Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Belmont Saturday
November 10, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2007
CINCINNATI, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. BELMONT
Sat., Nov. 10, 2007 • 4:00 p.m. • Peggy Cronin Classic
Fifth Third Arena (13,176) • Cincinnati, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 0-1 (13-18 in 2006-07) // BU 1-0 (23-10 in 2006-07
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker
SERIES: First Meeting
BGSU Notes & Stats in PDF Format
FALCONS TAKE ON BRUINS SATURDAY
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team continues the season-opening weekend of play in Cincinnati ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr take on Belmont University in Saturday action (Nov. 10) at the inaugural Peggy Cronin Classic, hosted by the University of Cincinnati ... tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at UC's Fifth Third Arena (13,176) ... the Falcons will conclude the stretch of three games in three days with a Sunday night (Nov. 11) game vs. the host Bearcats, starting at 8:00 p.m.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• The Peggy Cronin Classic is an exempted round-robin tournament featuring doubleheaders at Fifth Third Arena on each of the three days.
• Several members of the Falcon program are Cincinnati natives ... both head coach Louis Orr and assistant coach George Jackson are back in their hometown this weekend ... Orr and Jackson have known one another since childhood, and both attended Withrow High School ... Jackson served as head coach at his alma mater for 20 years.
• Yet another member of the program made his Falcon debut in his hometown ... Chris Knight, a redshirt freshman, led the Brown and Orange with a double-double in Friday's (Nov. 9) season opener ... Knight had team-high totals of 16 points and 10 rebounds in the Falcons' 63-60 loss to Western Carolina ... Knight, like Orr and Jackson, is a graduate of Withrow H.S., where he was a two-time all-state selection for head coach Steve Gentry.
LAST TIME OUT
Western Carolina used a pair of back-to-back three-pointers in the game's late going to narrowly defeat the Falcons, 63-60, Friday night (Nov. 9) ... the contest was the first game of the Peggy Cronin Classic, hosted by the University of Cincinnati ... the game was also the BGSU regular-season head-coaching debut for Louis Orr, a native of the Queen City ... redshirt freshman Chris Knight, also a Cincinnati native, led the Falcons with a double-double in his first collegiate game ... Knight had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Brown and Orange in both categories ... Knight was one of four double-digit scorers on the night, as junior Nate Miller had 13 points and senior Ryne Hamblet added 11 points along with a game-high seven assists ... sophomore Otis Polk had a career-high 10 points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field ... Polk also had five rebounds and three blocked shots ... for the Catamounts, Nick Aldridge led the way with 17 points, while Brigham Waginger had 15 points and a team-leading eight rebounds ... the game featured nine ties and seven lead changes, with Hamblet nearly hitting what would have been a game-tying three-pointer at the final buzzer ... the senior, with two defenders in his face, just missed connecting on a triple try from the corner, in front of the BGSU bench.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons are 0-1 on the young season, after Friday night's narrow loss to Western Carolina ... BGSU returns a total of eight letterwinners from last season's team, including five of the top-seven scorers and three starters from the lineup that BGSU used down the stretch ... Ryne Hamblet, the lone senior on the 2007-08 squad, led the Falcons in both assists and steals a year ago, and averaged 10.4 points per game ... junior Nate Miller is the top-returning scorer, averaging 14.1 ppg a season ago en route to All-MAC Honorable Mention ... Darryl Clements, Erik Marschall and Brian Moten round out the junior class, and are joined among the returning group by sophomores Marc Larson, Otis Polk and Ryan Sims ... Chris Knight enters his first playing season after sitting out the 2006-07 campaign at BGSU, while sophomore Matt Karaffa has joined the active roster as a walk-on ... freshmen Joe Jakubowski and Cameron Madlock complete the 12-player roster for coach Louis Orr and his staff ... that staff includes assistant coaches LaMonta Stone, George Jackson and Andy Moore and director of operations Rick Palmer.
SCOUTING BELMONT
Belmont, the two-time defending Atlantic Sun Conference champions, went 23-10 a year ago, and are off to a 1-0 start this season ... the Bruins opened the 2007-08 campaign with an 86-75 win over host Cincinnati Friday night ... senior Justin Hare, the team's lone senior, led BU in scoring last year, averaging 14.1 points per game en route to all-league first-team honors ... Hare had 23 points in the win over UC, while Andy Wicke had 19 and Alex Renfroe added 13 off the bench ... Will Peeples, Matthew Dotson and Henry Harris joined Hare and Wicke in the starting lineup for head coach Rick Byrd Friday night ... for Byrd, the win over UC was his 425th at the Bruins' helm.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Belmont are meeting for the first time in men's basketball ... the schools will also meet in women's basketball, as the Falcon women will travel to Nashville next week for a game vs. the Bruins (Nov. 18).
UP NEXT
Following this weekend's action at the Peggy Cronin Classic, the Falcons will open the home portion of the schedule next weekend ... BGSU will take on Morehead State on Saturday, Nov. 17, with tipoff scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
