Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Visit Northern Illinois
February 05, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2007
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Bowling Green (11-11, 2-7) at Northern Illinois (4-17, 1-8) Wednesday, February 7, 8 p.m. (Eastern) Convocation Center (9,100) Series Record: NIU leads 24-23 Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker) Up Next: BGSU vs. Eastern Michigan, February 10, 2 p.m.
FALCONS ARE IN SIX-GAME STRETCH AGAINST MAC WEST
Bowling Green and Northern Illinois will meet for the 48th time as the Falcons play the fifth of six straight games against the MAC West. The Falcons are coming off a 64-48 loss at Toledo, while NIU fell at Buffalo, 80-74. BGSU is in a stretch which will see them play four of the next five games on the road. Last year, NIU rallied from a 13-point second half deficit to post a 75-74 win in Anderson Arena.
SAMARCO IS THE MAC'S TOP SCORER, CLOSES IN ON 1,000-POINTS
BGSU senior Martin Samarco is the MAC's top scorer averaging 20.1 points per game. He had his 22nd 20+point effort with his 21 points against Ball State. He was named MAC East Player of the Week (1/8) for the second time this season after his 43-point performance against Buffalo. He made a career-high 16 field goals and tied his career-best with seven three-point field goals. He also was honored earlier this season (12/18) and has been chosen for the award four times in his career. He is the top returning scorer in the MAC after he finished second in the league averaging 18.9 points per game. He also is fourth all-time in three-point field goals made at BGSU with 156. He had a school record 100 last season. He has scored 989 career points and is looking to be the eighth player under Dan Dakich to score 1,000-points or more in a career for the Falcons.
MORE 1,000 POINT CLUB FACTS
There are currently 34 members of the 1,000-point club at BGSU. The last player to join the club was Josh Almanson in the 2004-05 season. Samarco would also be the second junior college transfer to score 1,000-points or more for the Falcons and fourth player in school history to reach the mark in less than two seasons. Tommy Harris scored 1,137 points for BGSU from 1975-77 after coming to BGSU from Vincennes Junior College. Harris, Jim Darrow (1957-59, 1,035 points), and James Gerber (1950-52, 1,022 points) also joined the club in their second season. Harris and Darrow did it in 47 games, Samarco will play his 52nd game on Wednesday and Gerber accomplished the feat in 53 games.
DAKICH HAS SECOND BEST WINNING PERCENTAGE AT BGSU, NOW 10TH ALL-TIME IN WINS BY A MAC COACH
BGSU Coach Dan Dakich is in his 10th season with the Falcons and was the second fastest men's basketball coach in school history to win 100 games. He is 154-133 (54.1) overall (second-best in BGSU history) and is 88-83 (52.0) in the MAC. With the win against Jacksonville State, he surpassed Western Michigan's Bob Donewald to move into 10th place in overall victories by a MAC coach. He ranks 12th all-time in MAC history in league wins. His four 18+win seasons are tied for second most by a Falcon coach as he notched those in his first eight seasons after BGSU had posted just four 18+win seasons in the previous 14 seasons prior to his arrival. Since the 2001 season, BGSU is 32-3 when allowing 60 points or less, including 4-0 this season. With the defensive stop on the last play of the game against Buffalo, BGSU is now 29-5 since the 2001-02 season when holding a one possession lead in the final minute of a game
A former player at Indiana (1981-85), Dakich spent 11 seasons on the staff of the Hoosiers under the NCAA's all-time leader in victories, Coach Bob Knight. Dakich was an assistant coach for 262 of Knight's record setting 880+ collegiate wins.
MILLER IS POSTING CONSISTENT IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS
Since becoming eligible on December 19, sophomore Nate Miller has give the Falcons additional scoring inside. He is averaging 14.1 points and 7.9 rebounds. He is coming off his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Toledo. He had a 15-point, nine-board performance against Ball State. He had 18-points against Central Michigan, 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against Kent State and also notched a career-best 21-point performance against Miami where he made eight of 11 field goal attempts. In MAC play, he is averaging 16.2 points (7th in the league), 8.0 rebounds (6th) and 2.2 steals (3rd) in MAC games only. Miller also had 19 points and 10 rebounds against Marshall, 17 points at Ohio and 15 points and seven rebounds against Akron. He came to BGSU after playing one semester at UNC-Wilmington. He is a graduate of Springfield South High School.
ABOUT NIU
The Huskies will be looking to snap an eight-game losing streak after having endured a season of injury. Senior Mike McKinney is averaging a team-high 13.4 points, senior James Hughes is averaging 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds and junior Ryan Paradise is contributing 10.8 points.
