The second half belonged to Scott Thomas.
BG’s senior forward scored 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the second frame, leading BG to a 66-63 victory against Toledo on Saturday afternoon.
Thomas finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and four steals, while playing all 40 minutes.
“It’s a huge win for us; we thought we didn’t play well in the first half,” Thomas said. “Second half, they came out and made some threes. We called a time out and buckled down, and were able to finish out strong.”
A’uston Calhoun posted a double-double for BG, scoring 20 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while adding 12 rebounds.
The Falcons were able to withstand a barrage of three-pointers from the Rockets, who shot 12-of-19 from a distance. Toledo guard Curtis Dennis made 5-of-6 three-pointers and scored 17 points coming off the bench.
“They shot the ball real well and got us on our heels,” said coach Louis Orr. “We had to dig deep, so I’m really proud of our guys for persevering.”
Toledo was able to maintain a strong outside presence throughout the game, but that enabled the Falcons to dominate inside. BG kept a 40-27 rebounding edge, which helped the Falcons outscore Toledo 40-16 in the paint.
Tenacity along the offensive glass – BG had 21 offensive rebounds, compared to only six for Toledo – helped BG put up 21 second-chance points.
“I think everyone just came with a lot of energy and kind of fed off the crowd,” Calhoun said. “In the first half we were missing a lot of our shots, which meant that we had a lot of opportunities on the glass. At halftime we just came in and talked about it and decided to crash the boards.”
The Falcons were able to overcome a 13-point deficit with 16:20 remaining in the second half. It took BG only four minutes to cut the lead to one, but the Falcons were not able to take the lead until a layup by Scott Thomas with 2:13 to go in the game.
“My guy was so concentrated on hooking back on A’uston that I was able to get in the lane and finish the layup,” Thomas said. “So definitely A’uston opened it up for me and I was able to get in the lane.”
The win was BG’s fourth in a row. The Falcons will face the Bobcats Wednesday in Athens. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
