Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
OHIO
Falcons Post Team Win, Downing Ohio, 52-49
January 05, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes
BGSU-Ohio Boxscore in PDF Format
BGSU 13-Game Statistics in PDF Format
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team opened the Mid-American Conference schedule on a successful note, posting a 52-49 win over Ohio University Saturday afternoon (Jan. 5). The game, the MAC opener for both teams, was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 6-7 overall and -- obviously -- 1-0 in MAC action, while dropping the Bobcats to 9-5 and 0-1, respectively.
Junior Nate Miller led a balanced BG effort with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Miller led the Falcons in both categories.
Redshirt freshman Chris Knight scored 11 points, while juniors Darryl Clements and Brian Moten had 10 apiece.
Leon Williams led the Bobcats with 14 points, and tied for team honors with nine boards. Bubba Walther joined Williams in double figures with 13 points.
The outcome was not determined until the final seconds, as two potential game-tying shots by Walther bounced off the rim. Walther, who had made two other three-pointers in the final minute of play, missed a long triple try with the game clock winding down, but Williams grabbed the rebound and whipped a pass to Walther in the left corner. Walther's try was just long, caroming off the rim as the final horn sounded.
The Falcons shot just 30.2 percent from the field, but owned a 39-33 rebounding advantage, forced 20 Ohio turnovers and got to the free-throw line 22 times to the Bobcats' nine.
BG held Ohio to a field-goal percentage of 38.8%, including a 7-for-21 (33.3%) second-half performance from the floor.
The Bobcats scored the game's first five points as the Falcons got off to a slow start. Freshman Joe Jakubowski got the home team on the board with just over two minutes elapsed, but a Walther jumper gave the visitors a 7-2 advantage. Knight hit a three-point field goal off of a Miller pass to cut BG's deficit to two points heading into the first media timeout of the game.
The Brown and Orange took the lead on another triple by Knight at 12:50. Jakubowski grabbed an offensive rebound -- one of 17 for the Falcons on the day -- and quickly fired a pass to Knight in the left corner. His trey put the Falcons ahead by a 10-9 score in the low-scoring contest.
Allen Hester gave the visitors the lead with a triple of his own, but Miller drained a long-range try with the shot clock winding down, and BG took a 14-12 lead with 11:26 remaining before halftime.
The teams traded hoops for the next few minutes, before a Williams hoop broke a 16-16 tie midway through the period. Then, Bert Whittington IV fired a three-point try, and the bank was open as the shot caromed off the glass and through the hoop. Ohio had a 21-16 advantage, and neither team would score for nearly two minutes after Whittington's shot.
The Bobcats took a six-point lead on baskets just 16 seconds apart. Jerome Tillman hit a jumper at the 6:27 mark, and Williams rebounded a BG miss, got the ball back at the other end and hit a jumper of his own, giving the visitors a 25-19 advantage.
After a Jakubowski steal, Clements' pull-up jumper barely moved the net, and BG's deficit was 25-22 with 4:07 left in the half. Neither team would score for the next 97 seconds, before Clements got to the line and hit both free throws with two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the period.
A Williams layup off a teammate's steal gave the Bobcats a 27-24 lead at 1:28. But, with time winding down in the opening half, Miller got the ball to Moten for a left-corner three-pointer, and the shot found nothing but net in the final seconds of the half. The teams went to their lockerrooms with the score tied, 27-27.
At halftime, Williams had 10 points for the Bobcats, having gone 5-of-6 from the field. The senior would attempt just one shot in the second half.
Knight converted a layup just 10 seconds into the second half, but Michael Allen answered at the other end. Clements hit a jumper, but Ohio's Justin Orr -- the nephew of Falcon head coach Louis Orr -- knotted the score once again, on a jumper at the 18:19 mark.
Seconds later, Tillman was whistled for his third foul of the afternoon, sending Miller to the line. The junior knocked down both of his free-throw attempts, then smacked the ball away from a Bobcat player to enable his team to regain possession. Knight grabbed the ball and fired it to Clements, who was ahead of the pack for a layup that gave BG a 35-31 lead.
The lead increased to six points when Miller tipped in a teammate's miss at the 16:12 mark.
Williams hit a free throw to cut BG's lead to 37-32, but the Falcons were battling the Bobcats possession for possession. Knight blocked a layup try by Whittington, and Clements made a diving effort to save the ball from going out of bounds. Sophomore Otis Polk hit the deck to grab the ball and call timeout in a sequence that brought the Falcon fans to their feet.
A minute later, a steal and layup by Miller gave the Falcons a 39-32 lead 12:25 left. But, the Bobcats were far from finished.
Walther hit a jumper, and after a scoreless stretch of nearly three minutes, Allen drove the lane and fed Williams for an 'and-one' layup. The ensuing free throw cut BG's advantage to 39-37 with 9:01 on the clock.
Miller doubled that lead with a layup at 7:32, capping a stretch in which the junior scored eight of 10 BGSU points.
Then, Knight stole the ball from Tillman, and his outlet pass found Moten ahead of the pack. Moten hit a layup while being knocked to the ground, got up and converted a free throw to complete the three-point play. The Falcons' lead was 44-37 with 7:15 left.
Another long scoreless stretch ensued. The Falcons held Ohio without a point on seven-straight possessions -- with turnovers on four of those possessions -- before Hester hit two free throws with 3:37 left.
The teams traded unsuccessful possessions before the Falcons scored again. Miller drove the lane, drew four Bobcat players in his general area and dished the ball to Moten, who was slicing along the baseline from left to right. Moten's layup at the 2:05 mark restored the Falcons' seven-point lead, 46-39.
Justin Orr scored with 1:13 left, ending a stretch that saw the Falcons hold the 'Cats without a field goal for 7:48. BG was called for a foul on the play, giving the visitors a three-point opportunity.
The free-throw try was no good, but Williams got the rebound. Whittington, though, missed a three-point try, and Jakubowski rebounded that miss. After a BG timeout, Ohio committed a foul, but the Falcons missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 1:03 left.
The Bobcats got the rebound, and Walther hit the first of his two last-minute three-pointers with 54.4 seconds left, cutting BG's lead to 46-44. The Bobcats fouled Clements, who drained both of his free-throw attempts with 50.2 seconds left.
Walther missed a three-pointer at the other end, and Knight grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He, too, made both of his charity tosses with 40.7 seconds left.
Allen got two of those points back on a pair of free throws with 32.1 seconds remaining, but Miller matched that effort with two successful tosses with 30.2 seconds left. The lead again was six points, 52-46.
On the next possession, Walther hit a long three-pointer, and Ohio called timeout with 14.7 seconds left. The Bobcats fouled quickly on the inbounds pass, and two missed free throws with 13.3 seconds left gave the ball back to the 'Cats and set up the final two near-misses by Walther.
BGSU was 16-for-22 from the free-throw line (72.7%), while the Bobcats went 6-of-9 (66.7%) from the stripe. The Falcons' 18-9 advantage in points off turnovers in the game included an 11-0 ledger in the second half.
In addition to the four double-digit scorers, the Falcons got six points from Jakubowski. Polk had two points, but had nine rebounds, including six at the offensive end.
Miller, in addition to points and rebounds, led the Falcons in assists, with five. The junior also had three steals as BG recorded a season-high 13.
Clements had a game-high four steals, while Jakubowski matched Miller with three.
Ohio's two double-figure scorers, Williams and Walther, combined for 27 of the Bobcats' 49 points. Whittington and Hester each had five points, while Orr and Allen scored four apiece. Tillman and Kenneth Van Kempen each had two points to round out the game's scorers.
The Falcons now have a week off before venturing to Northeast Ohio to face Kent State University next Saturday. Tipoff for that game is 7:00 p.m. at KSU's M.A.C. Center.
NOTES
* BGSU now leads Ohio, 66-56, in the all-time series between the teams ... the win snapped a two-game home losing streak, and a five-game overall losing streak, to the Bobcats.
* The Falcons won the conference home opener for the seventh-straight season, and for the 13th time in the last 14 years.
* BGSU outrebounded their opponent just twice in the season's first eight games, but the Falcons have won the battle of the boards in each of the last five games ... in those five contests, BGSU has a rebounding margin of +7.8, having averaged 40.2 rebounds to the opponents' 32.4.
* Junior Nate Miller's double-double was his second of the season, with both coming in his last three games (17p-14r vs. Eastern Illinois; Dec. 29) ... Miller now has seven career double-doubles, the most among current Falcons.
* Sophomore Otis Polk has set or matched his career rebounding best three times in the last four games ... Polk had seven boards in the Indiana State game (Dec. 22), then equalled that total Wednesday (Jan. 2) vs. Duquesne ... the Detroit native pulled down total of nine rebounds on Saturday against Ohio ... he has averaged 7.0 rebounds per game over the last four contests.
* Polk now has 59 rebounds this season (4.5 rpg), topping his total for all of last year (55 total; 2.0 rpg).
* Polk has had a total of 18 offensive rebounds over the last four games ... he had posted as many as three offensive boards in a game twice in his first 37 career contests, but has had at least three ORs in each of the last four games ... his total of six offensive rebounds on Saturday was a career best.
* As a team, the Falcons had 17 offensive rebounds on Saturday after pulling down 18 in each of the prior two games.
* The Falcons forced Ohio into 20 turnovers on the day ... in the second half, BG committed six turnovers, but forced the Bobcats into 12 turnovers in that time ... as mentioned, BGSU had an 11-0 second-half advantage in points off turnovers.
* BGSU, as mentioned, had a season-high total of 13 steals ... Ohio's total of 20 turnovers matched a season high for a Falcon opponent.
* Junior Darryl Clements had a career-high four steals in the win.
* Redshirt freshman Chris Knight had two steals, two blocked shots and two three-point field goals, tying his season-best totals in each.
* Another first-year Falcon, Joe Jakubowski, had three steals, the most of his brief BGSU career.
* BGSU shot 22 free throws on Saturday after totalling 33 FT attempts in each of the prior two games ... the Falcons have shot a total of 88 FTs in those three games, after having a total of 69 FTA in the prior six contests.
