Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens MAC Play Against Chippewas
January 02, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2006
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C. Mich. (2-7, 0-1) at Bowling Green (4-6, 0-0)
Wednesday, January 4, 6 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Series Record: BGSU leads 34-27
Last Year: CMU 71, at BGSU 66 (3/5/05)
BGSU 77, at CMU 73 (1/26/05)
BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan)
CONFERENCE PLAY BEGINS FOR BGSU
The BGSU men's basketball team will open the 2006 MAC season when it hosts Central Michigan. The Falcons are riding a two-game winning streak after defeating Troy, 60-52 on the road and Notre Dame (Ohio), 81-50, on December 29. The Chippewas are coming off a 69-57 loss at East Tennessee State on December 21. This will be CMU's second MAC game of the season. They lost at home to Miami, 75-62 on December 4.
LEAGUE OPENERS
The Falcons are 6-2 in MAC openers under Dan Dakich and 7-1 in the first conference home game during that same span. BGSU opened the 2002 MAC season at CMU and won 82-81. A year earlier, the Chippewas captured an 82-75 win over the Falcons in the 2001 MAC home opener for BGSU.
DEFENSE, THREE-POINTERS, AND FREE THROWS ARE KEY AS OF LATE
In the last three games, BGSU has held opponents to 57 points per game on 37.3% shooting (56/150) from the floor and 25.0% shooting from long distance (16/64). In addition, Falcon opponents are averaging 9.3 assists and 18.7 turnovers during that same span. On offense, the Falcons have hit 29 of 76 three-pointers in the last three games with junior Martin Samarco netting nine long distance shots and senior Steven Wright hitting eight triples. In the first eight games of the season, BGSU's opponents were averaging 35.8 free throw attempts per game, while the Falcons shot just 19 per contest. In the last two games, BGSU has gone to the line 24.5 times per contest, while limiting opponents to just 19 free throws per game.
PLAYER NOTES
Senior guard Steven Wright returned to the lineup against UALR and made a career-high four three-point field goals against FSU and had a season-high 14 points against Notre Dame... he leads the team in three-point field goal shooting (42.9%) and has averaged 10.0 points since returning to the lineup... he suffered a broken foot in the preseason and missed the first six games of the season... 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 18.4 points, which ranks third in the league and is ninth in the MAC in rebounding at 5.7 per game... he also leads the league in three-pointers made per game at 3.21... he has led the team in scoring seven times this season and had 27 in back-to-back games against Bradley and Florida State... freshman Erik Marschall is the one of the top scoring freshman in the MAC averaging 9.9 points... he is among the top shooters in the league making 52.1% of his shots and is sixth in the league in blocked shots at .9 per game... he has scored in double figures six times this season... senior Mawel Soler is the top shooter in the MAC making 69.4% of his shots... he is averaging 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds and is shooting 72.7% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is third on the team with 18 assists... he had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench against Notre Dame... 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... he had a career-high 17-point effort against UALR and is averaging 9.4 points and 5.2 rebounds... he had 11 points and tied a career-high with nine rebounds against Notre Dame... he has scored in double figures in four straight games, a career-long streak... junior John Floyd has averaged 8.7 points and has averaged 3.6 assists... 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... sophomore guard Perrick Robinson had one of his better offensive nights when he contributed eight points and three assists against Bradley... he had five assists and three steals against Notre Dame... he is the only Falcon to start the season opener in each of the last two seasons ...he is second on the team with 21 assists... 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... freshman Darryl Clements is averaging 3.4 points and 2.4 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 seven points against Notre Dame and has made three of nine three-pointers in his first three games... 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 (39.6%) and three-point field goal defense (27.3%) ...BGSU improved to 9-0 in home openers under Dan Dakich... the Falcons also are 9-0 under Dakich in the game directly before Christmas... BGSU is 26-2 since the 2001 season when holding an opponent under 59 points... the Falcons are 35-5 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 22-3 when it has had to play defense with a one or two-point lead in the final minute since the 2001-02 season... the win against Va. Tech was the fourth for the Falcons by one point in the last two seasons (Toledo, 70-69; Ball State, 70-69; Miami, 57-56; Virginia Tech 72-71). Troy (27.8%) was the second team that BGSU held below 30 percent shooting (Western Carolina, 28.9%) this season.
