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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Team Outright MAC Champions And #1 Seed In MAC Tournament
February 28, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2000
Bowling Green, Ohio -
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team completed the regular season with two thrilling wins on the road to claim the outright MAC title by virtue of having the best conference record, the East Division title, and the #1 seed for the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament. By earning one of the top three seeds for the tournament, the Falcons earned a first-round bye and will not play until the quarterfinal round at Gund Arena in Cleveland. The Falcons will play the noon game on Sunday, March 5 against the winner of the Miami at Eastern Michigan game which will be played Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m. The semifinals will be played Monday, March 6 with games at 7 and 9 p.m. while the title contest will be contested Wednesday, March 8 at 7 p.m. BG would play the 7 p.m game in the semifinal round if they win Sunday.
The other four teams on Bowling Green's side of the bracket are Marshall, Buffalo, Akron, and Central Michigan.
The Falcons earned their second MAC title in the last four years with a 73-72 win over Akron and an 88-83 victory over Marshall. With the wins, Bowling Green improved to 22-6 overall and finished loop action with a 14-4 mark. Bowling Green will take a six-game winning streak into its first MAC Tournament contest. The Falcons started the season with a six-game winning streak. The last BG squad to fashion a seven-game winning streak was the 1989-90 team.
Senior Anthony Stacey (Elyria, Ohio/Grafton Midview) canned a 12-footer with 1.1 seconds left to win the game at Akron. The game featured 27 lead changes, nine ties, and seven points was the largest lead for either team. Akron led by seven points early in the second half before Bowling Green came back to take a six-point lead, but the last 3:01 of the game was played with neither team leading by more than one point while the lead changed hands seven times. Akron took their final lead with 13.5 seconds left setting the stage for Stacey's heroics. Keith McLeod (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) led the Falcons with 26 points while Stacey added 20 markers.
In the win over Marshall, the other senior on the roster, forward Dave Esterkamp (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle), proved to be the difference with 25 points, 19 of those in the second half. Stacey added 24 points and McLeod had 16. BG led most of the first half before a late Marshall spurt sent the Thundering Herd to the locker room with a two-point edge. In the second half, Marshall led by as many as six points before the Falcons came back to take the lead. After the two teams traded the advantage in the middle portion of the half, the Falcons took control for good at the 5:14 mark on a Stacey free throw. That was the first point in a 14-5 run which would put the Falcons ahead 84-75 with 56 seconds left. Marshall would get no closer than three points the rest of the way.
The 14 wins in league play is the second-highest total in school history. The 1982-83 squad won 15 MAC games on their way to the league title. The 22 overall wins ties the 1999-2000 team for the sixth-highest total in school history.
FALCON FAST FACTS: The Falcons are looking for their first MAC Tournament title having made 17 previous appearances with runner-up finishes in 1980 and 1983 the best they have done...a tournament title would guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament field of 64, something a Falcon team has not accomplished since the 1967-68 team earned a spot in the national tournament...Bowling Green has advanced to the semifinal round of the league tournament nine times...sophomore Keith McLeod (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) had his best back-to-back scoring games this season with 26 points in the win over Akron and 16 points in the win over Marshall...he was 13-of-20 from the field in the two contests, 5-of-9 from three-point range, and 11-of-16 from the charity stripe...McLeod was fifth in the nation last week in three-point field goal percentage and he has improved to 49.5% for the season with his performance last week...his percentage leads the MAC while he is 13th in the conference in three-pointers made per game and in free throw percentage...senior Dave Esterkamp (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) with his 33 points last week, moved into a tie for the 26th spot on the BGSU career scoring list with 1,055 points...he is also fifth on the all-time BGSU list for three-point field goals with 107...he has scored in double figures 20 times this season and is shooting 57.1% from the field for the season...senior Anthony Stacey (Elyria, Ohio/Grafton Midview) continues to be the Falcons leading scorer with a 16.8 average, which is eighth in the MAC...he is also among the league leaders in rebounding (17th, 5.9 avg.), field goal percentage (9th, 46.5%), free throw percentage (tied for 5th, 78.6%), and steals (5th, 1.9 spg)...he is now 12th on the all-time MAC career scoring list with 1,905 points after becoming the BGSU career leader earlier this season...he has scored in double figures in each of the last 20 games...he scored eight of BG's last 12 points in the win over Akron last week, including the game-winner with 1.1 seconds left...Stacey averaged 17.9 points in league play this season...Bowling Green's top eight players are all shooting 70% or better from the charity stripe...junior Trent Jackson (Rochester, N.Y./Franklin H.S./Ohio State) had a career high 12 rebounds in the win over Marshall last week...he added seven points in the game...sophomore Len Matela (Merrillville, Ind./Andrean) did not score in double figures in either game last week, the first time since mid-December he has failed to reach 10 points in consecutive games...he was second in the nation last week and is now shooting 63.6% for the season, but will not have enough field goals to qualify for the national or MAC statistics this week...he averaged 14.4 points and 8.2 rebounds in MAC play this season after averaging 6.3 points and 4.7 rebounds last season...BG has made for free throws (522) this season than the opposition has attempted (503).
