Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Virginia Tech
Falcons Stun Hokies, 72-71
November 12, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2005
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
Blacksburg, Virginia - Junior John Floyd had a five-foot jumper bounce in off a Hokie player and into the basket at the buzzer as BGSU upset Virginia Tech, 72-71, in the second round of the NABC Classic in Blacksburg. Today was the first game for BGSU against an ACC team since December, 1969 (North Carolina) and the first win over a team from the league since beating Virginia, 76-72, in December, 1967 at the Marshall Tournament.
The host Hokies had taken their first lead since early in the first half on a basket by Zabian Dowdell with 14 seconds left at 71-70. Floyd, who scored all 17 of his points in the second half, got the ball in the left corner and drove inside the lane before putting up the desperation shot in a crowd of Virginia Tech players. The ball rattled around the rim and appeared to touch the hand of A.D. Vasallo and fell through the net as time expired.
The tone of the game was set on the first possession when junior Matt Lefeld made a layup and was fouled. The Falcons played with a purpose and outrebounded the Hokies, 32-28, despite a noticeable size disadvantage. Virginia Tech led 10-8 in the first half, before BGSU went on a 12-0 run to lead 20-10. The Falcons headed into intermission with a 33-28 advantage in large part due to 12 first half points by junior Martin Samarco.
The Hokies made several runs to get the score close, but each time the Falcons responded. With BGSU holding on to a 49-46 lead with 11:29 remaining Floyd hit back to back three-pointers and the Falcons led 57-49 after freshman Darryl Clements hit a jumper with 9:14 left.
Tech again cut the lead to three at 59-56 with 6:26 left, but the Falcons scored the next seven points and led by 10 at 66-56 on a Samarco triple. The home team continued to battle and after cutting the lead to 70-69, the Hokies converted with 14 seconds left setting the stage for Floyd's heroics.
Those final seconds were made even more interesting when the game clock malfunctioned twice. On the second instance, BGSU had drove down the floor and showed the Hokies what they were planning to do, but the referees stopped the action when the clock did not start. BGSU was given the ball at midcourt, and without a timeout, BGSU went to a similar strategy my moving the ball into the far corner to Floyd who was either going to drive and take the shot himself, or kick out to an open Samarco at the top of the key.
Samarco finished with a game-high 21 points. In addition to Floyd's 17 points, he also had seven assists. Freshman Erik Marschall had 11 points and eight rebounds and senior Mawel Soler had 10 points after making all five of his field goal attempts.
Freshman Darryl Clements had the first six points of his career and Lefeld finished with four points and nine rebounds.
