Bowling Green State University
Arkansas State
Falcons Take Rematch With Arkansas State, 81-72
December 04, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Bowling Green, Ohio - Senior Martin Samarco scored 29 points for the second straight game to lead five BGSU players in double figures as the Falcons defeated Arkansas State, 81-72, Monday night in Anderson Arena. The visiting Indians had defeated BGSU earlier this season, 64-54, in Jonesboro.
"I thought offensively we were pretty good," said BGSU Coach Dan Dakich. "I really liked the contributions we were able to get. It was nice to see someone other than Samarco score."
With the win, Coach Dakich moved into fourth place on the BGSU men's basketball win list with 147 victories. He has the second-highest winning percentage among Falcon coaches at 54.3%.
Samarco, who leads the MAC in scoring at 23.2 points per game, got help in the first half from sophomore Erik Marschall who scored 14 points before leaving the game with a foot injury. Junior Ryne Hamblet was a key contributor with 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Freshman Ryan Sims had 11 points and sophomore Dusan Radivojevic had a career-high 10 points and six assists.
"We had open shots against them last game and we weren't knocking them down," said Sims. "Today we really hit our shots and that made the difference."
In their previous meeting on November 16, BGSU shot 26.9% from the field compared to a blistering 52.7% tonight.
BGSU never trailed in the game. Sims hit a three-pointer with 7:05 left in the first half to give the Falcons their first double-digit lead at 29-18.
Hamblet knocked down a triple with 6:03 to go and Samarco buried a long-distance attempt to give the Falcons a 37-20 lead with 5:10 remaining in the half.
BGSU extended the lead to 44-26 with 1:40 to go in the half on a layup by Marschall and led at halftime, 46-31.
ASU would close the gap to 49-38 with 14:58 to go but two more treys from Radivojevic and Samarco built the lead back up to 17 at 55-38 58 seconds later.
The Falcons built a 20-point lead on two occasions, but the Indians made a late run to cut the lead to 71-60 with 5:39 left in the game. Two Samarco baskets in between a jumper by Matt Lefeld allowed the Falcons to maintain their double-digit lead for the next three minutes.
The Falcons improved to 4-2, while the Indians, who were playing their fourth road game in seven days, fell to 4-7. ASU was led by junior guard Adrian Banks who had 32 points.
The Falcons will host Central Arkansas on Saturday, December 9 at 2 p.m.
