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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Continue Winning Ways At Home Defeating Kent
February 16, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2000
Bowling Green, Ohio -
Bowling Green's two senior members of the men's basketball team were key performers in Bowling Green's 71-61 win over Kent Wednesday night at Anderson Arena.
Forward Anthony Stacey led the Falcons with 24 points and became the BGSU career scoring leader in the process surpassing the total of Howard Komives (1962-64). Stacey's highest scoring game of the season pushed his career total to 1,846 points, 12 more than Komives.
Stacey hit 11-of-16 shots from the field in 37 minutes of action.
Forward Dave Esterkamp came into the game needing only eight points to become only the 30th player to score 1,000 in his career and netted 15 points to join elite company. Nine of his points came in the second half when Bowling Green took control of the game.
Kent got the early jump leading 7-2 in the early going. They maintained the lead until the Falcons tied it a 22-all at the 8:39 mark. Kent's biggest lead in the opening minutes was five points.
There were three more ties and two lead changes before Kent ended the half with a 32-30 advantage.
Kent again built an early five-point lead in the second half at 39-34 at the 16:21 mark. BG would battle back scoring the next five points to tie the game.
A jumper by Stacey at the 14:57 mark and a dunk by Esterkamp at 14:23 put the Falcons ahead by one point at 43-42.
A Nate Meers three-pointer at the 12:48 mark tied the score at 45-all, but the Falcons would take control from there.
Two jumpers by Stacey and a Len Matela basket gave the Falcons a 51-45 lead at the 11:15 mark. After Kent closed to within three points on a Trevor Huffman three-pointer at the 9:56 mark, BG scored 10 unanswered points, which included consecutive three-pointers by Keith McLeod on successive trips down the court. The run put the Falcons ahead by a 63-50 count with 6:08 left.
Kent would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
With the win, the Falcons pull even with Kent for the top spot in the MAC East Division in the loss column as both squads now have four defeats. Kent is 12-4 in loop action and BG is now 11-4.
BG, which shot 66.7% (16-of-24) from the floor in the second half, is now 19-6 overall.
