Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Battle Ball State And Ohio This Week
January 31, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2000
Bowling Green, Ohio -
THIS WEEK: The Falcons begin another stretch of four games in eight days beginning with their Wednesday contest at Ball State. The 7 p.m. contest will be followed by a Feb. 5 game at home with Ohio and games Feb. 7 at Toledo and Feb. 9 at home against Buffalo.
BGSU COACH DAN DAKICH: BGSU head coach Dan Dakich is in his third season after taking over the program on April 21, 1997. His team posted a 10-16 overall mark and a 7-11 record in Mid-American Conference play his first season before rebounding last season to finish 18-10 overall and 12-6 in loop action. Dakich spent 16 years at Indiana, the first four as a player for the Hoosiers, and the last 12 as an assistant coach under Bob Knight, before taking the job at Bowling Green, his first head coaching position. His teams have compiled a 43-30 record at BG.
THE RECORDS: The Falcons have won nine of their last 11 and begin the week with a 15-4 overall record and a 7-2 mark in the MAC...BG has won 12 in a row at home and are 8-0 at Anderson Arena this season...BG has won 22 of its last 28 games dating back to February of last season...Ball State broke a two-game losing streak with its win over Buffalo on Saturday...they will take a 12-7 overall mark and a 4-6 conference record into the game with the Falcons...they are 8-2 at home this season with both losses in conference play - a 12-point loss to Northern Illinois and a five-point loss to Eastern Michigan in triple overtime...Ohio has won its last two and begins the week with a 13-9 overall record and a 6-4 mark in the MAC...Ohio will play at Northern Illinois Thursday before facing Bowling Green...Ohio has won four of its last five and is 3-5 on the road this season, 2-2 in loop action.
SERIES NOTES: Bowling Green and Ball State will be meeting for the 57th time with the Falcons holding a 31-25 edge...Ball State won the only meeting last season, a 61-60 decision at home, and have won the last three and seven of the last eight...BG has lost five in a row on the road in the series with a 70-69 win in the 1993-94 season their last road victory...the last three games in Muncie have been decided by a total of only nine points...Ball State has a 17-10 edge at home down through the years and have won six of the seven games played since moving into University Arena...nine of the last 16 overall meetings have been decided by single digits with seven of those contests decided by four points or less...the Falcons and the Bobcats will be meeting for the 108th time with the Falcons holding a 58-49 edge...the Bobcats won both games last season, including a 75-68 decision at Anderson Arena...the previous season, Bowling Green won both meetings...the teams had split their two regular season meetings each of the previous four seasons with the home team winning in each case...the two programs have split the last 20 overall meetings...Ohio's win at Anderson Arena last season halted a five-game BG winning streak at home...seven of the last 10 overall meetings have been decided by double digits.
LAST WEEK: Bowling Green began the week with an 82-64 loss at Kent...after seven lead changes and five ties in the first seven minutes, Kent took the lead for good at the 12:26 mark...KSU eventually built four eight-point advantages in the first half before settling for a five-point lead at the break...Kent then scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half to build an 11-point lead with 14:46 left...BG got as close as eight points (57-49) at the 11:23 mark, but Kent extended their lead to 15 points (66-51) at the 6:35 mark after a 6-0 run and led by double digits the rest of the way...Anthony Stacey led the Falcons with 23 points and nine rebounds while Len Matela added 14 markers and 11 rebounds...BG was guilty of 19 turnovers compared to just seven for Kent...the Falcons got back on the winning side of the ledger on Saturday posting an 88-77 win over Akron at Anderson Arena...a 7-2 run to end the first half put BG ahead, 36-32, at the break...BG would never relinquish the lead in the second half, but Akron tied the game on five occasions in the first three minutes...BG took the lead for good at the 16:36 mark and gradually built a double digit lead at 73-62 with 5:56 left in the contest...Akron would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way with the Falcons leading by double digits for most of the last five minutes...BG sank its last 11 free throws to secure the win and were 33-of-39 for the game...BG shot 78.9% (15-of-19) from the field in the second half...Dave Esterkamp tied his career high with 28 points and added eight rebounds while Anthony Stacey added 21 points and Keith McLeod 18 markers...Brandon Pardon came off the bench to hand out 10 assists in 35 minutes.
STACEY SETS ONE RECORD, EYEING ANOTHER: Senior forward Anthony Stacey (Elyria, Ohio/Grafton Midview) had his sights on a couple BGSU school records coming into the season and he has eclipsed one of those. Stacey became the school career leader in steals with a theft early in the Miami game on Jan. 19. He now has 207 steals in his career to surpass the previous mark of 201 set by David Jenkins (1981-84). He now has his sights set on the career scoring record. He needs 92 points (needs to average 10.2 points in remaining nine regular season games) to move past record-holder Howard Komives (1962-64) who scored 1,834 points. Stacey begins the week with 1,743 points. He is now third on the BG career scoring list. He also has become one of only 14 players who have collected 600 or more rebounds with 695 in his career, eighth on the all-time BG list. He could finish his career as high as fifth on the BG career rebounding list. Stacey also ranks 11th in school history having shot 50.2% from the field. A second-team all-district pick of the coaches last season, he averaged 18.5 points and 5.6 rebounds with 13 efforts of 20 or more points. Stacey was a first-team preseason All-MAC selection and has been tabbed by several preseason magazines as the Player of the Year in the conference. Through 19 games this season, he is averaging 16.2 points, first on the team, 6.0 rebounds, second on the team, 2.4 assists, fourth on the team, 1.9 steals, first on the squad, while shooting 46.6% from the floor, 35.3% from three-point range, and 80.0% from the charity stripe. He has three straight games of 20 or more points and is averaging 17.8 points in MAC play.
FAST START: The 6-0 start by the Falcons this season was the fifth-best start in school history and the best since the 1947-48 squad started with seven wins in a row...the other four best starts all occurred in the 1940s...the six-game win streak was the longest since 1991-92 when that team also won six in a row in the middle portion of the season...the Falcons went into their game Dec. 11 against Northern Iowa as one of only 22 (there are 318 programs across the country) Div. I program left without a loss...the 11-2 record in the first 13 games ties them with the 1937-38 squad for the eighth-most wins by any team in school history with only two losses...the 3-0 start in MAC play was the best since the 1982-83 squad started with the same record.
TIME CHANGES: The start time for all three Bowling Green games which will be televised as part of the MAC package have been changed. The Feb. 5 game with Ohio at Anderson Arena has been changed to noon from 1 p.m. The Feb. 7 game at Toledo will now start at 8 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. and the Feb. 12 game at Miami which was originally scheduled to start at 3 p.m. will now tip off at noon.
BOWLING GREEN FAST FACTS: The Falcons have won 12 in a row at home and 27 of their last 32 against MAC foes...BG is 72-14 at home over the last six-plus seasons...BG was second in the country in the NCAA statistics last week in field goal percentage and 14th in free throw percentage...the Falcons received points in the AP and USA Today/CNN national polls last week...BG has shot over 50% from the field in seven of their last nine games and are now shooting 50.6% to lead the MAC...BG is shooting 53.3% from the floor in MAC play...BG is averaging 86.4 points at home this season and winning by an average margin of over 20 points per outing...the Falcons have shot over 70% from the floor in the second half of three of the last five games...they have shot over 70% in four halves this season...sophomore Len Matela (Merrillville, Ind./Andrean) continued his strong play last week with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Kent and 13 points and two rebounds against Akron..he continued his excellent shooting hitting 10-of-17 shots from the field in the two games...he is now shooting 63.7% for the season and 67.1% in MAC play...he is also shooting over 79% from the free throw line for the season and leads the team in rebounding...he has averaged 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in MAC play...senior Dave Esterkamp (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) exploded for 28 points in the win over Akron as he sank 10-of-13 shots from the field and added eight rebounds...he had 28 points against Maine in Dec., 1997 to establish his career high...he had scored only eight points in the last two BG games before his 28-point outburst...he is shooting over 65% from the field this season on the two-point shots...he now needs only 68 points to become the 30th member of the 1,000-point club at BG...sophomore Brandon Pardon (Van Wert, Ohio/Lincolnview H.S./Wright State) continues to give the Falcons valuable minutes off the bench...in the win over Akron, he had 10 assists in 35 minutes while having only one turnover...in just 12 games, he has taken over the team lead in assist with 68 (5.7 avg.) while turning the ball over just 25 times...he is also averaging 6.4 points...sophomore Keith McLeod (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) bounced back from a four-point effort against Kent to score 18 points, his best scoring game in just under a month, against Akron...he was second in the nation in the last NCAA statistics in three-point field goal percentage shooting over 50% for the season.
BALL STATE NOTES: Head coach Ray McCallum is in his seventh season with his teams having compiled a record of 116-74...the Cardinals were 10-1 at one point this season, but have lost six of their last eight...guard Duane Clemens (6-0, Sr.) leads the team averaging 18.3 points and over three assists per game...he is averaging over 19 points per outing in MAC play...he starts alongside Mickey Hosier (5-11, Sr.) who averages 5.4 points and 3.8 assists...he is second the team with 28 three-pointers shooting 46.7% from beyond the arc....their front line consists of one freshman, Theron Smith (6-8), and two sophomores, Lonnie Jones (6-11) and Josh Murray (6-7)...Smith is averaging 12.7 points and 7.8 rebounds while Murray is at 9.4 points and 7.7 rebounds...Jones is averaging 6.7 points and 6.1 rebounds while he has 43 blocked shots...top players off the bench are guards Cedric Moodie (6-1, Jr.) and Patrick Jackson (5-10, So.)...Moodie leads the team with 30 three-pointers while averaging 10.4 points while Jackson averages 6.9 points...Smith had 20 points, Clemens 18, and Jackson 17 in their win over Buffalo on Saturday...BSU is 46-6 at home over the last three-plus seasons.
OHIO NOTES: Head coach Larry Hunter is in his 11th season with the Bobcats with his teams having compiled a record of 178-133...he has been a collegiate head coach for a total of 24 seasons with a record of 483-209...the Bobcats are led by seniors Sanjay Adell and Shaun Stonerook...Adell (6-6, forward) leads the team averaging 16.1 points while he also leads the team with 40 three-point field goals shooting 35.7% from beyond the arc...Stonerook leads the MAC and was second in the nation last week in rebounding...he is averaging 12.2 caroms per game and 15.5 points per outing...he is shooting 47.7% from the floor and averaging almost seven free throw attempts per game...the other players on the Ohio front line, freshman Brandon Hunter (6-7), is the only other player averaging in double figures at 10.8 points...Hunter is averaging 6.3 rebounds while shooting just under 50% from the floor...the backcourt consists of junior Dustin Ford (5-10) and freshman Steve Esterkamp (6-6)...Ford is averaging 7.9 points and 3.2 assists while Esterkamp, the younger brother of BG's Dave Esterkamp, is averaging 6.7 points...Ford has 39 three-pointers and is shooting 39.4% while Esterkamp has 24 "threes"...top players off the bench are sophomore Patrick Flomo (6-8) and senior Corey Reed (5-10)...both are averaging less than three points per game...Ohio is shooting just 42.7% as a team, but they are holding the opposition to just 41.9% shooting.
NEXT WEEK: The Falcons play three games beginning with a Feb. 7 contest at Toledo. They then return home to host Buffalo on Feb. 9 and make the trip to Oxford, Ohio to battle Miami on Feb. 12.
Probable Bowling Green Starters
F - Dave Esterkamp, 6-7, 220, Sr., 13.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg F - Anthony Stacey, 6-4, 235, Sr., 16.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg C - Len Matela, 6-9, 220, So., 12.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg G - Keith McLeod, 6-2, 185, So., 14.1 ppg, 2.9 apg G - Trent Jackson, 6-4, 205, Jr., 9.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg Off The Bench G - Brandon Pardon, 6-1, 185, So., 6.4 ppg, 5.7 apg C - Brent Klassen, 6-8, 220, So., 2.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg G - Graham Bunn, 6-1, 170, So., 2.8 ppg, 1.7 apg
Compare The Teams
( ) - MAC RankBowling Green Scoring: 77.8 ppg (3) Scoring Margin: +7.4 (4) FG%: 50.6% (1) 3-Pt. FG%: 37.5% (3) FT%: 75.1% (3) Pts. Allowed: 70.4 ppg (6) FG% Defense: 44.2% (9) Reb. Margin: +1.4 (5)
Ball State Scoring: 75.1 ppg (6) Scoring Margin: +3.9 (5) FG%: 44.3% (5) 3-Pt. FG%: 38.9% (2) FT%: 60.5% (13) Pts. Allowed: 71.2 ppg (8) FG% Defense: 43.9% (8) Reb. Margin: -0.5 (10)
Ohio Scoring: 71.0 ppg (8) Scoring Margin: +3.0 (6) FG%: 42.7% (10) 3-Pt. FG%: 33.5% (10) FT%: 67.1% (10) Pts. Allowed: 68.0 ppg (4) FG% Defense: 41.9% (2) Reb. Margin: +6.6 (1)
