The MAC schedule maker came up with a dream basketball day for the Rockets and Falcons by pitting both men’s and women’s teams to face each other on Saturday. That turned out to be a stroke of genius to keep the rivalry fires burning for another year. I hope the MAC does the same thing next year and in years to come. The women played at TU at noon and the men were down at BG at 4 p.m. Coupled with a day of good driving weather, that scheduling enabled some fans from both schools to go to both games.
It was a day full of blowing big double-digit leads. In both games, the road team held a 13-point lead only to blow it at the end. The Falcon girls actually had a 14-point lead with just under 3 minutes to go in the first half, and the halftime margin was 13. Then the Rocket gals got their game going and won 53-50. BG’s coach whined about not getting off a good shot at the end of the game. He should have been mad at his team and himself for blowing the big lead on the Rockets’ floor in the first place. If they had played better in the second half, the last 30 seconds would have been a held ball for the Falcons and a big win for them on the road.
The Rocket men did the same thing as the BG ladies — blew a big lead. In a very rare game for them, TU knocked down 12 of 19 three-pointers, but they continued to turn over the ball in key situations with mind-strangling frequency. The Rockets have one senior on the team, who rarely plays. And BG does have two or three on the floor most of the time. Still, the freshmen, sophomores and juniors on Bancroft Street are experienced enough by now to control the ball. That’s one of their problems, besides not having enough talent. How many times are they going to wilt under pressure, especially on the road, before they finally get it? Their win over Ohio U. was a good victory for them. They held onto a late lead after overcoming a deficit. But that was at home, and the Rockets play better on Bancroft Street than anywhere else.
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