2016 MAC Basketball Recap: Bowling Green Falcons @ Cincinnati Bearcats

Early, BGSU did everything right, except put the ball in the basket. At the ten minute mark in the first half, they were shooting 3 of 15, and at the 9 minute mark were only trailing 15-13. That doesn’t work against a team as good as the Bearcats, especially in their house.

After hanging around early with good rebounding and ball control, it wasn’t enough for the Falcons. The Bearcats slowly pulled away. Justin Jenifer hit a long three as the half time buzzer sounded to take control, 41-24.

Most of the stats at intermission were similar, with The Bearcats holding a 20-17 rebounding edge. Fouls were even at 7 each and BG had 4 turnovers to 3 for the Cincinnati. The telling stat was shooting. BGSU hit 9-32 for 28% while Cincinnati hit 16-30, over 50%. The important state was the score, 41-24 Cincinnati.

In the second half, the Bearcats did what good teams do, and put BGSU away. The final score was Bearcats 85, Falcons 56. I can’t say the final score was not expected, but it’s sad, just the same.

Kyle Washington was too much in the middle for the Falcons to deal with, and had 24 points on 11-13 shooting. Justin Jenifer, the 5’10 guard from Baltimore scored on 5-8 shooting. That was well above his season 3.3 average.

Bowling Green was led by Wes Alcegaire and Zack Denny, with 16 each. Ismail Ali had a typical game, where he controls the action, but doesn’t shoot particularly well, ending with 7 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists.

The Falcons look to rebound against the Evansville Purple Aces Tuesday, in Indiana.