Last year’s record of 13-19 will officially be in the past when the BG men’s basketball team starts their season against Earlham College Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Falcons held their last exhibition game this past Saturday against Malone University, and they left the Stroh Center with the 87-60 win, completing a clean sweep of their two exhibitions this preseason.

Senior Craig Sealey did not play in that game due to injury, and has been ruled out of the season opener as well.

The biggest threat Earlham poses to the Falcons are its guards and their ability to attack from the perimeter.

“Guarding and containing their guards along the perimeter,” Head basketball Coach Louis Orr said. “They have four or five returners and we will need to deal with the unknown.”

He said the new enforcement on the hand-checking rule hasn’t affected them as much in the exhibitions but they will still need to make adjustments.

Throughout the off-season, players and coaches have been adjusting to the new roles and chemistry that they will have going into this season with the loss of Jordan Crawford and A’uston Calhoun. But, said Orr, the guys have been comeback-better and are playing good within the system.

Adjusting to the roles have gone well throughout the preseason with the two wins but the regular season is starting Saturday and that brings in more competition and pressure to each game played.

“We need to take it one game at a time,” Orr said. “This is one step towards our goal.”

The Falcons have set many long-term and short-term goals for the season but the one ultimate goal stays the same— a Mid-American Conference Championship. But they are not looking past this Earlham team to the future.

“You can’t get to your ultimate goal if you don’t take care of business game by game,” Orr said.

The Falcons will look to win their season opener for the third straight year this Saturday while continuing to improve to reach their ultimate goal.

“This is the real thing,” Orr said. “This starts the beginning of the marathon.”