Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Hold Off Eagles, 73-71
February 07, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes
Bowling Green, Ohio - The following are post game notes after the conclusion of BGSU's 73-71 win over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday night.
TEAM NOTABLES
Bowling Green now leads the overall series, 43-35, and has won
nine of their last 11 games against the Eagles. BGSU also has won the last 10 meetings in Anderson Arena dating back to the 1992-93 season.
The Falcons are now 4-3 versus the MAC West Division this season.
This was the Falcons first home and home MAC sweep since 2004 when they beat Northern Illinois at home (76-69) and in DeKalb (69-52).
BGSU went the final 5:21 without the benefit of a field goal, but went 10-14 from the free throw line to hold off Eastern Michigan.
BGSU is now 37-7 since 2000-01 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
BGSU never trailed in the game (three ties).
BGSU attempted a season-low 11 three-point field goals.
The Falcons held EMU to just nine made free throws, a season- low for a BGSU opponent.
BGSU shot 56.0 (14-25) in the first half.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Junior Martin Samarco hit three three-pointers and now has 75
on the season, good for fourth on the all-time BGSU single season
list. With 20 points, Samarco has now scored in double-digits
in 20 out of 21 games and has scored 20 or more on 10 different
occasions. He has also led the team in scoring 14 times.
Senior Steven Wright had 17 points and is averaging 16.4 points off the bench this season. He also had a season-high six rebounds.
Junior John Floyd contributed 12 points, his 11th double-figure game of the season and third in a row.
Senior Mawel Soler tallied nine points, seven rebounds and four assists while playing all 40 minutes for the first time in his career.
Junior Patrick Phillips, coming off a career-high 10-point performance, started for the second time this season and contributed two points and two rebounds in 11 minutes of action.
Sophomore Moon Robinson was once again outstanding on the defensive end, gathering four steals in the first half, which tied a career-high. He has a team leading 27 steals.
Junior center Matt Lefeld had eight points and made both of his free throws. He has made 18 of his last 21 free throw attempts in the last five games.
Freshman Erik Marschall had five points and three boards in 17 minutes of action.
THE GAME
Junior Martin Samarco got the scoring going just 10 seconds
into the contest as he buried three-pointer number 73 on the
season to give BGSU a 3-0 lead.
Following a three from Eastern Michigan's Carlos Medlock which knotted the score at 8-8, the Falcons utilized a 16-2 run to take a 24-10 advantage with 10:30 remaining in the half.
EMU's John Bowler cut the score to 28-18 on a short hook with 6:01 but the Falcons used another 8-0 run to push the lead to 36-18, their biggest of the game with 2:58 to go in the half.
A layup by Medlock cut the lead to 36-25, but a steal by sophomore Moon Robinson resulted in a Steven Wright dunk that gave the Falcons a 13-point advantage at the break, 38-25.
Following the intermission, EMU's Travis Lewis ignited an 11-4 run to close the lead to 45-36 with 16:34 remaining.
Bowler would then score the Eagles next 10 points to get them within five, 51-46, with 11:10 to play.
Bowling Green responded with a 10-1 run that swelled the lead back to 61-47 with 6:54 left in the game. Six points during that stretch for the Falcons came via the charity stripe.
After Samarco canned a pair of free throws with 1:09 remaining to put BGSU ahead 69-61, Medlock hit a pair from the line, then just 10 seconds later following a BGSU turnover, the Eagles got to within a triple, 69-66, on a three-pointer by Danny McElhinny with 52 seconds to go.
Senior Steven Wright was immediately fouled with 51 seconds and split the pair to give the Falcons a 70-66 lead.
Medlock soon cut the lead in half as he drove the right baseline and scored with just over 40 seconds to play.
Following another BGSU turnover, Bowler was fouled in the post with 31 seconds remaining and hit one to make the score 70-69 in favor of the Falcons.
John Floyd was fouled on the ensuing possession and successfully converted both free throws to push the lead to three, 72-69, with 28 seconds left.
As the clock ticked down to 13 seconds, Medlock drove the baseline again and scored on a reverse layup to trim the lead to 72-71.
After Wright split a pair of free throws to give BG a two-point edge with 10.8 to go, Medlock missed a corner jumper in the closing seconds, as the rebound was batted away on the floor as time expired for the 73-71 win.
