Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
DUQUESNE
Dukes Run Past Falcons, 96-78
January 02, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes
BGSU-Duquesne Boxscore in PDF Format
BGSU's Updated Cumulative Stats in PDF Format
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Visiting Duquesne University used fast-break offense, pressing defense and waves of substitutions to run past the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team, 96-78, Wednesday night (Jan. 2). The non-conference game was held at BGSU's Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Dukes improve to 10-3 on the season, while dropping the Falcons to 5-7.
Sophomore Otis Polk paced the home team with a career night off the bench. Polk scored a career-high 17 points and tied his career standard with seven rebounds. The Detroit, Mich., native played 31 minutes -- also a career high -- in the game.
Polk was one of five double-digit scorers for the Falcons. Junior Nate Miller scored 15 points, while redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, leading all players in the latter category. BGSU had a 42-33 advantage on the boards.
DU, however, forced the Falcons into 24 turnovers, scoring 29 points off of those miscues, and used 11 players, with nine of those 11 playing between 19 and 23 minutes each.
Reggie Jackson led the Dukes with 19 points, while Kojo Mensah had 18. The visitors had four players in double digits in scoring, while three more players had either eight or nine points apiece.
Early on, it appeared the Dukes would run away and hide. Duquesne scored the first four points of the game, then scored two layups in transition to take an 8-2 lead and force the Falcons to call a timeout with just over three minutes elapsed.
The Falcons cut the lead to four points when Polk tipped in a teammate's miss, but a reverse layup by Mensah on the break was the first part of a three-point play and began a 7-0 run for the visitors. Back-to-back steals led to layups by a pair of Jacksons, as Aaron Jackson scored before a Reggie Jackson steal and bucket. The Dukes led by a 15-4 count with less than six minutes expired.
The Falcons, who had seven turnovers in those first six minutes, gave the ball up two more times in the next minute. At that point, BGSU had attempted just six field goals to Duquesne's 17.
Sophomore Ryan Sims ended a three-minute scoring drought for the home team, splitting a pair of free throws at the 12:53 mark. DU increased the lead to 12 points with two charity tosses, before an acrobatic hoop by Polk cut BG's deficit to 17-7.
A one-handed dunk by the sophomore off of a Knight feed made the score 19-10 midway through the half, and a driving layup by freshman Joe Jakubowski resulted in a three-point play just 18 seconds later. After a DU miss, a long outlet pass by Jakubowski resulted in a Knight layup on the break. Suddenly, the Falcons' run was 7-0, and the Duquesne lead was only four points, 19-15.
BG got the ball back, looking to cut the lead even more, but a turnover led to a David Theis layup at the other end. Junior Darryl Clements answered with a jumper, but Bill Clark's three-point field goal gave the Dukes a 24-17 lead at 7:21.
Out of a media timeout, Reggie Jackson hit a triple of his own, and two free throws gave DU a 12-point advantage. The Falcons put together a five-point run, on another Polk tip-in and three free throws (two from Jakubowski and one from Miller), but Shawn James stepped out for a three-pointer to stop that run.
Back-to-back hoops by Mensah would restore DU's 12-point lead, but the Falcons would score 10-straight points bridging halftime. Polk split a pair of free throws with 1:42 left in the half, and Knight found Sims for a three-pointer in transition.
Jakubowski converted a driving layup, and Sims spotted Polk all alone for a layup with 28 seconds left in the half. After a DU miss, Knight grabbed the rebound and fired a pass to Sims, whose halfcourt shot hit the rim as the first-half buzzer sounded. BG trailed by just four points, 36-32, at the break.
That deficit narrowed to just two points when Miller hit a layup on BGSU's initial second-half possession. Gary Tucker answered with a trey, and after Knight hit a layup, another triple by Reggie Jackson gave the visitors a 42-36 advantage.
DU increased the least to nine points on a James layup at the 14:20 mark, but Knight knocked down a jumper off Miller's pass. Then, Miller blocked a Theis layup try, and the BG junior headed downcourt and took a Jakubowski pass for a trailing three-pointer to cut the lead to 48-44.
The Falcons got a stop at the other end, and a Knight rebound gave the ball back to the home team with a chance to cut into the lead. But, with the shot clock running down, a BG turnover led to DU layup at the other end. Then, a blocked shot led to another basket by the Dukes in transition. Suddenly, the lead was 52-44 as the Falcons took time with 12:15 left in the game.
Out of that timeout, however, another BG turnover gave the ball right back to the visitors, and Reggie Jackson's three-pointer put the DU lead into double digits. Then, an Aaron Jackson steal led to an odd-man rush, and a Damian Saunders dunk made the score 57-44 with 11:46 left.
Junior Brian Moten drained a three-pointer to stop the run, and the lead stayed between 10 and 12 points for the next several minutes. BG kept battling, however, as two Polk free throws started a 5-0 run. Moten's three-point play cut the deficit to 62-56 with 9:05 left in the half.
A few minutes later, Miller's putback was followed by a Moten layup, and the DU lead was down to just four points, 64-60. But, the Falcons could get no closer.
The Dukes seemed to have an answer to each BG basket. A jumper by sophomore Marc Larson cut DU's lead to five points, 68-63, with 6:20 left, but Saunders responded with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession. Knight made two free throws, but Mensah came right back with a triple, and Duquesne's lead was nine points, 74-65, at 4:40.
Just over a minute later, an Aaron Jackson layup put the visitors' lead into double digits for good. The final 2:32 featured a parade to the foul line, as 16 of DU's last 18 points came from the stripe.
Moten and Jakubowski hit double digits in the scoring column. Moten had a season-high 12 points, while Jakubowski had 10 points and led all players with a career-high seven assists.
Kieron Achara and Aaron Jackson each scored 12 points for DU, while Saunders scored nine. James and Clark had eight apiece, with Clark pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.
Miller grabbed seven boards for the Falcons, who had 18 offensive rebounds on the night. BGSU had 18 second-chance points to DU's 16, and the teams were even or virtually even in several other categories. DU had narrow advantages in points in the paint (38-36) and bench points (38-33), while the Falcons had a slim margin in second-chance points (18-14). Each team had 16 fast-break points.
The Falcons shot 46.4 percent from the field to Duquesne's 47.5%. The visitors went to the free-throw line a whopping 45 times, making 32 (71.1%), while BG was 22-for-33 from the stripe (66.7%).
The Falcons are home again on Saturday (Jan. 5), opening the Mid-American Conference portion of the schedule by taking on Ohio University. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Anderson.
NOTES
* Sophomore Otis Polk, as mentioned, had a career-high 17 points vs. Duquesne ... Polk also set career standards in field goals made (six) and attempted (10), free throws made (four) and minutes played (31), and he tied his career rebounding best, with seven boards for the second time in three games.
* Polk's previous career scoring high was 10 points, in this season's opener vs. Western Carolina (Nov. 9, 2007) ... Polk had established a new career best by halftime on Wednesday ... he had 11 points in the first half of the Duquesne game, going 5-for-7 from the field before the intermission.
* Polk has scored 67 points this season (5.6 ppg), after scoring a total of 41 points during all of last year (1.5 ppg as a freshman).
* Freshman Joe Jakubowski had seven assists, the most of his young collegiate career ... Jakubowski also had 10 points, for his fourth double-digit game of the season ... he had seven of those points in the opening half, with perfect shooting from the floor (2-for-2) and the free-throw line (3-for-3).
* Redshirt freshman Chris Knight had his second double-double of the year, with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds ... his seven offensive rebounds also were the most of his career to date ... Knight has scored in double digits in nine of this season's 12 games.
* Junior Brian Moten had a season-high 12 points vs. DU ... Moten, who had gotten to the free-throw line just twice this season, was a perfect 5-for-5 from the stripe vs. the Dukes, tying his career best in free throws made.
* Sophomore Ryan Sims played a season-high 20 minutes in Wednesday's game.
