Falcons Advance To Championship With Win Over BSU

March 8, 2002

CLEVELAND, Ohio -

The Falcons, with Friday's 69-57 victory over Ball State, have advanced to the championship game of the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time since 1983 ... the Falcons will face Kent State Saturday night (March 9), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at Gund Arena ... the game will be televised on ESPN2.

BGSU's final-game appearance will be the third in school history ... the Falcons lost the 1980 championship game to Toledo, 85-70, and fell in the '83 final to Ohio by a 59-56 score.

What's at stake for the Falcons in Saturday's game? A trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1968 ... that year, the Falcons lost a 72-71 decision to Marquette in a first-round game held in Kent, Ohio ... BGSU has an all-time record of 1-5 in the NCAA Tournament, win the win coming over Notre Dame in 1963.

BGSU holds a 74-53 lead over Kent State in the all-time series between the teams, but the Golden Flashes have won the last five meetings, including a 71-64 decision at Gund Arena in the quarterfinal round of last year's MAC Tournament ... BGSU is 1-3 in MAC Tournament meetings vs. the Golden Flashes ... the Falcons won a 68-58 game in the 1994 tournament, and dropped a 65-56 contest in 1989, with both of those games coming in the quarterfinal round ... KSU posted a 66-59 victory in the 1987 tourney semifinals.

The Falcons improve to 24-7 on the season ... the win total is tied for fourth on the school list, and is BGSU's highest in a season since the decade of the 1940's ... the last team to win as many as 24 games was the 1948-49 squad ... the list of top win totals in school history:

Year     Record
1946-47  28-7
1945-46  27-5
1947-48  27-6
1944-45  24-4
1948-49  24-7
2001-02  24-7

The Falcons broke a six-game losing streak against Ball State, and BGSU now holds a 32-28 lead over the Cards in the all-time series between the teams ... assistant coach Keith Noftz was the only member of the current team who was with the Falcons in 1996-97, the last time BG beat BSU.

BGSU improved to 19-1 on the year when leading at the half, and the Falcons are now a perfect 12-0 when shooting over 50 percent from the field in a game.

Senior Keith McLeod had 36 points in the win, including 24 in the second half ... McLeod has taken over second place on the BGSU career scoring list ... he now has a total of 1,852 points, having moved past Howard Komives (1,834 from 1961-64) ... in Thursday's win over Akron, McLeod passed Antonio Daniels (1,789 from 1993-97) ... the only player ahead of McLeod on the BGSU scoring list is Anthony Stacey, who had 1,938 points in his career (1995-2000).

McLeod has scored a total of 712 points in 31 games this year, for an average of 23.0 points per game ... his seasonal point total is the third highest in school history, while his current scoring average is sixth on that single-season list.

McLeod now has 10 games of 30 points or more this season, nine of which have come away from Anderson Arena ... McLeod has a total of 100 points over the last three games ... he scored 35 in the final regular-season contest, at Ohio, then had "only" 29 vs. UA before scoring 36 against BSU ... he is averaging 32.5 points in the two MAC Tournament games.

McLeod is averaging an incredible 27.8 points per game in the 17 contests away from home ... he has scored 472 points away from Anderson Arena this season, helping the Falcons to an 11-6 record in road and neutral-site contests.

Senior Len Matela had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the win, for his ninth double-double of the season and the 31st of his career ... Matela has averaged 17.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in the first two MAC Tournament games, shooting .591 (13-of-22) from the field.

BGSU is now 19-0 in the last three years when an opponent shoots less than 40 percent from the field, including 2-0 in the 2002 MAC Tournament ... BGSU allowed BSU to shoot just .362 from the floor, one night after Akron shot .378 against the Falcon defense.

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