.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Illinois State
Redbirds Outlast Falcons, 69-58
December 16, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2007
Final Stats |
Quotes
BGSU-Illinois State boxscore in PDF Format 
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team battled back from a 16-point deficit to tie the score in the second half, but visiting Illinois State University was able to rally for a 69-58 win over the Falcons Sunday afternoon (Dec. 16). The non-conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Redbirds improve to 7-3 on the season, while the Falcons drop to 4-5 overall.
Junior Darryl Clements scored a career-high 18 points to lead all players, while redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 14.
Dom Johnson led the visitors with 16 points, pacing four Redbirds in double digits. Osiris Eldridge and Levi Dyer each scored 11 points, while Brandon Sampay had 10.
The visitors built a 16-point lead in the first half as the Falcons struggled on offense. ISU scored the first four points of the afternoon, then went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-4 lead with five minutes gone.
Sophomore Otis Polk halted that run with a layup, but Eldridge answered with a three-pointer -- one of four triples in a five-minute span for ISU. After Knight hit a jumper, Johnson drained one of his three treys on the day, giving the visitors a 19-8 lead. Another Johnson trey upped the score to 22-8 at the 11:10 mark.
Offensive rebounding helped the Falcons score the next four points, as Knight grabbed a teammate's missed shot and dunked the ball, all in one motion, and Polk grabbed a rebound and laid the ball off the glass to cut the Falcons deficit to 10 points.
Again, however, the visitors responded, as Boo Richardson's layup began an 8-2 run that gave the Redbirds a 30-14 advantage with 3:05 left in the half.
The teams traded hoops, before a late three-pointer by Clements cut the Falcons' deficit to 32-19 at the half.
The Falcons shot just 30.8 percent from the field in the first half, and that late triple by Clements was BG's only long-distance connection in nine tries. By contrast, ISU shot 42.3% from the floor and made four treys.
BGSU started the second half by scoring the first seven points, completing a 10-0 run and cutting the Redbirds' lead to just six points. Marc Larson was fouled on a layup attempt on the opening possession of the half, and the soph converted both free-throw tries. Less than two minutes later, Larson grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled by Anthony Slack (Slack's third foul of the game), and again hit a pair of charity tosses.
When junior Nate Miller's pass found Clements for a trailing three-pointer, the Falcons had cut ISU's lead to just 32-26, and the Redbirds burned a timeout.
The teams traded points over the next few minutes, before Dyer's triple gave the visitors a double-digit lead once again, at 39-28. Those were the Redbirds' last points for nearly four minutes.
The Falcons proceeded to go on an 11-0 run, beginning with back-to-back three-pointers from Knight. On both occasions, the redshirt freshman took passes from Clements before hitting from beyond the arc.
When freshman Joe Jakubowski found himself free for a layup, the deficit was just three points, at 39-36, and the visitors used another timeout.
The teams traded misses before Polk took a pass in the lane, drew several defenders to him and fired the ball to Brian Moten, who was stationed in front of the BG bench. The junior's resulting three-point try found nothing but net, and the game was tied with 12:17 remaining.
The Redbirds, however, would respond. Sampay scored the game's next four points, on two free throws and a jumper, and Dyer answered a Knight jumper with one of his own. When Johnson hit a shot with 8:49 left, the Redbirds' lead was six, at 47-41.
Miller hit a three-pointer off a pass from Knight, but Dyer restored the six-point lead with a trey at the other end, and an Eldridge shot upped the lead to 52-44.
Clements hit a pair of treys a minute apart, with the second one coming as the shot clock was winding down. On that play, Miller drove and kicked the ball to a wide-open Clements for the triple, and BG was within 52-50 with six minutes left.
Again, though, the visitors would answer. Emmanual Holloway connected from behind the arc on the ensuing possession, and a triple by Dyer gave ISU a 58-50 lead with 4:57 left.
Neither team would score for the next two minutes, before Miller hit a reverse layup off a Jakubowski feed. But, an Eldridge layup off his own miss increased the lead to 60-52, and the visitors would hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute, as BG fouled to try to narrow the gap.
The Falcons shot 48.1% in the second half en route to a 39.6% effort for the game. ISU had a 47.8% in the final 20 minutes to finish with an overall FG pct. of 44.9%.
BGSU went 7-for-10 from three-point range in the second half, to finish the game with a long-distance rate of 42.1% (8-for-19). The Redbirds matched the Falcons' eight successful treys on the day, in 22 attempts (36.4%).
BG held a 32-30 rebounding advantage, with Knight pulling down a team-high nine boards. Jakubowski had six rebounds, doubling his previous career best.
Eldridge had a game-high 11 rebounds for a double-double on the afternoon. No other ISU player had more than five.
Miller had nine points for the Falcons, while Larson added six. Jakubowski and Polk had four apiece, with Jakubowski dishing out a team-leading four assists. The Redbirds had 17 assists on 22 baskets, with both Johnson and Holloway having four assists.
The Falcons are next in action on Saturday (Dec. 22), heading to Terre Haute, Ind., to take on Indiana State. Then, following a few days off for Christmas, BG will begin a season-long three-game homestand with a Dec. 29 game vs. Eastern Illinois.
NOTES
* Junior Darryl Clements, as mentioned, scored a career-high 18 points in Sunday's game ... his previous career best was 13 points on two occasions, most recently at Oakland two weeks ago (Dec. 1, 2007).
* Clements scored 13 points in the second half alone vs. Illinois State ... he now has five career double-digit scoring games, including three this season.
* Freshman Joe Jakubowski, who was on the cover of the game program, made the first start of his brief collegiate career ... he replaced senior Ryne Hamblet, who has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
* The Falcons had had the same starting lineup for each of the season's first eight games, the longest such stretch since the 2001-02 campaign.
* The brutal weather in Northwest Ohio (and in much of the Midwest) resulted in an attendance of just 659 hardy souls at Anderson Arena on Sunday afternoon.
* The inclement weather prevented two of the three referees originally scheduled to work the game from reaching Anderson Arena.
* In addition to points, Clements also set career bests in field-goal attempts (12), three-pointers made (four) and minutes played (38) ... he tied his career standards for field goals made (five) and free throws made (four).
* Jakubowski played 37 minutes for the second consecutive game ... he is averaging 26.1 minutes per game this year, but has averaged an even 30.0 mpg over the last seven contests.
