Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts Akron
January 27, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2006
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Akron (14-4, 7-1) at Bowling Green (8-10, 4-4)
Sunday, January 29, 2 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Series Record: BGSU leads 23-12
Last Year: Akron 71, at BGSU 69 (2/3/05)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan)
FALCONS FACE ANOTHER MAC EAST LEADER
The BGSU men's basketball team is in a stretch of five straight games against MAC East opponents which posted a combined 26-4 record against MAC West competition. The Falcons won at Kent State, 79-74, to hand the Golden Flashes their first MAC loss of the season which put them in a tie with Akron, a 52-45 winner over Miami on Thursday night. BGSU has shot 50% from the field in the last two games, making 29 of 58 against Buffalo and 19 of 38 against Kent State.
Both Akron and Kent State lead the MAC East with 7-1 records. The Zips are playing their seventh game in 15 days, while BGSU will be playing its sixth in 14. Last year, Akron took home a 71-69 win against the Falcons to win for the first time in five visits to Anderson Arena.
FREE THROWS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE FOR BGSU
The Falcons made 34 of 35 free throws against Kent State, including 29 of 30 in the second half and 24 straight in the final 9:52. The 97.1% effort from the line was the Falcons' best in school history when attempting more than 30 free throws in a game. BGSU did make all 25 free throws in a game against Eastern Michigan in 2004. BGSU improved from seventh place in the league to second in the MAC in free throw percentage (72.0) in one game. Kent State made 25 of 38 from the line.
SAMARCO AND SOLER HAVE STEPPED UP FOR THE FALCONS
Junior Martin Samarco and senior forward Mawel Soler have been a big reason for the recent success of the Falcons. Samarco, the top scorer in the MAC at 19.1 points per game, has averaged 24 points on 53.8% shooting from the field and 55.6% from long distance in the last four games. He also leads the MAC this year in three-point field goals made per game at 3.24 per game. In MAC games only, he is the top free throw shooter in the league making 37 of 39 shots from the charity stripe. Samarco had 30 points and made six of 10 three-point field goals against Buffalo 16 points against Kent State. Soler is the MAC leader in field goal percentage (65.1%), is second in three-point field goal percentage (57.1%) and ninth in assists (3.81). Soler has posted career-high scoring efforts in three of his last five games. He had his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Kent State and made a career-high 13 free throws in 13 attempts. Soler also had 19 points on eight of nine shooting from the field against Buffalo. Soler had 17 points in the Falcons' 59-52 win over Toledo on January 15.
MORE PLAYER NOTES
Samarco is the top scoring newcomer in the league and ranks fourth in free throw percentage (85.7%) and seventh in three-point field goal percentage (43.0%)... he has led the team in scoring 11 times this season and had a career-high 35 points against Eastern Michigan last week... he also had 27 in back-to-back games earlier this year against Bradley and Florida State... Soler has made a team-high 67.1% of his shots from the field and is averaging 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds... he is shooting 69.9% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is second on the team with 45 assists... his play has stepped up in the MAC and he is averaging 10.9 points against the league... senior guard Steven Wright suffered a broken foot in the preseason and missed the first six games of the season ... his play has been better off the bench where he has averaged 13.8 points in five games off the bench as opposed to 8.9 points per game as a starter... he had 13 points and four rebounds against Kent State... he added 17 points, five rebounds and five assists against Eastern Michigan and 16 points, five rebounds and three assists against Ball State last week... he shot 55.0% from the field in those three games... junior John Floyd had 14 points, including 11 in the second half against Kent State... his three-pointer as the shot clock expired late in the game extended a Falcon lead from four to seven points... with two three-pointers against the Golden Flashes, he made multiple three-pointers in a game for the first time in five games breaking a 1 for 12 slump... he had a career-high 23-point effort, making five of seven three-pointers against Western Michigan... he had eight points and a season-high eight assists against Buffalo... he is 10th in the league in assists at 3.44 per game... freshman Erik Marschall had five points and made both of his field goal attempts against Kent State... is among the top freshman in the MAC averaging 7.4 points and 4.5 rebounds... he has scored in double figures six times this season and leads the team in blocked shots with 14... he had a career-high three steals against Buffalo... junior Matt Lefeld had eight points against Kent State... he 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 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds and is shooting 53.6% from the floor in the last 12 games ... freshman Dusan Radivojevic averaged seven points off the bench last week... he 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 two weeks ago... ... sophomore guard Perrick Robinson is one of the Falcons top defenders... he also has contributed in a timely manner on offense and is averaging 3.0 points... Robinson leads the team with 23 steals and is third in assists with 37... he is the only Falcon to start the season opener in each of the last two seasons ... freshman Brian Moten joined the team against Florida State and played a season-high 21 minutes against Kent State where he had three points... he had four points at Ball State... he also had a season-high nine points against Central Michigan... junior guard Patrick Phillips provided a huge lift to the Falcons when he scored four second half points against Buffalo... 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 2.7 points and 2.0 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
BGSU has won on three of its last four trips at Kent State where the Flashes are 34-6 at home in MAC play since 2002... BGSU is 4-4 in road games this season. BGSU also has led in every MAC game this season and had a nine-point or better lead on the road in each of its four conference games this year... The Falcons improved to to 36-7 since 2000-01 when making half of its shots or better in a game... BGSU also has shot 50.0% from the field in back-to-back games for the first time this season... The Falcons also shot 53.8% from three-point range, the third time this season they have made more than half of their long distance shots this season (NIU and Urbana)... Kent State was held to a 29.4% effort from three-point range, the eighth team this season to shoot below 30% from beyond the arc against the Falcons this year...BGSU is 82-21 at home since the 1998-99 season... Buffalo had 29 turnovers, the most by a Falcon opponent this year...BGSU improved to 9-0 in home openers under Dan Dakich... BGSU has played six one-point games in the last year and are 4-2 in those contests.. the Falcons are 4-0 on Sunday at home in the MAC in the last three years... 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 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%).
