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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Ready for TV game at Akron
February 13, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2006
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Bowling Green (9-14, 5-8) at Akron (18-5, 11-2)
Tuesday, February 14, 8 p.m.
Rhodes Arena (5,500)
Series Record: BG leads 23-13
Last Meeting: Akron 77, at BGSU 72 OT (1/29/06)
TV: FSN-Ohio (Michael Reghi and Mark Adams)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker)
FALCONS CLOSE OUT MAC SCHEDULE ON THE EAST SIDE
The BGSU men's basketball team will look to build momentum for next month's MAC Tournament as it closes the regular season with five games against the East Division beginning with Akron on Tuesday. In their first year back in the East Division, BGSU had suffered five league losses by a combined 13 points and has led in each of its 13 league games thus far. In addition, BGSU has held a lead of eight points or better in five of its six conference road games this year.
AGAINST THE ZIPS
Akron has won the last two meetings in the series, including a 77-72 overtime triumph in Bowling Green on January 29. The Zips led 47-28 with 15:16 to go, but the Falcons, paced by Martin Samarco's 26 points, led 66-64 with 2:11 left before Akron pulled away in the final minute of OT. The Falcons did win on their last visit to Rhodes Arena, 77-72 on January 14, 2004.
SAMARCO, WRIGHT AND LEFELD WORTHY OF HONORS CONSIDERATION
Junior Martin Samarco is making a strong bid for All-District and All-MAC honors by leading the league in scoring (19.5 ppg.) and three-point field goals per game (3.59). Senior Steven Wright may be the league's top sixth man averaging 15.4 points and 4.1 assists as opposed to 8.7 points per game as a starter. Junior center Matt Lefeld (Business, 3.96 GPA) is looking to become the school's first men's basketball Academic All-American since Steve Martenet earned third team honors in 1988. He was named first-team CoSIDA Academic All-District this week, one of only two MAC players to be honored (Joe Reitz, Western Michigan).
PLAYER NOTES
Samarco has averaged 22.3 points on 55.7% (39/70) shooting from three-point range in the last nine games and is averaging 20.3 points in MAC games... he also leads the league overall and is 12th nationally in three-point field goals made and is fourth in the MAC in free throw percentage (84.3%) and second in three-point field goal percentage (46.2%)... in league games only, he has made a MAC-best 89.7% (52 of 57) free throws and 51% of his three-pointers (50/98, 3rd in the league)... he has led the team in scoring 15 times this season and had a career-high 35 points at Eastern Michigan, 30 against Buffalo and 28 versus Ohio... he also had 27 in back-to-back games earlier this year against Bradley and Florida State... his 79 three pointers is tied for third best in a single season at BGSU... senior Steven Wright suffered a broken foot in the preseason and missed the first six games of the season ... he tied his career-high with 23 points and nine assists against Ohio and had 17 against Eastern Michigan when he also made five of six field goals... he had 21 points against Akron and made a career-best five three-pointers... he added 17 points, five rebounds and five assists against Eastern Michigan and 16 points, five rebounds and three assists against Ball State... in the last four games, junior John Floyd has averaged 18.0 points on 56.8% shooting from the field and 52.9% marksmanship from long distance... he had 17 points against Toledo ... he had 22 points and seven assists against Ohio after he had 21 points and set a career-high with three steals against Miami... he 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... he had a career-high 23-point effort, making five of seven three-pointers against Western Michigan... he is 11th in the league in assists at 3.22 per game and 11th in three-point field goal percentage at 39.0%... junior guard Patrick Phillips is proving to be a spark plug off the bench, but has made back-to-back starts in the last two games.. he had a career-high 10 points and six rebounds against Ohio in a career-high 19 minutes... he also 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... ... senior Mawel Soler 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 62.8% of his shots from the field and is averaging 7.7 points and 5.0 rebounds... he is shooting 66.9% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is second on the team with 63 assists... his play has stepped up in the MAC and he is averaging 8.4 points against the league ... freshman Erik Marschall is a contender for the All-Freshman team in the MAC averaging 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds ... he had six points and tied a season-high with eight rebounds against Akron and played a season-high 36 minutes... he had five points and made both of his field goal attempts against Kent State... he has scored in double figures six times this season and is tied for the team lead in blocked shots with 14... he had a career-high three steals against Buffalo... junior Matt Lefeld had his ninth double digit scoring effort this season with 11 points against Toledo... he is shooting 53.3% from the field in MAC play... he had eight points against Eastern Michigan and has now made 21 of his last 25 free throw attempts... 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 8.3 points and 3.8 rebounds ... sophomore guard Perrick Robinson is one of the Falcons top defenders... Robinson leads the team with 28 steals and is fourth in assists with 44... he is the only Falcon to start the season opener in each of the last two seasons ... freshman Dusan Radivojevic did not play at Toledo due to a sprained right knee... he also suffered a broken nose earlier this year and missed the first four games of the season due to a foot injury... he is averaging 2.8 points and is shooting 36.7% from three point range... freshman Brian Moten joined the team against Florida State and played a season-high 21 minutes against Kent State he is averaging 2.7 points... he had a season-high nine points against Central Michigan... freshman Darryl Clements saw his most extensive MAC action with nine minutes against Miami... he is averaging 2.3 points and 1.8 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... he had his longest MAC playing stint when he logged four minutes at Miami.
TEAM TRENDS
In MAC games only, BGSU is third in the league in scoring (70.2), first in free throw percentage (74.8%) and three-point field goal percentage (41.6%)... BGSU finished 4-4 against the MAC West this year... BGSU is 24-5 when it has had to play defense with a one possession lead in the final minute since the 2001-02 season... BGSU outrebounded Toledo, 30-28, winning the battle of the boards for the first time against a MAC opponent this year... the Falcons improved to 37-7 since 2000-01 when making half of its shots or better in a game... BGSU shot 23 of 46 from the field against EMU... the Falcons scored a season-high 90 points against Ohio (previous high was 85 against Urbana)... it marked the first time in 19 games under Dan Dakich that the Falcons lost a game when they scored 90 points or more... the last BGSU loss when it scored 90 points or more came in Jim Larranaga's last game with the Falcons, a 98-95 loss in the NIT to West Virginia... against Ohio, the Falcons also tied a season-high with 30 made field goals and attempts with 61... BGSU also racked up a season-high 22 assists... In the last four games, BGSU has shot 45.2% from three-point range (47/104) and made 101 of 133 free throws (75.9%)... the Ohio game was the first double-overtime game for Bowling Green since playing at Detroit on November 29, 1995... it marked the first back-to-back overtime home games since BGSU defeated Kent State (83-81) on February 2, 1977 and lost to Ohio (69-68) on February 5 of that season... it was the first home double-overtime tilt since February 1, 1969 when the Falcons lost to Western Michigan, 88-87... when BGSU fell to Akron last week, the Falcons lost a home overtime game for the first time since December 12, 1985 against Defiance when it fell 66-64... BGSU also has led in every MAC game this season... against Buffalo and Kent State, BGSU shot 50.0% from the field in back-to-back games for the first time this season... 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 83-23 at home since the 1998-99 season... BGSU has played six one-point games in the last year and are 4-2 in those contests... BGSU is 28-3 since the 2001 season when holding an opponent under 60 points... 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)... 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%).
WRIGHT STATE ADDED TO SCHEDULE
When BGSU was not selected to play in the 2006 Bracket Buster, Wright State was added to fill the remaining game on the schedule which will be played in Bowling Green on February 18 at 3:30 p.m. BGSU will play at Wright State next season. BGSU holds a 5-3 lead in the series. The teams last met on December 10, 1997 with WSU taking home a 76-67 win in Anderson Arena.
