Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Belmont
Falcons Down Belmont, 78-67, to Give Orr First Win at BGSU
November 10, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2007
Final Stats |
Quotes
A few notes for Sunday's UC game in PDF Format 
CINCINNATI, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team led from start to finish, posting a 78-67 win over Belmont University Saturday evening (Nov. 10). The non-conference contest was held at Fifth Third Arena on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.
The victory was the first in the BGSU head-coaching tenure of Louis Orr, a native of Cincinnati. The Falcons improve to 1-1 on the young season, while dropping the Bruins -- a 2007 NCAA Tournament participant -- to 1-1.
Cincinnati native Chris Knight had a game-high 20 points to pace four double-digit scorers for the Falcons, who led from start to finish. BGSU scored the game's first 11 points, and the lead was in double digits for the final 34-plus minutes of the game.
Marc Larson had 14 points for the Falcons, while Ryne Hamblet added 12 and Brian Moten 10. Both Knight and Larson had career-high scoring totals.
Hamblet also had a game-high seven assists along with six rebounds. Juniors Darryl Clements and Nate Miller each had six boards apiece to tie Hamblet for team honors.
Miller scored eight points in the game, while Clements had six points and four assists. Sophomore Otis Polk, in 11 minutes of action, had eight points and three of the Falcons' seven blocks. Larson had a pair of blocked shots vs. Belmont.
Matthew Dotson had 17 points to lead three double-figure scorers for the Bruins.
The Falcons shot an even 50 percent from the field in each half, and BG held Belmont to a 33.9% success rate, including just a 7-for-30 (23.3%) effort in the opening half.
As mentioned, the Brown and Orange scored the first 11 points of the game. Knight got things started with the first four points on a pair of buckets. The first came on the fast break after a Hamblet block and defensive rebound, and the second was a putback of a teammate's miss.
Knight also played a part in the Falcons' third basket, making the `extra pass' to find an open Larson for a layup. Larson would give the Brown and Orange a 9-0 lead at the 16:12 mark, getting open under the hoop and taking a Hamblet pass for a layup and a foul. Larson would convert three `and-one' baskets in the game.
The lead swelled to 11-0 on a long two-pointer by Clements out of the game's first media timeout.
Belmont finally scored, on a layup by Alex Renfroe at the 14:45 mark, but a nice look by Clements found Polk for a layup, and Clements then spotted Hamblet for a hoop. When Miller scored off of a Moten feed, the lead was 17-2 with just over seven minutes elapsed.
The Falcons did not commit a turnover during that entire stretch. BG's first turnover of the game came with 9:07 gone.
Belmont cut into the lead just slightly on a three-pointer by Jordan Campbell, but freshman Joe Jakubowski whipped a pass to Polk for an open layup. A few minutes later, a long jumper by Moten and a left-side jumper by Clements gave the Brown and Orange a 23-7 advantage with 9:34 left before halftime.
Larson's second three-point play of the game gave the Falcons a 26-9 lead less than a minute later. Belmont hit a triple, but Moten answered with a trey of his own to make the score 29-12 with just under eight minutes left before the break.
A Miller jumper gave the Falcons a 33-16 lead, but Belmont began to creep back. The Bruins scored eight of the half's final 10 points to cut BG's lead to 35-24 at the break.
Larson had eight points in the first half alone, setting a new career high by halftime.
In the second half, Knight hit a short turnaround jumper, then tipped the ball away from Dotson at midcourt and took a return pass from Clements for a breakaway dunk.
The latter hoop gave the Falcons a 39-24 lead, but the Bruins would counter with five-straight points. BG's lead would remain in the lower teens for the next few minutes, before another Knight basket gave the Falcons a 16-point advantage, 49-33, with 13:53 remaining.
A few minutes later, Hamblet hit a layup in transition for a 51-36 BG lead, and Larson swatted a Belmont shot out of bounds to send the teams into the 12-minute media timeout.
After a Dotson trey, one of four on the day, Hamblet knifed through the BU defense for an acrobatic layup and a 54-39 BG lead. Then, Knight's drive-and-dish found Polk for a layup and a foul, and the BG lead was 59-41.
Several minutes later, with the shot clock winding down, Miller drove the lane and flipped a pass to Larson for yet another `and-one' layup. Larson hit the free throw to complete the sequence, and the Falcons' had a 19-point lead - the biggest of the game - at 65-46.
Belmont countered with a four-point play, as Dotson was fouled while hitting a three-pointer, and a Renfroe steal and layup cut the lead to 13 points and prompted a BG timeout with 5:54 on the clock.
The Falcons responded, as a Hamblet pass found Knight slicing to the hooop for a layup and a 15-points lead with under five minutes remaining.
BG began milking the clock during its offensive possessions, and the lead never got below 10 points. A Moten dunk in the final minute of play put an exclamation point on the win.
The Falcons had 40 points in the paint to the Bruins' 30, and BGSU also held advantages in points off turnovers (19-10) and fast-break points (14-6).
Moten was 4-of-6 from the field, including a 2-for-4 effort from three-point range, while Larson was 4-of-7 on his field-goal attempts.
The Falcons return to Fifth Third Arena Sunday night, closing the Peggy Cronin Classic with a game against host UC. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
NOTES
* Belmont, as mentioned, qualified for the NCAA Tournament in March, finishing the 2006-07 season with a 23-10 record.
* Cincinnati native Chris Knight, after two games in his hometown, currently leads the Falcons with 18.0 points per game ... Knight scored 16 in his collegiate debut, Friday (Nov. 9) vs. Western Carolina ... against Belmont, Knight had the first 20-point game of his career.
* In addition to Knight, sophomore Marc Larson also posted a career high on Saturday ... Larson, who set a career scoring high with six points vs. WCU, hit double digits for the first time as a collegian with 14 points against Belmont.
* Larson's 14-point game was just one point away from his scoring total for all of last season ... through two games this year, Larson has 20 points, after scoring a total of 15 during his freshman season.
* Belmont's 33.9 percent field-goal shooting represents the team's lowest since the 2006 NCAA Tournament against UCLA, a stretch of 34 games.
