Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
TOLEDO
Falcons Surge Past Rockets, 69-58
February 10, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2008
Final Stats | 
Jakubowski, Miller, Polk & Orr postgame audio | BGSU-UT Photo Gallery 
BGSU-Toledo Boxscore in PDF Format 
BGSU's Updated Cumulative Stats in PDF Format
ESPN.com Recap & Link to Video
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Junior Nate Miller tied his career scoring high, and sophomore Otis Polk keyed a late-game run as the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team surged past the arch-rival University of Toledo for a 69-58 win Sunday afternoon (Feb. 10). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 11-11 overall and 6-4 in MAC play, while dropping the Rockets to 7-15 and 4-6, respectively. BG is now tied for fourth in the East Division, and the Falcons' league record deadlocks the Brown and Orange for the fifth-best mark among the 12 MAC schools.
Miller was 9-of-13 from the field en route to a game-high 21 points, and the junior had a double-double, with a game-best total of 11 rebounds. The Falcons outrebounded Toledo, 21-7, in the first half, en route to a 39-24 advantage on the boards for the game.
Polk had 12 points, including eight in BGSU's 10-0 run late in the second half. Those eight points included an emphatic tomahawk dunk with just under five minutes remaining.
Junior Darryl Clements also had 12 points for the Falcons, who shot 50.0 percent from the field in the first half and a blistering 61.1% in the second. For the game, BGSU was 26-of-48 from the floor (54.2%).
Tyrone Kent led the Rockets with 15 points, but the BG defense held Kent to just a 5-for-20 performance from the field. Jerrah Young had 14 points for the Blue and Gold.
The Falcons opened the game with a rain-making three-pointer by freshman Joe Jakubowski, and a pair of hoops from sophomore Marc Larson gave BG a 7-2 lead. Larson hit a short jumper, then had a putback to give the hosts that five-point advantage.
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MAC STANDINGS
East Division Kent St. - 8-2 Akron ---- 7-3 Ohio ----- 7-3 BGSU ----- 6-4 Miami ---- 6-4 Buffalo -- 2-8 West Division WMU ------ 7-3 CMU ------ 5-5 EMU ------ 4-6 Toledo --- 4-6 NIU ------ 2-8 Ball St. - 2-8 |
BG scored six of the next eight points, capped by Miller's slashing layup in transition, to take a 13-12 lead. Two free throws by the junior -- BG's only trips to the line in the first half -- upped that lead to 15-12, before Ridley Johnson's trey tied the score. That triple snapped a UT scoreless span of exactly five minutes.
Clements, however, had a quick answer for the home team, hitting a straightaway trey just 16 seconds later to give the Falcons a lead they would never relinquish.
Several minutes later, redshirt freshman Chris Knight's backdoor pass led to a Miller layup and a 20-15 lead. Johnson came back with another three-pointer, but Clements scored the Falcons' next five points, with a spinning foul-line jumper and a trey after Polk's kick-out pass. With 4:29 left in the half, BG had a 25-20 advantage.
That three-ball by Clements sparked a 9-0 run for the Falcons, who held UT scoreless for 3:22. After Polk knocked the ball away from Young for a Rocket turnover, Miller found Knight for a layup and a seven-point lead.
Then, Miller hit back-to-back shots, with an acrobatic tip-in of a teammate's miss followed by a layup after his own miss, and BG's lead was 31-20 with under two minutes left in the half.
Corey Bingham knocked down a three-pointer, but the Falcons scored the last four points of the half. Junior Brian Moten's shot-fake and long two-pointer came with 55 seconds left, and a Clements floater in the final seconds sent the Falcons to the lockerroom with a 35-23 halftime lead.
In that first half, Miller and Clements scored 10 points each, and BGSU had nine offensive rebounds, two more than UT's entire rebounding total.
The Falcons opened the second-half scoring, as Miller took a Clements pass and hit a right-elbow three that gave BG a 15-point lead and prompted a Rocket timeout.
After the timeout, though, the visitors mounted a run. UT scored seven-straight points, capped by Byrd's steal and layup, and it was BG's turn to call time as the lead had dwindled to 38-30 with 16 minutes remaining.
UT's run grew to 9-0 after a pair of Young free throws, before Miller sandwiched a pair of driving layups around another Young charity toss. BG's lead then grew to 44-33 when Clements found Polk for a layup at the 13:44 mark.
But, the Rockets would rally once more. Kent's three-pointer began an 11-2 run that brought the visitors within two points midway through the period.
Moten answered that Kent triple with a backdoor cut and reverse layup, but Johnson and Kent hit back-to-back treys, and a Kent jumper cut the Falcons' lead to 46-44.
The teams traded points over the next minute-and-a-half, before BG made the aforementioned 10-0 run. Polk started that run with a tip-in at 7:34, and Jakubowski drew a foul and hit both tosses for a 54-48 lead.
After a UT miss, the Falcons used most of the shot clock on the ensuing possession. With the clock winding down, Jakubowski drove the lane and dished the ball to Polk for an emphatic dunk and a 56-48 advantage, and the Rockets took a timeout with 4:44 remaining.
Several possessions later, Polk rebounded Johnson's missed shot, and was fouled with 3:03 on the clock. The Falcon sophomore hit both ends of a one-and-one opportunity, and BG had a double-digit lead, 58-48.
After another miss by UT, Clements' pass found a wide-open Polk steaming down the lane for an easy layup and a 60-48 lead at 2:34.
The Rockets scored the next five points to cut BG's advantage to seven, but UT could get no closer. Moten's free throws at 1:17 were followed by an 'and-one' layup 16 seconds later, and the Falcons' lead was back to 12 points. The margin stayed between nine and 11 points thereafter.
For the game, BGSU had a 40-14 advantage in points in the paint, including 20-4 in the first half.
Each team used a total of just seven players in the game, but BG's bench (i.e., Moten and Polk) outscored the UT bench by a 21-3 count.
Moten had nine points on the day, while Jakubowski added seven.
Miller, in addition to his game-high scoring and rebounding totals, also had five assists. Clements led all players with six helpers.
Polk tied his career best with four blocked shots in the win.
For the Rockets, Johnson and Jonathan Amos scored nine points apiece, while Byrd had eight points and a team-high six rebounds.
The Falcons conclude cross-divisional play on Wednesday (Feb. 13), making a trip to Ypsilanti to face Eastern Michigan University. Then, BGSU returns to Anderson to take on the University of Akron in Saturday (Feb. 16) action, with tipoff at 2:00 p.m.
NOTES
* Sunday's game was televised nationally on ESPNU ... Michael Reghi and Jim Chones had the call from courtside at Anderson Arena.
* The Falcons are now 6-4 in MAC play, and BGSU has doubled the team's conference win total for all of last season ... the 2006-07 Falcons went 3-13 in MAC action.
* BGSU's win snapped a three-game Toledo winning streak in the series, with all three of those games held at Savage Hall ... the home team has won each of the last nine games in the BG-UT series.
* The 'Mayoral Challenge' was held at halftime, with a free-throw contest between Bowling Green Mayor John Quinn and Toledo's Carty Finkbeiner ... Quinn was victorious, 4-3 ... as per the agreement between the two mayors, Bowling Green's flag will be flown around at Toledo's city hall for the remainder of the week.
* BGSU is now 11-0 when leading with 10 minutes left.
* Junior Nate Miller had his third double-double of the year and the eighth of his BGSU career.
* Miller tied his career high with 21 points, his second-straight game of 20 or more points ... he reached 20 points for the fourth time this season and the seventh in his BG career.
* With four blocked shots vs. Toledo, sophomore Otis Polk tied his career high.
* Polk now has 33 blocks this season, the sixth-highest total in BG history ... he is just 11 shy of matching Ed Colbert's school record (44 in 1990-91).
