Bowling Green State University Athletics
Basketball Notebook: Present Falcons Handle Alums in Overtime
June 29, 2006 | Men's Basketball
June 29, 2006
By MAUREEN FULTON, Blade Sports Writer - The past, present and perhaps future of Bowling Green State University basketball gathered at Anderson Arena yesterday. By the slimmest of margins, the present won out.
Several former Falcons traveled to Bowling Green yesterday to play in the first alumni game consisting of players from coach Dan Dakich's era. Former players Len Matela, Josh Almanson, Dave Esterkamp, Brandon Pardon, Brent Klassen, Cory Eyink, Kirk Cowan, DeMar Moore, and Kris Wilson came for the festivities.
Three of the players are playing professionally: Matela plays in Belgium, Esterkamp in Switzerland, and Almanson played in Luxembourg last season and will play in Germany next year.
"It's been a lot of fun, good to see everybody," Almanson said. "A couple of us are in a little bit of shape from playing, so that's good."
The alumni took on the current Falcon roster. The game coincided with the first session of the Dan Dakich Basketball School, where BGSU players are counselors, so campers provided a loud fan base.
The teams scrimmaged for a full 40-minute game and went into overtime. The alumni team led for most of the game, but sophomore Darryl Clements led a comeback by the camp counselors and at the end of regulation the score was tied at 77. At the end of the three-minute overtime, Nate Miller hit a 3-pointer to win it for the Falcons - er, the present Falcons - 86-85.
"My excuse is we haven't touched the ball in a while," Matela said. "We haven't played with each other in a while, our timing was off, we had a million turnovers.
"But it was a really competitive game, they really wanted to beat us."
IN COME THE FRESHMEN: The Falcons' freshmen players arrived on campus on Saturday and are enrolled in the second session of summer school. There are four of them: Marc Larson, Ryan Sims, Otis Polk and Chris Knight.
Junior-college transfer Ryne Hamblet is also a newcomer.
"They're getting acclimated to the conditioning," Dakich said. "A couple need to slim down, a couple need to get bigger and stronger."
Polk, a 6-foot-9 center weighing in at about 300 pounds, was a newbie BGSU had targeted as needing to drop some weight, but Dakich has thus far been impressed.
"He ran a mile today and he did a lot better than we thought he would," Dakich said.
AS FOR THE SOPHOMORES: Clements impressed in the scrimmage, showing speed and ability to create turnovers. Last season Clements averaged 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in 13 minutes a game. Martin Samarco, a second-team All-Mid-American Conference pick a year ago, said he has been mentoring Clements this summer.
"I'm trying to put him under my wing and show him that working hard will pay off," Samarco said. "He's starting to realize that if he works hard, the sky's the limit for him. I go especially hard on him in the weight room, make sure every time we do a drill he's gotta go hard."
QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Samarco when asked about any summer vacation plans: "My coach doesn't take days off, so why should I?"
DRIBBLES: Dakich said he hopes to have an assistant coach hired in the next week to replace Artie Pepelea, who left for Middle Tennessee State. ... Sophomores Dusan Radivojevic and Erik Marschall have bulked up noticeably. Dakich said Radivojevic has gained 40 pounds since coming to BGSU and Marschall 30.
