Kent State Holds Off BGSU, 62-61

Saturday, January 20

Kent, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Kent State

January 21, 2007 | Men's Basketball

Jan. 21, 2007

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Kent, Ohio - Every second matters for the 2006-07 Bowling Green men's basketball team!

For the ninth time since the 2004-05 season, the Falcons played a game decided by just one point and unfortunately for the Orange and Brown, they came up short, 62-61, at Kent State on Saturday night. BGSU is now 6-3 in those one-point contests.

"I thought that was a really hard played game," said BGSU Coach Dan Dakich. "If I was a player that would have been a really fun game to compete in."

In the last four years, BGSU has enjoyed success at the M.A.C. Center in Kent and nearly pulled off its fourth win in five tries on the Golden Flashes home floor since the 2002-03 season.

KSU led 59-52 with 3:52 left, but the Falcons nearly pulled off the miracle comeback. Junior Ryne Hamblet hit three free throws with 3:25 to go to cut it to 59-55. The Flashes Chris Singletary missed a pair of free throws with 1:41 to go and BGSU senior Martin Samarco hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 59-58 with 1:17 left.

Omni Smith hit a pair of charity tosses to make it 61-58 with 44 seconds left. The Falcons looked to the leading scorer in the MAC in Samarco, but he was smothered by three KSU defenders and had the ball stripped by Armon Gates with 11 seconds to go.

Gates would hit one of two free throws and sophomore Nate Miller would drill a three-pointer to make it 62-61 with five seconds to go. With no timeouts and BGSU needing to foul, KSU went for the home run ball and threw the ball away. However, the ball was tipped which allowed several seconds to run off the clock and instead of having the ball under its own basket, BGSU need to go the length of the floor in a half-second.

Sophomore Dusan Radivojevic threw the ball near the Falcon bench and KSU batted the ball out of bounds as time expired.

"I thought both teams were really tough," said Dakich. "They just went on a run at the end. Gates hit two big three's."

The Falcons scored the first five points of the game, but KSU used an 8-0 run midway through the first half to lead 27-16 with 7:02 to go. The Falcons hung tough and trailed 30-22 with 2:29 before halftime, but went on a 7-0 run to make it 30-29 with 41 seconds left in the half. KSU's Isaac Knight got a dunk to make it 32-29 at the half.

"You have to like our kids," added Dakich. Hamblet stepped up. He hurt his ankle and he has a shoulder that needs surgery the second the season is over. Marschall is playing on a broken foot and I have to tip my hat to my kids and just keep on working."

The Golden Flashes could not shake the Falcons in the second half. KSU led by no more than five early, but Miller, who had 14 second half points, gave BGSU its only lead with a jumper at the 7:30 mark. Miller finished with 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

"Nate is going to compete," said Dakich. "Here's a kid who sat out a year and a half, paid his own way to go to school here, and he has not missed a beat."

Samarco also was solid notching his 21st career 20+ point effort in finishing with a game-high 26 points, including 15 in the first half. He responded well after playing just 30 seconds in the second half at Miami.

"I thought Martin was great," said Dakich. "He was the first guy out at practice on Friday and he has acted like a senior. That's why he's a great player. He's not going to hang his head. Jim Christian sat his two seniors (Smith and Gates) and they came off the bench and led their team. Those three get it."

The Falcons will begin a stretch of six straight games against the MAC West on Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. contest at home against Western Michigan. All Wood County residents get in the game for $5 as part of the "Wood County Wednesday" promotion.