Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons rally for 70-69 win
January 22, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2005
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Bowling Green, Ohio - The Falcons improved to 7-1 at home this season and have won the last two meetings with the Rockets. Toledo still leads the series, 78-73. The teams will meet again on February 9 in Toledo.
The 17-point second-half comeback surpassed a 16-point deficit that the Falcons faced in the second half (44-28 with 16:24 remaining) at home against Toledo before winning 70-64 on January 2, 1999.
BGSU shot 55.6% from the field to improve to 31-3 when making more than half of their shots fromn the field since the 2000-01 season. The Falcons shot 76.0% (19/25) from the floor in the second half.
The Falcons tied their season-best for points in a half with 53 (also against IPFW) after scoring a season-low 17 points in the first half.
BGSU outscored Toledo 18-2 in the first 5:43 of the second half.
The Falcons took their first lead at 38-37 on a three-pointer by John Floyd with 13:33 left.
Toledo regained the lead on a conventional three-point play by Justin Ingram at 53-52 with 7:28 left.
BGSU built an eight-point lead, 65-57 on a three-pointer by John Reimold with 4:26 left.
The Rockets scored eight straight points to tie the game at 65-65 with 2:40 left in the game.
Floyd hit a free throw with 1:24 to give BGSU and then Keith Triplett hit a jumper with 1:10 to give UT the lead. Senior Josh Almanson hit a 15-foot jumper to give BGSU the lead until Triplett connected again on a 10-footer with 39 seconds left. Junior Germain Fitch then made a layup with 27 seconds left on a pass from Floyd to give BGSU the lead for good at 70-69.
The Falcon defense held when Ingram missed a three-pointer with under two seconds left. The Falcons improved to 16-3 during the last four seasons when it has had to play with a one or two-point lead in the final minute.
Fitch made his second game-winning basket of the season. He also made a layup against Marshall with the game tied in the final minute. He scored a career-high 12 points and also had new career bests for field goals made (6) and rebounds (8).
Junior Mawel Soler made his first career start and had nine points and six rebounds. He also made all four of his field goal attempts and has made 24 of 29 shots this season (82.8%).
Sophomore John Floyd had 13 points off the bench, all in the second half and had six assists and two steals. He tied his season-high with two three-point field goals.
Senior John Reimold had 17 points and moved into 28th place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,095 points.
Senior Josh Almanson had 10 points and eight rebounds and also blocked three shots. He now has scored 906 career points.
BGSU outrebounded the Rockets, 35-26, and improved to 10-1 when outboarding its opponents this year.
The Falcons will play back-to-back road games (at CMU, 1/26, and at Ohio, 1/29) before returning home against Akron on February 3.
