Feb. 24—Freshman Kaden Metheny had a career night to help Bowling Green State University overcome a horrid shooting start to its road game at Eastern Michigan as the young guard and the Falcons heated up to roll past the Eagles 82-69.
Trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half and by three points at the break, Bowling Green opened the second half with a 25-11 spurt to take a 53-42 lead over the Eagles with 11:54 left in regulation.
Metheny, who entered the game averaging 9.4 points per game and shooting 30.6 percent from 3-point range, finished with a career-high and game-high 29 points. He made 8 of 14 shots from beyond the arc (57.1 percent) at EMU’s Convocation Center.
“He’s been great,” BG coach Michael Huger said. “He has been practicing well and it’s finally translating to the game. He seems fresh and mentally ready to go. He’s been playing well for us the last three games.”
Bowling Green improved to 13-9 overall and are 9-7 in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons have won three games in a row after they had lost six straight.
Eastern Michigan (4-10, 1-9 MAC) made 13 of 27 shots in the first half (48.1 percent) and forced six BG turnovers, but the Eagles only built a slim cushion at the half.
Two minutes into the second half, BG took a 34-33 lead on a 3 from Metheny — his fifth of the game. Metheny hit his sixth trey moments later as BG grabbed a 37-33 lead — its largest of the game at that point — with 17:17 left.
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Senior Justin Turner, BG’s leading scorer who came into the game averaging 20.5 points per game, had just 13 points. Daeqwon Plowden and Caleb Fields each also finished with 13 points, while Trey Diggs scored 10. Fields grabbed 10 rebounds, and Plowden had nine. Turner had five steals, and Fields had seven assists.
Ty Groce paced Eastern Michigan with 23 points.
The Falcons shot just 37.9 percent (11 of 29) from the floor in the first half, including 6 of 17 from 3 (35.3 percent).
Huger said the early deficit could be attributed to Eastern Michigan’s methodical zone defense.
“We weren’t ready to play. We weren’t sharp to start the game. We just thought they were going to roll over for us,” Huger said. “The guys just have to come out with more energy and effort from the start. We can’t wait to get down and then decide to play.”
Metheny, a 5-11 guard from Morgantown, W. Va., nailed his eighth triple of the game to put the Falcons up 60-47 with just under 10 minutes to play. Metheny’s previous high was on Feb. 16 when he had 21 points at Ball State. He made 10 of 14 shots overall (71.4 percent).
Huger said Metheny’s 3-pointers at the start of the second half were the turning point.
“He’s done a real good job knocking down shots and playing with confidence. I hope that continues for him,” Huger said. “[I like] the energy that he plays with, especially on the defensive end. He gets after it.”
BG struggled at the free-throw line (13 of 21) and turned the ball over 12 times, which allowed Eastern to stay within striking distance late. The Falcons out-rebounded the Eagles 39-29.
BG went up by seven on a bucket by Turner with 15:37 remaining, and took a 53-39 lead with 12:11 left on a 3 from Turner.
Eastern Michigan got out to a 9-5 lead and expanded that to 16-7 as the Eagles hit 2 of its first 4 shots from 3-point range and 7 of 14 shots overall near the midpoint of the first half. BG had hit just 3 of 12 (25 percent) from the floor at that point, including just 1 of 6 from 3-point range (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.
The Eagles led 18-9 at the midpoint of the first half, and increased that to 23-9 as BG turned the ball over five times.
EMU toook a 17-point lead (27-10) with 6:18 left in the first half as the Eagles outrebounded BG 12-8 at that point.
Plowden hit a 3 with 4:28 left as BG closed the gap to 29-17 to cap a 7-0 run. The Falcons continued the run to make it 29-23 with 3:29 left in the first half as Metheny capped it with a trey.
Metheny hit another 3 to make it 31-26 with just under two minutes left in the first half.
BG has defeated Toledo, Ball State, and Eastern Michigan on the road over the past 10 days. The Falcons improved to 9-3 on the road.
“We did a good job taking care of the ball and we got quality shots,” Huger said. “We just have to do a better job finishing our free throws.”
Bowling Green next plays at Akron on Friday.
“As a coach, you never feel good … so you are always trying to figure out ways to get the next victory,” Huger said. “We have to get rest, and we’ll go at it hard on Thursday and be ready to play on Friday.”
First Published February 23, 2021, 9:28pm
