Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MIAMI (OH)
Falcons Post 68-64 Win Against Miami on Senior Day
March 04, 2007 | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2007
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Bowling Green, Ohio - Junior Ryne Hamblet scored a career-high 28 points, including six in the final 30 seconds, to give Bowling Green a 68-64 victory over Miami on the Falcons' senior day in Anderson Arena. Miami is 15-14 and 10-6, while BGSU is 13-17 and 3-13.
"I thought our guys had a lot of life," said BGSU Coach Dan Dakich, who is now tied for third on the BGSU men's basketball all-time win list with 156 victories. "I thought that Ryne Hamblet and Otis Polk made the difference in the basketball game. I think that Otis' defense on [Tim] Pollitz to start the second half was really good. Every time you play Miami it's going to be a tough game. I thought it was a real effort by our guys and I am proud of them."
As Dakich said in his post game press conference following Thursday's loss at home to Kent State, "the Falcons can beat anybody if we just cut out the mistakes."
Two key areas that have hampered BGSU were addressed in the win over the RedHawks, the ninth victory in the last 10 games at Anderson Arena against Miami. First, the Falcons came out strong to start the second half and secondly, BGSU made big plays and did not turn the ball over in the final six minutes.
With 3:33 left in the first half, BGSU began a 24-1 run that saw them erase a nine-point deficit, a 41-37 halftime disadvantage and had them leading 46-32 with 13:55 to go.
However, as most BGSU/Miami games go, the contest was far from over.
The RedHawks scored 14 straight points and tied the game at 49-49 on a tip-in by Nathan Peavy with 8:06 to go.
Hamblet would give BGSU the lead for good on the next possession with one of his six three-pointers. From that point on, a chess match emerged from two of the top 10 coaches in MAC history in Dakich and Miami's Charlie Coles.
Sophomore Brian Moten would hit a three-pointer to give BGSU a 55-51 lead with 7:18 to go, but Miami's Michael Bramos would grab his own offensive rebound and nail a triple to cut the lead to 55-54.
Hamblet would make two of his career-high six free throws to up the lead to 57-54 with 6:06 left. After two minutes of outstanding defense by both teams, Tim Pollitz would make a layup with 4:08 remaining to cut the lead to one point again.
With the RedHawks having a chance to take the lead, Hamblet made a steal and following a timeout, Samarco nailed a three-pointer to give BGSU a 60-56 advantage with 2:56 to go.
Pollitz would make a layup to make it 60-58 with 2:16 remaining, but BGSU Polk, who had three key blocks in the second half, got an offensive rebound on a missed shot by Samarco and was able to find Nate Miller who was fouled.
Miller drained both free throws, but Bramos nailed another three at it was a one point lead in the final minute at 62-61. After another BGSU timeout, Hamblet drove right and instead of kicking it out to Samarco, he hit a runner from 10-feet to give BGSU a 64-61 lead with 30 seconds left.
"This time coach told us that we're going to go to the ball screen and told me to go to the hole," said Hamblet. "If they collapsed on me then I should kick it out to [Martin] Samarco. It was one of those zones. It felt like the bucket was like the ocean, that's what it felt like."
Miami had a chance to tie the game, but Miller stole the ball from Miami's Doug Penno. The Redhawks needed to foul three times before sending Hamblet to the line who canned both free throws for a 65-61 advantage with nine seconds to go. Pollitz would hit a three-pointer with two seconds left and Hamblet would make two more charity tosses after being fouled to secure the win.
Neither team will know its opponent for the upcoming First Energy MAC Tournament in Cleveland until later Sunday evening.
"I knew it was going to be tough, I am not sure if the players knew it, but I knew this was going to be a tough game," said Miami Coach Charlie Coles. "I have never seen a team fight so hard with apparently not a lot on the line. They weren't playing for anything but pride. Sometimes pride counts more than playing for a bye and they proved that."
