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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MARSHALL
Falcons Capture East Division Title With Win Over Marshall
February 27, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2000
Huntington, W.V. -
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team completed the regular season with an 88-83 win over Marshall on the road Saturday night which also clinched the Mid-American Conference East Division title and the #1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
The win improved Bowling Green to 22-6 overall and they concluded conference play with a 14-4 mark, one game better than Kent for the top spot in the East and the top record in the conference in loop action. The victory also increased their winning streak to six games matching the winning streak which they started the season with.
The Falcons led most of the first half building as much as a six-point bulge four times, the latest at the 7:08 mark (28-22). A 14-3 run by the Thundering Herd put them in the lead with 2:30 left by a 39-33 score, their biggest lead of the half. Bowling Green then scored the last four points of the half to trail by two at the break.
Marshall had a 21-14 edge in the boards in the first 20 minutes with nine of their rebounds at the offensive end.
A 15-6 run by Marshall early in the second half built another six-point lead for the Thundering Herd at 56-50 at the 12:09 mark. Bowling Green came back to score nine of the next 11 points, sophomore Keith McLeod scored six of the Bowling Green points in the run, to take a 59-58 lead at the 9:35 mark.
After a Marshall lay up put them ahead, Bowling Green took the lead at the 9:06 mark on a three-pointer by Dave Esterkamp, the first of six straight points by the senior.
Marshall would come back to take the lead at the 6:41 mark, but an Anthony Stacey free throw at the 5:14 mark put the Falcons ahead for good at 68-67.
Marshall still trailed by only one point with 3:38 left when Bowling Green went on a 10-2 run to put the game away leading 84-75 with 56 seconds left. Three points (84-81) with 29 seconds left was as close as Marshall would get the rest of the way.
BG was 10-of-14 from the charity stripe in the closing minutes to secure the win.
Esterkamp led the Falcons with 25 points, 19 in the second half, while Stacey added 24 and McLeod chipped in with 16 markers. Junior Trent Jackson grabbed a career high 12 rebounds.
The Falcons will now play the winner of the Miami (#9 seed) at Eastern Michigan (#8 seed) game in their first MAC Tournament contest on Sunday, March 5 at noon at Gund Arena in Cleveland. The Miami-Eastern Michigan game will be played Wednesday, March 1. The semifinals of the MAC Tournament will be played March 6 with games at 7 and 9 p.m. The title game will be played March 8 at 7 p.m. If the Falcons advance to the semifinals they would play in the 7 p.m. contest.
