Bowling Green State University Athletics
Quoting the Falcons After the Win over EIU
December 30, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2007
Recap | Final Stats
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Quoting Bowling Green State University personnel after the Falcons' win over Eastern Illinois University Saturday night...
BGSU JUNIOR Nate Miller
Does it feel good to get back in the win column?
"It is always good to get a win. We were looking to break a four-game losing streak, and our main focus in practice has been competing harder to win. We shot 29 percent from the field tonight, but we still got a win. Coach always stresses to us that we can win even if we don't shoot well. You've got to play defense -- we held them to 13 points in the first half, and I think we got 15 out of 16 stops at one point, which was pretty good for us."
You got a double-digit lead, but they got it down to three points several times in the second half. How nerve-wracking was that, knowing that you were looking to break the losing streak?
"Tonight was all about gutting it out. Coach has used an expression: stay on the grind, stay on the grind, no matter if we're up 10 points or down 10. That's what we kept doing, to try to come out with the win, and we were able to do it."
Was it frustrating to miss so many free throws tonight?
"The good thing was that we were getting to the line. The past few games, we haven't gotten there a lot, but we got there 33 times tonight. We've got to work on (making more free throws); that's a weakness that we need to improve upon, and we need to work on that and make it a plus for us in the long run."
BGSU SOPHOMORE Otis Polk
Was it good to get a win despite the low field-goal percentage?
"Yes, I think rebounding was a big key. We outrebounded them by 15, and we got to the free-throw line a lot more tonight, which was another key for us."
BGSU HEAD COACH Louis Orr
Opening statement
"There's nothing like getting a win. We told our guys after this game, it wasn't the prettiest game in the world. But, if you defend, you rebound, you are able to get to the foul line and you stay on the grind, you are able to win games. If you do those things, you give yourself a chance to win, and it won't be dictated by your field-goal percentage. And, in the this case, (it won't be dictated by) your free-throw percentage, because we got to the line enough that -- even though we missed 15 free throws -- we made 18. This was our most free-throw attempts of the year, and we haven't been able to get to the line in our recent games."
Joe Jakubowski had nine points and 10 boards, and seemed to give you guys a spark out there.
"Joe is a tremendously hard worker, he's a high-character young man, and he plays with a lot of determination. He's young, but he's trying to take control of a leadership role out there. Any time a point guard can get 10 rebounds, you have put in a good night's work."
Can you talk about your defensive effort? You held them to 13 points in the first half, and held off their comeback try at the end.
"That's the identity that we want to form. We want to make it tough for teams to score. Defense and rebounding, defense and rebounding, defense and rebounding; that's what we have been preaching from day one. And, these are the kinds of games we said we wanted to have a chance to win, regardless of our field-goal percentage. There was a stretch in the first half where we didn't score for a long time. But, before you knew it, we were up 13-12. We had a lot of empty possessions ... but, because we were defending, and the other team wasn't scoring, we gave ourselves a chance to win. I thought that was the difference in the game, because if we don't get those stops early, and they score when we don't score, maybe we're down by 10. But we got the stops, and we stayed on the grind."
Darryl Clements was guarding Romain Martin on his three-point shot in the final seconds, right?
"Yes, I told him to contest the shot, and it was just long. The shot was on target, but was just long, and I told Darryl that (his contesting the shot) made the difference. Martin is really a talented scorer. He had 20 points, but he didn't score in the first half, and I thought Brian Moten did a great job on him in the first half. I want to give him credit - Brian Moten did a super job in the first half. (Martin) had 28, 29 points the last two games, and he was a focal point for us."
Can a grind-it-out win like this be a spark for you, with conference play not too far away?
"Any win is a boost. The best confidence-builder is a win. We have played some good basketball in all 11 of our games, but we haven't sustained it all the time, and we haven't always closed games out in the second half. I was pleased that we closed this one out. They came back, as teams always do, but we got stops. I don't know how many stops we got at the end of the game, but we got stops, and we made a couple free throws, and that was good enough to get us over the hump."
