TOLEDO – Michael Huger is ready for some fresh faces within Bowling Green’s basketball program.
Last year’s problems boiled over to this season consistently throughout the year, and it cost the Falcons
their season Monday night.
Bowling Green lacked congruity and specialized in individualism in a 77-62 loss to arch-rival Toledo in
the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament at Savage Arena.
The No. 10 seed Falcons, after a first-half performance that saw them stay within four points, was
steamrolled in the final 20 minutes to finish their season 13-19.
“I thought we played selfish basketball on offense and defense and it showed,” said Huger, BG’s
second-year coach. “Toledo played more as a team and they beat us.
“We were so all over the place with emotions and everything else,” he added. “And tonight it really
showed. Once it started to go bad we didn’t stick together and that’s the most frustrating part for me.
“It’s always what your new guys have learned and what they’re being taught, hopefully the bad stuff
doesn’t carry over and they picked up the good stuff. That’s what it’s really about. The younger guys,
you can mold them to what you want them to be. When you inherit guys it’s hard to get them to change.
It’s hard to change a guy who has been doing it this way for so long and now we’re trying to change him.
It’s hard.
“You can tweak some things, you can move some things and get better for things, but you can’t change them
totally, 100 percent, and as soon as it goes bad, it goes bad.
“We had the same thing last year with the same issues and now hopefully we can move forward.”
Exhale.
Bowling Green is far from crumbling, but it did wilt early in the final 20 minutes and Toledo took
advantage leading to the rout.
The Rockets (17-15), the seventh seed, led 32-28 at halftime before using an 8-2 run out of the half to
set the stage. The Falcons got back within 42-38 with 15:42 left, but Toledo went on a 23-4
game-defining run over the next 7:32 to take a commanding 65-42 lead that all but ended the game.
“They went on a great run … Our defensive principles somewhat failed us but it goes back to us giving max
energy and max effort and unfortunately we just couldn’t do that tonight,” said Demajeo Wiggins, who
finished with 10 points.
“When you first come out for a big game like this the adrenaline takes over and everyone is playing hard.
But the first 20 minutes we came out and played hard. … We slacked off a little bit in the second half
defensively and we didn’t really bring that much energy.”
Wes Alcegaire led Bowling Green with 17 points, and Jonathan Williams led Toledo with 18 points. Luke
Knapke and Jaelan Sanford added 12 points for the Rockets.
Toledo led by as many as 26 points late in the second half. The Rockets were 14-for-29 from the field in
the final 20 minutes.
“We reverted back to the old Bowling Green team where everyone wanted to do it on their own,” Huger said.
“We stopped sharing the ball. We went individual basketball and we lost.
“It’s a team that you’re trying to build,” he added. “We’re still in the early stages of building it and
we’re not going to have everything correct at this stage. You still have guys with one foot in and one
foot out, and it shows.”
Both teams struggled through a dry stretch late in the first half. The Rockets went scoreless for nearly
seven minutes midway through the first and Bowling Green never capitalized, only getting within 22-21
after trailing just six earlier in the half.
Bowling Green continued its strong defensive effort into halftime before its energy seemingly disappeared
– a recurring theme throughout the season.
“It’s something that you think about and you question how tough your team is physically and mentally and
your leadership,” Huger said. “That’s what it starts with. You try to instill that in them, but you
can’t force it. You can’t make them do it. They have to be willing to do it.”
NOTES: It was Toledo’s second win over Bowling Green in three tries this season … The Rockets will play
Ohio in the quarterfinals in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday … Toledo scored 12
second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.
TOLEDO 77, BGSU 62
BGSU (13-19)
Wiggins, 4-2—10; Alcegaire, 5-2-1—17; Caldwell, 0-1-4—7; Denny, 3-0—6; Frye, 1-1-0—5; Hluchoweckyj,
0-0—0; Lillard, 0-4—4; Ali, 4-0—8; Fox, 0-0—0; Worrell, 2-1—5. TOTALS: 19-4-12—62.
TOLEDO (17-15)
Taylor Jr., 3-3—9; Knpake, 4-4—12; Williams, 4-2-4—18; Sanford, 3-1-3—12; Lauf, 1-2-1—9; Adway, 2-0—4;
Antunez, 0-2—2; Roberts, 0-1-0—3; Schaffer, 0-0—0; Navigato, 0-2-2—8. TOTALS: 17-8-19—77.
Halftime score: Toledo, 32-28. Technical fouls: Alcegaire (BG). Attendance: 4,085.
