Despite a poor shooting night for the Bowling Green men’s basketball team, they found a way to win a close game at home.

Something they struggled to do on a consistent basis last year.

“We know we are not going to blow every team out. There will be games where we will have to grind to get the win,” said senior Richaun Holmes. “This game helps us more in the long run, because we can still win games when we aren’t firing on all cylinders offensively.”

The Falcons struggled offensively, shooting 40 percent from the field, 15 percent from beyond the three-point arc and 63 percent from the free throw line.

The Falcons’ shooting struggles allowed them to grab 15 offensive rebounds. Those rebounds turned into 17 second-chance points, which may have made the difference in their 62-54 win against Southeast Missouri State University.

“Generating extra shots throughout the game is an important part,” Holmes said. “As many possessions as we can get we need them.”

The struggles offensively didn’t affect the Falcons defensively as they forced 17 turnovers and scored 19 points off of those turnovers.

“I think overall this was our best effort of the year,” said head coach Chris Jans. “I thought we did a better job tonight than we had previously in getting our hands more active. We didn’t press one time all game and forced 17 turnovers, so that’s a good thing.”

Instead of cracking under the pressure, the Falcons defense held the Redhawks without a field goal for the last 2:41.

In that time the Falcons stretched their 54-50 lead out to 62-52, before the Redhawks knocked down two free throws at the end of the game.

“It was more about us digging in,” Holmes said on their second half defensive effort. “I think later in the second half we did a better good job of getting our principles from practice into the game.”

The Falcons, who came into the game tied for second in the country with nine blocks per game, had only one.

Jans doesn’t believe that they will meet that nine per game number all season long.

“I think our block numbers right now are a little overblown,” Jans said. “I think there will be games where we will say ,‘Oh wow we had 6 or 7 blocks.’ I don’t necessarily think we will have that on every given night. It’s not something that we really talk about that much.”

The Falcons’ win moved their record to 3-0 on the season for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

“We had some tension in the game, we had some adversity, they weren’t going away,” Jans said. “We stayed pretty organized and knocked some free throws down at the end.”