Late Chippewas Run Beats Error Prone Falcons, 84-75

Today, the Bowling Green Falcons welcomed back their last Mid-American Conference championship team. That was the 1968 squad that was celebrating their 50th anniversary of making the NCAA Tournament. They were the last Falcon team to do so. So much for inspiration.The current young and talented Falcons blew a 15-point second half lead and fell to the visiting Central Michigan Chippewas, 84-75 on Saturday afternoon. The win breaks a four-game losing streak for the Chippewas and moves their record to 2-4 in the MAC and 13-6 overall. Bowling Green drops to 3-3 and 12-7.

It was a pretty evenly played first half as Bowling Green held a 37-34 advantage at the break. The biggest lead by either team was just six points. The Falcons played for much of the first half without standout big man Demajeo Wiggins, who picked-up two fouls with just 2:30 gone in the game and never returned the rest of the half. The Falcons controlled the game starting the second half and built a 56-41 lead with 15 minutes left to play, and again 64-49 with 12:21 left. Having Wiggins back on the court was huge for Bowling Green, as he was the catalyst for extending the Falcon lead at that point.

Then the Chippewas slowly started to heat up from the three-point line. That, coupled with the Falcons continuing to turn the ball over, enabled Central Michigan to climb back in this one. They took the lead for good, 72-70 on a Josh Kozinski three-pointer with five minutes left in the game. The Falcons had 18 turnovers for the game and those were converted into 25 points for the Chippewas. That was the difference, as the Falcons held the lead for over 30 minutes in the game. But the Chippewas had the lead when it counted.Central Michigan was led in scoring by Shawn Roundtree, Jr’s 19 points. Luke Meyer and Kevin McKay each added 16 points for the Chippewas. The Falcons were led in scoring by Roderick Caldwell’s 16 points. Wiggins (13), Dylan Frye (13), Justin Turner (12), and Derek Koch (11) also scored in double figures for Bowling Green.

The Chippewas will return home on Tuesday to face the Miami Redhawks, while the Falcons will travel to Dekalb to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies the same evening,