Bowling Green State University Athletics
Toledo Posts Comeback win Over Falcons
February 12, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes
Bowling Green, Ohio - The following are post game notes after Toledo defeated BGSU, 72-64, in Savage Hall on Saturday night.
TEAM NOTES
Both coaching staffs wore tennis shoes on Saturday to recognize the NABC's support of Coaches vs. Cancer.
This is the third straight season that the teams have split the series and sixth straight win for the home team.
BGSU shot 52.2% in the first half in building a 34-31 advantage at halftime.
The Falcons shot 58.3% from three point range and improved their MAC leading marksmanship from long distance to 39.3% for the season. The highest a BGSU team ever shot from long range for a season was 41.5% in 1987-88.
BGSU also made 15 of 18 free throws and has made a MAC-high 74.8% from the line in MAC games.
The Falcons won the battle of the boards for the first time in MAC play, 30-28.
The Falcons have led in every MAC game this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Junior Martin Samarco and junior John Floyd tied for game-high honors with 17 points.
Samarco has led the team in scoring 15 times and is averaging a MAC-best 19.5 points per game. He upped his MAC leading three-point field goal total to 79 (tied for third on the BGSU single season list) when he knocked down four of six triples. In the last nine games, Samarco has averaged 22.3 points and shot 55.7% (39/70) from three-point range.
Floyd has been one of the hottest players in the MAC over the last four games averaging 18 points on 56.8% shooting from the field and 52.9% accuracy from three-point range.
Junior Matt Lefeld had 11 points and made four of five field goals. It was his ninth double-digit scoring effort this season. He also is shooting 53.3% (32/60) in MAC play.
Junior Steven Wright, who has hampered by foul trouble in the first half, had nine second-half points and added three assists. In nine games off the bench this season, he is averaging 15.4 points per game.
Senior Mawel Soler had four points, seven rebounds and six assists. he made all four of his free throw attempts.
Freshman Erik Marschall had four points and three rebounds and received a cut over his right eye that would require eight stitches after the game.
Junior Patrick Phillips made his third start of the season and second in a row. He scored the teams first basket on a layup.
Freshman Dusan Radivojevic did not dress due to a sprained right knee.
THE GAME
Bowling Green took a 2-0 lead on a lay up by Patrick Phillips but Toledo scored the next 10 points, six via the three, to take a 10-2 advantage with 17:14 left in the first half.
Following a UT basket by Florentino Valencia that made the score 12-5, Bowling Green got eight straight points from John Floyd in the midst of a 13-0 run, giving the Falcons a 18-12 advantage with 12:32 remaining.
A three-pointer by UT's Keonta Howell tied the game at 22-22, but Martin Samarco answered right back for the Falcons, hitting his 77th three on the season with 6:16 remaining to give Bowling Green a 25-22 lead.
After back-to-back baskets from Floyd, Samarco connected on his third three of the half to give the Falcons their largest lead, 34-26, with 2:26 to go.
The Falcons led 34-21 at half.
BGSU would take its biggest lead of the second half on a pair of Steven Wright free throws with 15:55 to go. BGSU led 42-36.
After the Rockets cut the lead to 42-40 with 12:24 to go , Matt Lefeld made a pair of free throws to give Bowling Green a 44-40 lead 14 seconds later.
Toledo took their first lead of the half when Kashif Payne buried a three with 9:16 remaining to give the Rockets their first lead of the half, 49-48.
The Falcons reclaimed a two-point edge on a three-pointer by Floyd with 8:00 left, that made the score 53-51.
UT's Justin Ingram tied the game on the two technical free throws and Anton Currie gave the Rockets a 56-53 lead with 7:22 remaining on a big three-pointer. They would never trail after that.
The Rockets had stretched the lead to six points, but a Samarco three-pointer with 2:35 to go made it 60-57.
The Rockets scored the next four points to lead by seven and the closest BGSU would get the rest of the way was at 65-61 on a tip-in by Lefeld.
