Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Prepares for Midweek Matchup in Muncie
January 29, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at BALL STATE
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
John E. Worthen Arena (11,500) • Muncie, Ind.
RECORDS: BGSU 9-9 (4-2 MAC) // Ball State 3-15 (2-4 MAC)
RADIO: Falcon Radio Network - Todd Walker
SERIES: BGSU leads, 37-33 // STREAK: BGSU - 1
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 67, Ball State 57 (Jan. 31, 2007)
--->Notes, Stats & Standings (26 pages) in PDF Format
--->BGSU's Game-by-Game Boxscores & Recaps (9 more pages) in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team, riding a two-game winning streak, hits the road for a pair of games against Mid-American Conference West Division foes, beginning Wednesday (Jan. 30) ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr will head to Muncie, Ind., to face Ball State University ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at John E. Worthen Arena (11,500) ... following the BSU game, the Falcons will play a Saturday afternoon contest at Western Michigan, beginning at 4:00 p.m., before returning to venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) for home games vs. Central Michigan (Feb. 6) and Toledo (Feb. 10).
THE OPENING TIP
• The Falcons head to BSU after two narrow home wins ... after last Wednesday's (Jan. 23) 55-52 win over Miami, the Brown and Orange picked up a 63-59 victory against Northern Illinois Sunday (Jan. 27) ... in each case, the opponent had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, but the Falcon defense held ... MU missed a last-second shot, while junior Nate Miller's steal and dunk in the final seconds put the NIU game out of reach.
• With the win over Northern, the Falcons have topped the team's MAC victory total for all of last season ... BGSU is 4-2 in league play after going 3-13 in conference contests a year ago.
• BGSU enters the Ball State game with a perfect 4-0 home record in MAC play, but a mark of 0-2 in MAC road contests to date ... the Falcons have just four home games, but seven road tilts (including the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters game), remaining on the regular-season schedule.
ORR LOOKS TO GO 2-0 VS. OTHER FIRST-YEAR MAC COACHES
Louis Orr is one of three first-year head coaches in the MAC ... BGSU is in the midst of back-to-back games against the other two teams coached by first-year MAC mentors ... Orr and the Falcons picked up a win over Ricardo Patton's Northern Illinois squad on Sunday, and now meet Billy Taylor-coached Ball State on Wednesday ... so far, each of the two meetings involving MAC first-year coaches has come down to the final seconds ... NIU downed BSU, 60-58, last Wednesday, four days before the Falcons' 63-59 win over the Huskies.
 Joe Jakubowski's steal and layup with 1:15 left put the Falcons ahead for good in Sunday's NIU game (Bianca Garza, BGSU Photo Services)  |
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Through six games of the MAC schedule, the Falcons have a league record of 4-2 ... BGSU - picked to finish last in the six-team East Division in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll - is currently tied for second, just a game out of first ... the Falcons, Akron and Ohio are deadlocked in the standings, a game behind East-leading Kent State (5-1).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Ball State game with a 9-9 overall record on the season, and BGSU is 4-2 in MAC play ... the four MAC wins have come at Anderson Arena, while the two league losses each were on the road ... BG opened the league schedule with a 52-49 win over Ohio (Jan. 5), before losing at Kent State, 63-49 (Jan. 12) ... the Brown and Orange rebounded with an 83-70 victory against Buffalo (Jan. 17), but suffered an 80-44 setback at Akron three days later (Jan. 20) ... BG posted narrow wins over Miami, 55-52, last Wednesday (Jan. 23) and Northern Illinois, 63-59, on Sunday (Jan. 27).
• The Falcons opened the season with a 4-2 record, including a 2-1 mark at the season-opening Peggy Cronin Classic at Cincinnati ... the wins in that tourney came over Belmont and host UC ... the Falcons' other victories over the first six games of the year came against Morehead State and at Furman ... then, however, the Brown and Orange suffered a four-game losing streak ... three of those losses came on the road, and none by more than 11 points.
• The Falcons won two of three games on the homestand that bridged the New Year, with a 52-48 win over Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29), a 96-78 loss to Duquesne (Jan. 2) at Anderson Arena and the MAC-opening victory over Ohio.
• The Falcons are 6-3 at home, 2-5 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is averaging 63.7 points per game to the opponents' 66.6 ppg ... the Falcons are shooting 43.6 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot just 40.6%.
• Individually, junior Nate Miller leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.3 points per game ... he also paces the Falcons in steals (1.7 spg) and assists (2.7 apg), and is second on the squad in rebounding (5.5 rpg) ... Miller has hit double digits in scoring in a team-high 14 of BG's 18 games this year to date.
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight is second on the team in scoring, and leads the Falcons in rebounding ... Knight has 11.7 points and 7.3 boards per game, and is shooting 45.5% from the field ... Knight's total of 87 field goals made is just three behind Miller's team-leading total.
• Junior Darryl Clements has 7.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game ... he ranks third on the Falcons in scoring, and is second in steals (1.4 spg), third in assists (2.1 apg) and fourth on the team in rebounding ... freshman Joe Jakubowski is averaging 6.6 points per game ... he is second on the team in assists, with 2.6 per outing ... Jakubowski's total of 47 helpers is just two behind Miller ... the freshman leads the Brown and Orange with 20 three-point field-goals made.
• Junior Brian Moten, who led the Falcons in scoring in two of the first five MAC games, has 6.2 ppg ... he is shooting 45.8% from the field and 42.4% from the three-point line ... sophomores Marc Larson and Otis Polk have split time at center, and are averaging 5.4 and 5.1 points per contest, respectively ... Larson also has 2.6 rpg and 1.2 blocked shots per game, and is shooting a team-best 52.4% from the floor ... Polk has 4.8 rpg, ranking third on the team, and leads the Falcons in blocked shots, with 24 (1.3 bpg) this season to date.
• Soph Ryan Sims has played in all 18 games off the bench, and is averaging 1.3 ppg, while freshman Cameron Madlock has seen action in seven games ... Madlock, who had six points and seven rebounds at Akron, is averaging 1.1 ppg and 1.4 rpg ... sophomore Matt Karaffa made his collegiate debut in the Indiana State contest, and also saw action vs. UA.
• In MAC action, Miller leads the team in scoring, with 13.0 ppg, while Moten and Clements have 10.0 and 9.7 ppg, respectively ... Knight has 9.0 ppg and a team-high 7.3 rpg, while Jakubowski has 6.3 ppg and Polk 4.2 ... Polk also has 6.2 rpg off the bench.
• Clements, Larson and Miller each have started all 18 games to date for first-year BGSU head coach Louis Orr ... Jakubowski has started each of the last 10 games, while Knight has started 17 times, including each of the last seven ... the Falcons went 13-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC play in 2006-07.
A WIN OVER BALL STATE WOULD ...
• give the Falcons a three-game winning streak, BG's longest since the Falcons won three consecutive games in mid-November;
• give BGSU an overall record of 10-9, putting the team over the .500 mark for the first time in nearly two months (4-3 before a Dec. 6 loss at Northern Colorado);
• make the Falcons 5-2 in the MAC, and put BGSU three games over .500 in league play for the first time in nearly three years (since a win over Miami on Feb. 27, 2005, gave BG a 10-6 MAC ledger before the Falcons lost two games to end the regular season); and
• ensure the Brown and Orange - picked for sixth in the East Division in the preseason coaches poll - no worse than a second-place tie after seven games.
SCOUTING BALL STATE
Ball State enters Wednesday's game with an overall record of 3-15 ... the Cardinals are 2-4 in MAC play ... after starting the season with a mark of 0-11, BSU has gone 3-4 in the last seven games ... three of the four losses in that span have come by a total of eight points, including a pair of two-point road setbacks on last-minute shots in the last two games ... the Cards dropped a 60-58 decision at Northern Illinois last Tuesday (Jan. 22), then fell at Ohio by a 61-59 final Saturday (Jan. 26) ... Ball State is 3-7 at home, including a 2-1 mark in MAC games at Worthen Arena ... individually, redshirt junior forward Anthony Newell leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game ... fifth-year senior guard Peyton Stovall is second in each category, with 14.2 ppg and 6.1 rpg ... Stovall has made 26 three-point field goals this year, by far the most on the team ... freshman forward Malik Perry is shooting a team-high 51.4 percent from the field, and has 7.6 points and 5.5 boards per outing ... freshman guard Melvin Goins has 7.2 ppg and leads the Cardinals in assists (2.4 apg) and steals (1.9 spg) ... Stovall and Perry each have started all 18 games, while Goins has made 17 starts this year to date ... Newell has started all nine games in which he has seen action, including each of the last seven since returning from injury ... junior guard Rob Giles (3.2 ppg) joined that foursome in the starting lineup at Ohio for head coach Billy Taylor ... Taylor, in his first season at the Cardinal helm, has just three returning letterwinners from last year's team that finished 9-22 overall and 5-11 ... Taylor, who spent five seasons at the helm of Lehigh University, has an overall mark of 84-84 as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.ballstatesports.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Ball State, 37-33, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU won last year's lone meeting, 67-57, at Anderson Arena (Jan. 31, 2007) ... the Falcons have won three of the last four games, with the home team winning in all four cases and three of those meetings decided by two points or fewer ... in the last meeting in Muncie, the Cardinals won a 62-61 decision (Jan. 21, 2006), despite not making a field goal in the final 3:52 ... BGSU is 24-10 in home games, 11-23 in road contests and 2-0 in neutral-site affairs against Ball State ... the Falcons are 2-12 at Worthen Arena all-time.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons scored the game's last seven points, holding visiting Northern Illinois scoreless for over four minutes to earn a 63-59 win Sunday afternoon (Jan. 27) ... junior Nate Miller led four BG double-digit scorers with a 17-point afternoon, while freshman Joe Jakubowski scored 14 points, the highest total of his brief collegiate career ... redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 12 points and a team-high total of nine rebounds, while junior Brian Moten scored 10 points off the bench ... Darion Anderson led the Huskies with a double-double, posting game-best totals of 18 points and 10 rebounds ... the Falcons never trailed during the game's first 32 minutes, but NIU never let the margin reach double digits ... with 7:55 on the clock, the Huskies took the lead for the first time all day, on a Michael Patton jumper ... the lead would change four more times over the next three-and-a-half minutes, culminating with Anderson's layup that gave the Huskies a 59-56 lead with 4:21 left ... that hoop would be the last points NIU would score ... Miller drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup to cut the Falcons' deficit to a point with 3:52 remaining ... those were the last points until Jakubowski picked the pocket of Jarvis Nichols near midcourt, sailed in ahead of the pack and hit a layup that gave BG the lead for good with 1:15 left ... on the ensuing possession, Nichols missed a jumper, but the ball went out of bounds with NIU retaining possession ... Anderson's jumper was no good, and in the battle for the rebound, Knight came up with the ball at the bottom of the pile and BG called timeout with 44.5 seconds on the clock ... Jakubowski was fouled with 19.4 seconds left, and made his first free throw, giving the Falcons a 61-59 advantage ... his second FT try would not go down, and NIU's Sean Smith grabbed the rebound ... the Falcons, having committed only one foul in the entire second half to that point, had multiple fouls to give ... BG committed three fouls in a seven-second span, with the last coming with seven seconds remaining ... after that foul, NIU inbounded the ball near midcourt, and it was Miller's turn for a steal and breakaway ... the junior forced Patton to turn it over, grabbed the ball and went in all alone for a game-clinching dunk with just 1.4 seconds left, providing the final margin of victory.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE NIU GAME
• The Falcons are now a perfect 4-0 in MAC home games this year, and BGSU has won five-straight games vs. league foes at venerable Anderson Arena, dating to last season.
• BGSU's four home MAC wins is one more than the Falcons had during all of last year ... the Brown and Orange went 3-5 in conference home contests in 2006-07.
• BG's win over NIU snapped the Huskies' three-game series winning streak ... NIU leads the all-time series by a narrow 25-24 margin ... the Falcons are now 17-9 in home games vs. Northern.
THE 800 CLUB
If our math is correct (and there's always a chance that it isn't), Wednesday's game at Ball State will be the 800th MAC regular-season game in BGSU men's basketball history ... through the first 799 such contests, the Falcons have a record of 423-376, for a winning percentage of 52.9%.
MILLER TIME
Junior Nate Miller, after being held to a season-low seven points at Akron (Jan. 20), bounced back with 15 points in the Miami game (Jan. 23), and had a team-leading 17 against Northern Illinois (Jan. 27) ... vs. Miami, he took the game over in the second half, scoring eight-straight BG points ... Miller began that stretch by hitting a three-pointer with a defender in his face ... the junior adjusted his shot in midair, adding some arc, and hit the triple to give BG a 47-40 lead ... he converted a transition jumper, then hit another trey ... Miller, who had had an assist on a basket at the end of the first half, drew the defense to him and fed redshirt freshman Chris Knight for a jumper with 23.3 seconds left in the game, giving the Falcons a three-point lead ... Miller tied for game scoring honors, and led the home team in both assists (four) and steals (two - tied for team lead) ... he hit a career-high three three-pointers in Wednesday's win ... against NIU, Miller had a game-high total of five assists ... Miller has 14 double-digit scoring games in BG's 18 contests, and is averaging a team-high 13.3 points per game.
FALCONS GETTING TO THE LINE
In four of the Falcons' six MAC games to date, BG has allowed the opponent to make six or fewer free throws ... Ohio, Akron and Miami made six each, while Northern Illinois was 2-for-2 in the entirety of Wednesday's (Jan. 27) game ... in league play to date, the Falcons have made more free throws than the opponents have attempted ... BG is 73-for-120 from the stripe in those six games, while the opposition is 42-for-62.
A FEW NOTES STILL HANGING AROUND FROM THE MIAMI GAME
• BGSU has won two consecutive games in the Miami series, and the Falcons have captured 10 of the last 11 home games vs. the RedHawks.
• Juniors Nate Miller and Darryl Clements had very similar stat lines in the game ... both players scored 15 points and had three rebounds, and each player was 3-for-5 from three-point range ... Miller and Clements each had two steals to tie for team honors.
• Miami began the game by making its first five field-goal attempts, while holding the Falcons to a 1-for-7 performance during that same span ... MU was 6-for-7 to start the game, but went just 2-for-17 over the remainder of the first half ... the RedHawks were just 1-for-13 over the final 11-plus minutes of the period.
• After getting off to that 1-for-7 start, BGSU ended the first half with a higher FG percentage than Miami ... the Falcons shot 39.1% from the floor in the opening half, going 9-for-23, to MU's 33.3% (8-of-24) ... on the night, BG had an overall FG pct. of 45.5% to the visitors' 39.2%.
FRIES FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
Redshirt freshman Chris Knight pulled down a team-leading total of nine rebounds in the win over Northern Illinois ... Knight has led or tied for the BG rebounding lead in 10 games this season to date ... freshman Joe Jakubowski had a career-high 14 points in the NIU game ... his previous career best was 13 points, in the Jan. 17 victory over Buffalo ... sophomore Marc Larson had a career-high three assists in the NIU contest ... Larson entered that contest with a career total of five helpers in 42 games ... Larson and classmate Otis Polk each blocked three shots vs. the Huskies, one shy of their respective career totals ... Polk now has a team-leading total of 24 blocks this season, while Larson has 21 and Knight 20 ... junior Brian Moten had 10 points in the NIU contest, hitting double digits in scoring for the sixth time this season, and the fifth time in seven games ... Moten is second on the Falcons in scoring in MAC games (10.0 ppg) ... he also had a career-high five rebounds vs. Northern ... the Falcons have a record of 6-3 in home games this season, and BGSU is 3-0 in MAC games at Anderson Arena to date ... the Falcons committed just eight turnovers against Miami, then had just seven in the win over NIU ... those are two of the three lowest totals of the year for the Brown and Orange ... BG had only six turnovers in the win at Cincinnati (Nov. 11, 2007) ... with a total of 143 points this year to date, junior Darryl Clements has topped his point total for his first two seasons combined (129) ... Clements had 42 points as a freshman and 87 points last winter.
