College Basketball

12/15/2008
BY RYAN AUTULLO
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

BOWLING GREEN - Brian Moten has yet to fully move on from Bowling Green State University's crushing loss earlier at Savannah State. And that's not likely to change anytime soon.

"I'll probably never be over that," BG's senior guard said. "Hopefully something good happens like I get married and then I'll get over it."

Last night's 58-38 home win over Detroit eased the pain a little. It wasn't the result that was so much therapeutic as it was the circumstances and how BG responded to them. Unlike against Savannah State, when the Falcons blew a 21-point halftime lead, this one was a complete domination, particularly on defense. Without question, a poor offensive showing by BG provided Detroit plenty of time to pull a Savannah State, but the Titans (2-6) didn't do their part and registered some truly dismal offensive numbers.

"Our defensive effort, really for the game, I thought was the difference," BG coach Louis Orr said.

BG (4-4) led 28-13 at the break and its second-half lapses were minimal on the defensive end as Detroit could never cut the deficit to single digits over the second 20 minutes.

With the victory, BG snapped a three-game losing skid and won for the first time since a thrashing of Division II Wayne State on Nov. 20.

Today is the start of finals week at BG, and the Falcons won't play again until Saturday at Central Arkansas. And all of the hours spent entrenched in front of a textbook this week will be welcomed by the Falcons if it means they will be able to get out of film review.

The tape from last night's affair should probably include some sort of warning.

Consider that BG shot just 40 percent from the field, which was 18 percent higher than Detroit's total. Or consider that Detroit didn't score its 20th point until 12:55 remained in the game. Or that it didn't make a field goal for the final 5:11. On this night, the Titans' offensive production matched the economic struggles of the city they call home.

That's not all. The Titans also recorded just two assists against 15 turnovers and made just one of 10 3-pointers. Of course they can use the excuse that leading scorer Xavier Keeling missed the game with an injury.

BG's offensive numbers weren't too stellar either. Its four fast-break points equaled Detroit's total and its 17 turnovers were higher than Orr would like to see. But the performance was deemed passable by a coach whose "We don't want our field goal percentage to dictate our win percentage" quote should be plastered on orange and brown T-shirts and sold at the student book store.

"I'll take the defense right now and for the rest of the year, but for the offense, I think as we finish better around the basket our percentages will go up," Orr said. "There were some zero-footers that we probably should have scored and we didn't."

Moten, who was mired in a 3-of-18 shooting funk entering the game, led all players with 15 points. Darryl Clements (13 points), Joe Jakubowski (13) and Nate Miller (10) were also in double figures. Jakubowski added nine rebounds and seven assists.

Moten made six of 14 field goal attempts and knocked down three treys.

"You just have to push through it," he said. "Tonight was a little better but not where I personally would like it to be."

Contact Ryan Autullo at:

rautullo@theblade.com.