (MAC)-Sun Belt Conference (SBC) Challenge, Bowling Green’s largest loss of the season and their largest margin of defeat in three seasons under head coach Todd Simon.
First Half
In the first, the Falcons struggled to score overall, especially from 3-point range. The Red Wolves could, however, and cashed in from three and in transition to get up big on BG in the early part of the game.
This significant lead would hold for the entire half and the game, as the Orange and Brown could not put anything together on offense. Arkansas State’s defensive scheme limited Bowling Green and forced the Falcons to make mistakes and take bad shots.
In the first half, the Falcons shot 16.7% from the field, going 0-for-10 from deep, settling for bad shots because of the Red Wolves’ defense, and turning the ball over 11 times.
Oppositely, Arkansas State shot 45.5% as a team, an excellent mark for a squad, and went 7-17 from behind the arc. They played well as a team, picking up 23 boards to the Falcons’ 14 and dishing out 10 assists compared to just one for BG.
At the end of the half, the score was 40-14, a 26-point deficit that was crafted by a well-executed game plan by the Red Wolves.
Second Half
It was more of the same in the second half, with the Falcons going two for 24 from the three-point line and giving the Red Wolves open shots and second-chance opportunities.
With 11 minutes to go in the game, the Falcon defense picked up, forcing mistakes from Arkansas State and leading to a 7-0 BG run, but these mistakes were quickly corrected during a timeout by the Red Wolves.
In the second half, the Falcons were outscored by only 11, an improvement from the first half.
However, the Red Wolves did not take their foot off the gas defensively, tallying five steals and a block against BG in the second, locking down the paint whenever necessary so the Falcons could not mount a comeback.
For Bowling Green, their defense stepped up thanks to a full-court press, which forced six steals of their own, but the offense could not put together consistent scoring.
In this 37-point loss, the Falcons were only better than the Red Wolves from the free-throw line, shooting 72.7% to the Wolves 57.1% on free-throw attempts.
Other than that, the Falcons were beaten badly in every other category. They were out-rebounded 45 to 29, out-assisted 25 to eight, and the bench was outscored 39 to 16.
Senior guard Javontae Campbell still filled the box score once again, finishing with 13 points, six boards, six steals and four assists with no turnovers.
Next up for the Falcons is a trip to Northern Illinois for a battle with the Huskies on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Make sure to check out the recap for that game, as well as the other pieces relating to this one on bgfalconmedia.com.
