Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons On The Road to Finish Regular Season
February 21, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2000
Bowling Green, Ohio -
THIS WEEK: The Falcons begin the final week of the regular season one-half game behind Kent for first place in the Mid-American Conference East Division. Bowling Green must go on the road for both games this week playing at Akron on Thursday before making the trip to Marshall to play the Thundering Herd Saturday night.
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 46-32 record at BG.
THE RECORDS: The Falcons have won 14 of their last 18 and begin the week with a 20-6 overall record and a 12-4 mark in the MAC...BG has won 27 of its last 35 games dating back to February of last season...Bowling Green begins the week with a four-game winning streak...the Falcons are 6-6 on the road this season, 3-4 in MAC play...Akron is 17-9 overall and 11-6 in MAC play going into their final game of the regular season on Thursday against the Falcons...Akron has lost its last two and three of its last four...the Zips are 11-1 at home this season, 7-1 in MAC play...Marshall, who plays at Miami on Wednesday night, will take an 18-7 overall record and a 10-6 mark in MAC play into that contest...the Thundering Herd have won their last three, and four of their last five...Marshall is 12-1 at home this season, 7-1 in MAC play with their only loss a five-point decision to Miami.
SERIES NOTES: Bowling Green and Akron will be hooking up for the 26th time with the Falcons holding a 17-8 edge...the two programs have split the last six meetings...five of the last six meetings have been decided by single digits with the Falcons winning the earlier meeting this season by an 88-77 score...BG has a 7-5 record in games played on the road in the series...BG is 12-4 vs. Akron since they joined the MAC in 1992-93...the Falcons split two games at Akron last season winning the MAC Tournament quarterfinal game by an 80-74 score while Akron won the regular season meeting by a 71-65 score...11 games in the series have been decided by single digits...the Falcons lead the series with Marshall by a 25-21 count...BG has won the last three overall meetings winning the game earlier this season by an 85-64 score and the regular season meeting at Marshall last season by a 78-72 score...Marshall was also the regular season finale for the Falcons last season...the Falcons have a 9-14 record on the road in the series having split in their last six trips to Huntington.
LAST WEEK: Bowling Green swept its two home games last week beginning with a 71-61 decision over Kent to keep pace with the Golden Flashes in the MAC East Division...Kent got the early jump scoring seven of the first nine points and they led by two points at the break as neither team led by more than two points over the last 10:22 of the first half...Kent again built a five-point edge early in the second half before the Falcons came back to tie the game at the 12:48 mark...BG then scored six unanswered points to take control...after a Kent basket, a 12-3 run by the Falcons put the game away building a 63-50 advantage with 6:08 left...Kent would get no closer than five points the rest of the way...Anthony Stacey scored 24 points to become the BGSU career scoring leader while fellow senior Dave Esterkamp chipped in with 15 points to go over 1,000 markers for his career becoming only the 30th player in school history to reach that plateau...BG shot 66.7% (16-of-24) from the field in the second half...BG completed the week with an 86-75 win over Eastern Michigan to complete a perfect 12-0 season at home, only the fourth time in Anderson Arena history a BG team has gone undefeated...EMU led only once in the game, a 24-23 advantage at the 5:23 mark of the first half...BG scored the next six points to take the lead for good...the Falcons led by double figures early in the second half and put the game away with a 13-1 run which put BG ahead by a 62-42 score at the 11:38 mark...Trent Jackson scored seven of the points in the run for the Falcons who shot 61.0% for the game and 73.9% in the second half...Len Matela led five players in double figures with 24 points while collecting 13 rebounds.
STACEY NOW BGSU SCORING KING: 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 both of those. Stacey moved into the #1 spot on the BG career scoring list with a field goal in the second half of the Kent game on Feb. 16. That field goal gave him 1,835 points, one more than Howard Komives (1962-64), the previous record holder. Stacey begins this week with 1,861 points which puts him 14th on the all-time MAC career scoring list. Earlier this season, he became the school career leader in steals with a theft early in the Miami game on Jan. 19. He now has 219 steals in his career to surpass the previous mark of 201 set by David Jenkins (1981-84). He also has become one of only 14 players who have collected 600 or more rebounds with 737 in his career, seventh on the all-time BG list. Stacey also ranks 17th in school history having shot 49.8% 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 26 games this season, he is averaging 16.4 points, first on the team, 6.0 rebounds, second on the team, 2.3 assists, fourth on the team, 1.8 steals, first on the squad, while shooting 46.2% from the floor, 32.9% from three-point range, and 79.4% from the charity stripe. He is averaging 17.4 points in MAC play. Stacey has scored in double figures in each of the last 18 games. He had a season-high 24 points in the win over Kent and 39 points in the two contests.
TEAM FAST FACTS: 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...the 1999-2000 team became only the 11th team in school history to reach the 20-win plateau with their win over Eastern Michigan last week...the Falcons extended their home winning streak to 16 games with their win over Eastern Michigan...the win was the 12th without a loss this season, only the fourth perfect season in the 39 years Anderson Arena has served as the home of BG basketball...it was only the 11th perfect home season in the history of BG basketball...the Falcons were fourth in the country last week in field goal percentage according to the NCAA statistics...they were also 14th in free throw percentage...the Falcons need one win this week to secure a bye in the first round of the MAC Tournament...BG has shot over 50% from the field in 14 games and are now shooting 50.4% to lead the MAC...BG is shooting 51.8% from the floor in MAC play...BG shot 73.9% from the floor in the second half of the Eastern Michigan game, the sixth time this season they have shot 70% or better in a half...BG has shot 65% or better in a half 11 times this season.
INDIVIDUAL FAST FACTS: Senior Dave Esterkamp (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) became the 30th player in school history to score 1,000 points with a field goal in the second half of the Kent game on Feb. 16...he begins this week in 29th-place on the BG list with 1,022 points...he had 15 points in the both games last week while adding seven assists, four steals, and six rebounds...he has scored in double figures in each of the last six games...he is shooting 65.8% from the floor for the season on his two-point attempts and is shooting 63.1% overall from the floor in league play...sophomore Len Matela (Merrillville, Ind./Andrean) had a big effort in the Eastern Michigan game leading the team with 24 points while adding 13 rebounds...he had eight points and six rebounds in the win over Kent...Matela was second in the last NCAA statistics in field goal percentage...he begins this week shooting 64.6% for the season and 66.9% in MAC play...he had his string of 12 consecutive games scoring in double figures stopped in the Kent contest...junior Trent Jackson (Rochester, N.Y./Franklin H.S./Ohio State) had his best scoring game since Dec. 11 with 15 points in the win over Eastern Michigan...he was four-of-six from the field and seven-of-eight from the line...he is averaging 9.3 points for the season and is shooting 55.2% from the field...sophomore Brandon Pardon (Van Wert, Ohio/Lincolnview H.S./Wright State) had 10 points and six assists in the Eastern Michigan victory...his assist total pushed his season total to 100 in 17 games a 5.9 average...he also had 10 points in the Kent game to go with four assists.
AKRON NOTES: Head coach Dan Hipsher is in his fifth season with the Zips having compiled a record of 63-69...his career record in 11 years of coaching stands at 189-114...the Zips have struggled with their scoring of late averaging just 60.6 points in their last three losses, all on the road...guard Jami Bosley (6-1, Sr.) leads three players averaging in double figures for the Zips at 16.4 points...he is also averaging 3.7 assists while shooting 86.3% from the charity stripe, the top figure in the MAC...also averaging in double figures is forward Ryan Andrick (6-7, Sr.) and guard Jimmal Ball (5-10, Sr.)...Andrick is averaging 14.8 points while Ball is at 13.4 points...Bosley leads the team with 38 three-pointers while five other players have 12 or more conversions from beyond the arc...Ball leads the team in assists (4.2 avg.) and steals (2.7 avg.)....Ball leads the MAC in steals...forward George Phillips (6-6, Sr.) is the leading rebounder at 5.8 per game...he is averaging 8.9 points...Akron is averaging over 27 free throw attempts per game, the top figure in the conference...top players off the bench are forward Andy Hipsher (6-8, Fr.) and forward Marco Morgan (6-9, So.)...Hipsher is averaging 7.4 points and Morgan 3.4 points...Andrick had 14 points, and was the only player in double figures, in Akron's loss at Kent on Saturday.
MARSHALL NOTES: Head coach Greg White is in his fourth season with the Thundering Herd with his teams having compiled a record of 65-43...his career record stands at 184-197 in 14 years...guard Tamar Slay (6-8, So.) leads the team and the MAC in scoring averaging 20.4 points while he also leads the league with 82 three-pointers while shooting 44.1% from beyond the arc...he is shooting 50.1% from the field for the season, fifth in the league...center J.R. VanHoose (6-10, So.) is averaging 17.5 points and leads the team averaging 8.8 rebounds, which is third in the MAC...he is shooting 55.2% from the field to rank third in the league...guards Travis Young (6-0, Jr.) and Cornelius Jackson (6-4, Jr.) are also averaging in double figures at 10.8 and 10.5 points, respectively...Young has 40 three-point field goals and Jackson has 32...Jackson leads the MAC averaging 7.4 assists per game...senior Derrick Wright (6-7) is the fifth starter...he is second on the team in rebounding at 7.6 per game while averaging 6.6 points...top player off the Marshall bench is guard Joda Burgess (6-6, Jr.) who is averaging 9.2 points and had 55 three-point field goals while shooting 44.4% from beyond the arc...Jackson had 19 points, nine assists, and six rebounds in their win over Buffalo on Saturday...Wright has collected 12 rebounds in each of their last two games...Marshall is 56-8 at home over the last four-plus seasons.
NEXT WEEK: The Mid-American Conference Tournament begins March 1 with first round games at campus sites. All 13 teams make the tournament with the top team in the East and West divisions earning a first-round bye along with the team with the next-best conference record. The other 10 teams play the games on March 1. The tournament moves to Gund Arena in Cleveland for the quarterfinals on March 5 (noon, 2 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m.) while the semifinals (7 p.m., 9 p.m.) will be played the following evening. The tournament title game will be played March 8 beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Probable Bowling Green Starters
F - Dave Esterkamp, 6-7, 220, Sr., 13.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg F - Anthony Stacey, 6-4, 235, Sr., 16.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg C - Len Matela, 6-9, 220, So., 13.4 ppg, 8.0 rpg G - Brandon Pardon, 6-1, 185, So., 6.2 ppg, 5.9 apg G - Trent Jackson, 6-4, 205, Jr., 9.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg Off The Bench G - Keith McLeod, 6-2, 185, So., 12.7 ppg, 2.7 apg C - Brent Klassen, 6-8, 220, So., 2.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg G - Graham Bunn, 6-1, 170, So., 2.5 ppg, 1.5 apg
Compare The Teams
( ) - MAC RankBowling Green Scoring: 76.2 ppg (3) Scoring Margin: +6.1 (3) FG%: 50.4% (1) 3-Pt. FG%: 36.9% (3) FT%: 74.9% (3) Pts. Allowed: 70.0 ppg (7) FG% Defense: 44.3% (10) Reb. Margin: +0.6 (7)
Akron Scoring: 76.2 ppg (2) Scoring Margin: +4.6 (5) FG%: 44.7% (5) 3-Pt. FG%: 32.8% (11) FT%: 76.6% (1) Pts. Allowed: 71.6 ppg (9) FG% Defense: 43.0% (7) Reb. Margin: -0.9 (8)
Marshall Scoring: 82.7 ppg (1) Scoring Margin: +8.4 (2) FG%: 47.6% (2) 3-Pt. FG%: 39.8% (1) FT%: 70.0% (5) Pts. Allowed: 74.4 ppg (10) FG% Defense: 44.1% (9) Reb. Margin: +0.8 (6)
