Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts Toledo
January 13, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2006
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Toledo (8-4, 1-3) at Bowling Green (5-8, 1-2)
Sunday, January 15, 2 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Series Record: UT leads 79-73
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan)
FALCONS READY FOR TOLEDO
The BGSU men's basketball team will look to snap a two-game losing streak when it hosts Toledo in a rare Sunday afternoon contest. The Falcons are coming off a heartbreaking 75-74 loss at home to MAC West leader Northern Illinois, while the Rockets snapped a three-game league losing streak by defeating Buffalo, 73-70, on Tuesday night.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Five of the last seven meetings in the series have been decided in the final minute, including the last three games in Anderson Arena. In 2003, the Rockets took home a 68-64 triumph, while the Falcons captured home games, 79-76 in overtime in 2004, and 70-69, last season.
TAKING THE POSITIVE FROM THE NORTHERN ILLINOIS GAME
The Falcons shot a season-high 57.5 percent from the field and 57.9% from three-point range. BGSU jumped out to a 10-1 lead and shot 72.7% (16/22) in the first half. Junior swingman Martin Samarco had his best home game with the Falcons scoring 25 points, while knocking in six of eight three-pointers. Junior Matt Lefeld had a career-high 19 points and made six of seven from the field.
PLAYER NOTES
Senior guard Steven Wright suffered a broken foot in the preseason and missed the first six games of the season ... he made a career-high four three-point field goals against FSU and had a season-high 14 points against Notre Dame... he has averaged 9.3 points and 3.1 rebounds and had 12 points off the bench against Northern Illinois... he averaged 11.1 points and 3.1 assists and led the Falcons in steals with 37 a year ago... junior Martin Samarco is the top newcomer in the MAC as far as scoring averaging 18.1 points, which ranks third in the league and leads the league in three-pointers made per game at 3.17... he has led the team in scoring nine times this season and had 27 in back-to-back games against Bradley and Florida State... he is shooting 50% from long distance in the MAC (9/18)... freshman Erik Marschall is the top scoring freshman in the MAC averaging 8.8 points... he is among the top shooters in the league making 51.2% of his shots and is fourth in the league in blocked shots at 1.0 per game... he has scored in double figures six times this season... senior Mawel Soler has made a team-high 70.8% of his shots from the field... he is averaging 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds and is shooting 72.4% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is second on the team with 31 assists... he had 10 points and five assists against Western... junior Matt Lefeld is arguably the most improved player in the MAC... last year he scored just 14 points all season, but equaled that in his first game this year against Western Carolina... despite sore feet which limit his practice time, Lefeld is averaging 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds and is shooting 61.4% from the floor in the last seven games ... junior John Floyd had a career-high 23-point effort, making five of seven three-pointers against Western Michigan... he had eight points and four assists against Northern Illinois... he is shooting 50% from three-point range (7/14) in MAC play...junior guard Patrick Phillips made his first career start against Bradley... he had a career-high seven points against Notre Dame and added two rebounds and a steal in seven minutes of action... he also hit his first career three-pointer against CMU... sophomore guard Perrick Robinson had one of his better offensive nights when he contributed eight points and three assists against Bradley... Robinson leads the team with 17 steals and is third in assists with 27... he is the only Falcon to start the season opener in each of the last two seasons ... freshman Dusan Radivojevic saw his first action of the season against Oakland and has been a key performer off the bench... he had a season-high nine points at Troy... he missed the first four games of the season due to a foot injury... he suffered a broken nose in practice last week and is wearing a protective mask... freshman Darryl Clements is averaging 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds... he had seven points against Oakland... freshman Brian Moten joined the team against Florida State and has the longest shooting range of any Falcon... he had a season-high nine points against Central Michigan... freshman walk-on Brian Guerin returned to game action against Notre Dame after missing more than a month due to mono... sophomore walk-on Alvin Freeman is in his second year with BGSU and had three points against Urbana.
TEAM TRENDS
BGSU leads the MAC in field goal percentage defense (41.3%) and three-point field goal defense (31.6%) ... the Falcons are 81-20 at home since the 1998-99 season... BGSU also is second in the league in three-point field goal shooting (37.8%)... in league play, the Falcons are making a MAC-high 8.67 triples per game...BGSU improved to 9-0 in home openers under Dan Dakich... the one-point loss to NIU was its first such defeat since the 2001-02 season when BGSU lost at Akron in overtime, 87-86...BGSU had won six straight one-point decisions, including four in the last 12 months (Toledo, 70-69; Ball State, 70-69; Miami, 57-56; Virginia Tech 72-71)... the Falcons are 4-0 on Sunday at home... BGSU also is 7-2 in MAC openers under Dakich... BGSU is 27-2 since the 2001 season when holding an opponent under 59 points... the Falcons are 35-6 since 2000-01 when shooting over 50 percent... the Falcons are now 17-1 over the last three-plus seasons when scoring 80 points or more... against Virginia Tech, the Falcons won their road opener for the third time in Dakich's nine seasons (1999-00 at Hawaii; 2001-2002 at Duquesne)... BGSU is 22-4 when it has had to play defense with a one or two-point lead in the final minute since the 2001-02 season... four teams have shot below 30 percent from the field against BGSU including Urbana (25.5%), CMU (26.2%), Troy (27.8%) and Western Carolina (28.9%).
