Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts Season Opener Against Denison
November 09, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2006
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Denison at Bowling Green Saturday, November 11, 2 P.M. Anderson Arena (4,500) Series Record: BGSU leads 5-2. Last Meeting: at BGSU 59, Denison 34 (12/16/82) Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan) TV: BCSN (Delayed-Dave Horger and Fran Voll)
FALCON FACTS
BGSU Coach Dan Dakich begins his 10th season with the Falcons and was the second fastest men's basketball coach in school history to win 100 games. He is 143-122 (54.1) in nine seasons and is 86-76 (53.0) in the MAC. He ranks 12th all-time in MAC history in wins and 13th in overall victories by a league coach.
The Falcons are 5-4 in season openers under Coach Dakich and 9-0 in home openers. BGSU is 30-5 at home against non-conference foes under Coach Dakich.
FALCONS TOP CAPITAL 95-74 IN EXHIBITION
Senior Martin Samarco scored 32 points and junior college transfer Ryne Hamblet added 22 points, 10 assists and five steals off the bench to lead BGSU to a 95-74 victory over Capital in a men's basketball exhibition game in Bowling Green. The Falcons started slow and watched the visiting Crusaders build an 11-point lead at 22-11 with 9:09 to go. BGSU began pounding the ball inside and back to back layups by Matt Lefeld sandwiched by a pair of Hamblet free throws cut the lead to 22-17. The Falcons chipped away at the Crusaders and took their first lead since early in the game on a three-pointer by sophomore Darryl Clements to make it 33-32 with 1:58 to go. That ignited a 13-0 run which saw the Falcons go into the locker room with a 43-35 advantage after Capital's Pat Stolly hit a shot just past half court to cut the Falcon lead to single digits.
The Falcons started the second half with a 15-3 run and used back-to-back triples by Hamblet and freshman Ryan Sims to take a 58-38 advantage with 16:47 left in the game. Samarco would hit consecutive three-pointers, sophomore Erik Marschall would connect on two straight baskets and layups by Clements and freshman Otis Polk would give the Brown and Orange their largest lead of the night at 74-48 with 10:55 to go. Capital would cut the lead to 88-74 with 3:45 left in the game, but the Falcons pulled away and Hamblet closed out the game with a fast break dunk which delighted the 1,411 in attendance.
PRESEASON PLAYER FACTS
Senior guard Martin Samarco, a preseason All-MAC choice is back to lead the Falcons. He is the top returning scorer in the league (18.9 ppg.) and set a BGSU record last season with 100 three-point field goals made. He led the MAC in three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage (45.7%). Both of those totals were the 10th best marks nationally a season ago.
Senior center Matt Lefeld is back for his fourth season. An Academic All-MAC choice last year, he averaged a career-high 7.1 points and 3.4 rebounds. Sophomore forward Erik Marschall started 22 games last season and averaged 7.4 points and 4.3 rebounds. The Falcons also will look for sophomores Darryl Clements (2.3 ppg., 1.6 reb), Dusan Radiovojevic (2.8 ppg., 36.7 3FG%), Brian Moten (2.0 ppg), and Brian Guerin (0.8 ppg.) to mature and make significant contributions this season.
Sophomore transfer Nate Miller (2.0 ppg. and 2.3 reb.) will become eligible on December 16 and should make a run a starting spot. Redshirt freshman Lionel Sullivan also looks to add depth to the Falcons inside game. Junior college transfer Ryne Hamblet (11 ppg. at Chipola JC) is making a strong bid to handle the point for the Falcons. Freshmen Brandon Bland (guard), Marc Larson (center) Otis Polk (center) and Ryan Sims (guard) gave BGSU one of the top rated recruiting classes in the MAC.
MAKE-A-WISH
The BGSU men's basketball team has teamed up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northwest Ohio to grant the wishes of two local young men who will get to spend the week as "Guests of the Falcons" and have an all-access experience with the team which culminates with the season opener November 11 against Denison which is designated a Make-A-Wish Game. Colin and Ryan MacRitchie of Bowling Green will join the team and will be next to Coach Dan Dakich during next Saturday's game. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. Several Make-A-Wish Families have been invited to attend the game. For ticket information contact the BGSU Athletics Ticket Office at 877-BGSUTicket.
