Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Headed To Miami
January 30, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2006
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Bowling Green (8-11, 4-5) at Miami (10-8, 7-3)
Wednesday, February 1, 7 p.m.
Millett Hall (6,800)
Series Record: Miami leads 68-45
Last Year: at BGSU 57, Miami 56 (2/27/05)
Miami 85, BGSU 65 (3/10/05)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker)
FALCONS HAVE ANOTHER MAC EAST TEST
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 will venture to Millett Hall in Oxford to face Miami. The Falcons lost to the RedHawks, 66-60 in their last visit in 2004, but had won on their three previous visits in 2000, 2001, and 2002 in Oxford. BGSU is coming off a 77-72 overtime loss to Akron at home, while Miami won at Ohio, 73-59 on Sunday. BGSU has had four MAC losses by a combined 10 points (NIU (1), BSU (1), UB (3) and Akron (5 in OT).
FALCONS HAVE HAD THEIR MOMENTS ON THE ROAD
Usually when a team has to replace 70% of its scoring output from the previous season, an inexperienced group usually endures its share of struggles on the road. For BGSU and Dan Dakich, the Falcons have been able to weather a few storms on the road and enjoy success away from Anderson Arena. BGSU won its first road game of the season at Virginia Tech giving the Falcons their first win over an ACC team in 38 years. BGSU also handed Troy its only home loss in seven games this season. Last week, the Falcons marched into Kent State and handed the league's last unbeaten team their first conference loss of the season. In all three of those games, BGSU led for the most part from wire to wire.
SAMARCO AND WRIGHT LED THE WAY AGAINST AKRON
Junior Martin Samarco and senior Steven Wright combined for 35 second-half points as they led BGSU back from a 20-point first-half deficit to force overtime against Akron. Samarco finished with 26 points and made six of 12 from three-point range, while Wright had a season-high 21 points and eight assists. He also made a career-high five three pointers. Junior Matt Lefeld added 12 points and five rebounds for the Falcons.
MORE PLAYER NOTES
Samarco has averaged 24 points in the last three games and is the top scorer in the MAC averaging 19.5 points. He also leads the league in three-point field goals made (3.39) and is third in free throw percentage (86.8%) and fourth in three-point field goal percentage (43.6%)... in league games only, he has made a MAC-best 95.6% (43 of 45) free throws... he has led the team in scoring 12 times this season and had a career-high 35 points against Eastern Michigan and 30 against Buffalo... he also had 27 in back-to-back games earlier this year against Bradley and Florida State... senior Mawel Soler posted career-high scoring efforts in three of his last six 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... has made a team-high 65.4% of his shots from the field and is averaging 8.6 points and 5.0 rebounds... he is shooting 68.8% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is second on the team with 46 assists... his play has stepped up in the MAC and he is averaging 9.7 points against the league and is shooting a league-best 62.2% in MAC games only... 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 15.0 points in six 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... he is shooting 53.7% from the field in his last four games off the bench...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 3.26 per game... freshman Erik Marschall had six points and tied a season-high with eight rebounds against Akron... he played a season-high 36 minutes... he 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 4.7 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... 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 8.6 points and 3.9 rebounds and is shooting 51.2% from the floor in the last 13 games ... freshman Dusan Radivojevic averaged seven points off the bench two weeks ago... 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 ... sophomore guard Perrick Robinson is one of the Falcons top defenders... he also has contributed in a timely manner on offense and is averaging 2.7 points... Robinson leads the team with 23 steals and is third in assists with 40... 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 also had three points in 16 minutes against Akron... he had four points at Ball State and 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 came off the bench again and had two points and two rebounds in six minutes against Akron... 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
When BGSU fell to Akron, the Falcons lost a home overtime game for the first time since December 12, 1985 against Defiance when it lost 66-64... BGSU had been involved in six home overtime games since that time in the past 20 years, the last coming in 2004 when the Falcons defeated Toledo, 79-76... the Falcons lead the MAC in three-point field goal shooting (37.7%)... in MAC only games, BGSU is the top free throw shooting team in the league making 76.0% of its charity tosses... 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 road games this year... the Falcons improved to 36-7 since 2000-01 when making half of its shots or better in a game... Against Buffalo and Kent State, BGSU 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 at KSU, 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 82-22 at home since the 1998-99 season... 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.. 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... 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%).
