Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Visits Ball State
January 20, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2006
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Bowling Green (7-8, 3-2) at Ball State (4-9, 0-5)
Saturday, January 21, 7 p.m.
Worthen Arena (11,500)
Series Record: BGSU leads 36-32
Last Year: BGSU won both games at home (70-69 and 75-73)
Ball State won in Muncie (86-62)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan)
FALCONS BACK ON THE ROAD
The BGSU men's basketball team is in a stretch which will see the Falcons play four of six on the road. The Falcons are coming off a 79-72 win at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, while Ball State lost at Buffalo, 75-64.
FALCONS HAVE WON FIVE OF LAST SEVEN
The Falcons have won five of its last seven games, including two of three on the road since December 19. In that stretch, BGSU is shooting 38.5% from three point range and made 7.9 triples per game. In addition, they have a MAC Games Only leading +6 advantage in turnovers per game forcing 19 a contest while committing just 13 miscues per game.
MAC ONLY STATS
Junior Martin Samarco is the league leader in free throw percentage making 95.7% of his charity tosses. He made 10 of 10 against Eastern Michigan. Senior Mawel Soler ranks second in field goal percentage (66.7%), three-point field goal percentage (60.0%), eighth in assists (3.80), and 10th in steals (1.6). Junior Steven Wright is third in steals (2.0). Junior Matt Lefeld is sixth (1.2) and freshman Erik Marschall is eighth in blocked shots (1.0).
PLAYER NOTES
Junior Martin Samarco is the top newcomer in the MAC as far as scoring averaging 18.9 points, which ranks third in the league and leads the league in three-pointers made per game at 3.21... he has led the team in scoring 10 times this season and is coming off a career-high 35 points against Eastern Michigan... he was 10 of 13 from the field and five of seven from three-point range against the Eagles after making just three of 21 shots in BGSU's win over Toledo... he also had 27 in back-to-back games against Bradley and Florida State... for the year, he is averaging 20.6 points per game in road games (17.5 at home)...senior guard Steven Wright suffered a broken foot in the preseason and missed the first six games of the season ... he had a season-high 17 points, five rebounds and five assists against Eastern Michigan and is averaging 13.3 points since moving to the sixth man's role three games ago... he made five of 10 shots from the field improving the Falcons' record to 10-3 the last two seasons when he shoots 50% or better in a game... he had 11 points, five steals and five assists against Toledo ... freshman Erik Marschall is among the top freshman in the MAC averaging 8.2 points and 4.7 rebounds...he has scored in double figures six times this season and leads the team in blockes shots with 14... senior Mawel Soler has made a team-high 68.3% of his shots from the field... he is averaging 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds and is shooting 72.4% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is second on the team with 37 assists... had a career-high 17 points against Toledo and added nine rebounds and five steals... 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 8.9 points and 4.4 rebounds and is shooting 61.3% from the floor in the last nine 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 44.4% from three-point range (8/18) in MAC play...sophomore guard Perrick Robinson is one of the Falcons top defenders... he also has contributed in a timely manner on offense and is averaging 3.2 points... Robinson leads the team with 20 steals and is third in assists with 30... he is the only Falcon to start the season opener in each of the last two seasons ... freshman Dusan Radivojevic had eight points against Eastern Michigan making three of five shots, including two of four from long distance... he had a season-high nine points at Troy... he missed the first four games of the season due to a foot injury and suffered a broken nose in practice last week... 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... 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... freshman Darryl Clements is averaging 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds... he had seven points against Oakland... 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
In the last eight games, BGSU has averaged just 12.3 turnovers per game after averaging 18.3 in the first seven games of the season... BGSU is tied with Ohio for the MAC lead in three-point field goal percentage (37.1%)... the Falcons are second in the MAC in three-point field goal defense (31.9%)...the Falcons are 82-20 at home since the 1998-99 season... 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 28-3 since the 2001 season when holding an opponent under 60 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 23-4 when it has had to play defense with a one possession lead in the final minute since the 2001-02 season... against EMU, the Falcons got a defensive stop with a 74-71 lead with 53 seconds to go and then made five of six free throws in the closing seconds...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%).
