Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Chippewas Outlast Falcons in OT, 81-77
February 06, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2008
Coach Orr postgame audio |
Final Stats
BGSU-CMU Boxscore in PDF Format 
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Central Michigan University's Nate Minnoy converted a last-second putback to force overtime, then converted a key three-point play in the extra session to help the Chippewas to an 81-77 OT win over the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team Wednesday night (Feb. 6). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
Central's win leaves both the Chippewas and the Falcons with overall records of 10-11 and MAC ledgers of 5-4. CMU's victory snapped a five-game home conference winning streak for the Brown and Orange.
Falcon junior Nate Miller led all scorers with 20 points, while junior Brian Moten had 17 off the bench. Freshman Joe Jakubowski rounded out BGSU's double-digit scorers with 13 points.
For the Chippewas, Minnoy scored 18 points off the bench to pace four players in twin figures. Marko Spica had 16, Giordan Watson 12 and Eddie Spencer 10 for the visitors.
The Falcons, who trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, battled back to take a three-point lead, 61-58, on Miller's layup with 1:54 left in regulation. The visitors responded with a layup from Minnoy at the 1:37 mark, then got a stop at the defensive end to get the ball back.
Watson's jumper gave the Chippewas a 62-61 lead with 37.4 seconds remaining, but Jakubowski's driving runner from the left side hit the iron and bounced through the net as the whistle blew with 24.9 seconds left. Jakubowski completed the three-point opportunity, hitting a free throw to give BG a 64-62 lead.
The Chippewas looked to get the ball to Watson, but his jumper was off target in the final seconds. Minnoy, however, grabbed the rebound and laid the ball off the glass and in with just 0.9 seconds left to force the overtime.
In the OT, Spencer split a pair of free throws to open the scoring, and a CMU steal led to a three-point play from Minnoy at the 3:41 mark. That gave the visitors a 68-64 lead, and BGSU could not narrow the gap any closer than two points thereafter.
Central burst out of the gate, scoring the game's first seven points and forcing the Falcons to take an early timeout. Redshirt freshman Chris Knight got the home team on the scoreboard at the 16:47 mark, but Spencer's three-pointer sparked a 9-0 run that gave the visitors a 16-2 advantage.
Jordan Bitzer capped that nine-point Central surge, which was snapped when Moten hit a foul-line jumper at the 13:29 mark. But, Bitzer came right back with another trey, and CMU's lead was a game-high 15 points, at 19-4. It was then BGSU's turn to make a run.
Sophomore Otis Polk hit a turnaround jumper, then, after a CMU turnover, was fouled in the act and hit both free throws. At the 10:14 mark, Jakubowski spotted a wide-open Moten in the left corner, and Moten drilled a three-point field goal.
The Falcons forced a CMU miss, and Knight grabbed the rebound and began a coast-to-coast drive. He was fouled, and an intentional foul was called on the play. Knight hit two tosses, and the Falcons kept the ball. That possession ended on a driving layup by junior Darryl Clements. Suddenly, the run was 11-0 and the BG deficit was just four points, 19-15.
Spica scored to stop a Chippewa scoreless streak of over three-and-a-half minutes, and a free throw gave Central a seven-point lead at 8:04. Two more baskets, just 23 seconds apart, gave the visitors a 26-17 advantage.
The Falcons got a Moten runner in the lane, then scored another transition basket on Miller's spinning layup, prompting CMU coach Ernie Ziegler to call a timeout with 5:22 left in the half.
Out of that timeout, Minnoy scored, but Jakubowski drove the lane and whipped a pass to sophomore Marc Larson for an 'and-one' layup.
Larson's free throw would not drop, but minutes later, he found himself back at the stripe after another layup and foul. This time, the hoop came after a Miller pass, and this time, the free throw was good. That three-point play was followed by two Jakubowski tosses, and Central's lead was down to two points, 30-28, with 2:40 left in the half.
Chris Kellermann's three-pointer gave CMU some momentary breathing room, but Jakubowski came right back with a layup, and Miller found Moten for a transition layup to bring the Falcons within a single point, 33-32, at the half.
In the second half, Spencer hit a three-pointer to open th escoring, but baskets by Clements and Miller tied the game for the first time all day, 36-36, with 17:13 left. That would be the first of eight ties in the second half.
The teams traded baskets before four-straight CMU points gave the visitors a 42-38 advantage at the first media timeout of the half. But, Moten scored four consecutive points, following a layup with a pull-up jumper on the break, and the teams were tied once again.
Still, BG could not take the lead, as the Chippewas again surged ahead by four points. But, midway through the half, Central was whistled for a bench technical, as the visitors had six men on the court. Moten hit both ensuing free throws, and Miller's layup 40 seconds later tied the game.
After a CMU turnover, Knight's layup with 8:26 left gave the Falcons the lead for the first time, 48-46, with 8:26 remaining.
A Spica layup tied the score, before Miller split a pair of charity tosses at the 7:46 mark. Minnoy and Miller exchanged successful layups before Watson hit a layup with 6:09 left.
Two Knight FTs, however, gave the hosts the lead again, 53-52, before Kellermann's jumper returned the one-point advantage to the visitors with 4:45 left.
Back and forth the teams went, as Clements hit a jumper, and Kellermann knocked down two free throws. Then, the Chippewas got a steal, and Watson's layup gave Central a three-point advantage with 3:32 on the clock.
Miller drove the lane and dished a pass to Polk for a layup, and Miller hit a layup of his own at 2:31, giving BG a 59-58 lead. Another Miller layup gave the Falcons the three-point margin with just under two minutes to go, setting the stage for the aforementioned final hectic moments of regulation.
The Chippewas, as mentioned, used the Minnoy three-point play to take a four-point lead in the OT, then pushed that lead to five points when Minnoy made the second of a two-shot FT opportunity at the 2:59 mark. Miller canned a jumper, but two more Minnoy free throws restored Central's five-point advantage.
BG got as close as two points on Miller's three-point play with 1:11 left, but Justin Blevins hit a layup late in the shot clock for a 73-69 CMU lead with 44.3 seconds left. The rest of the game was a parade to the foul line, as the Chippewas were able to keep their lead from falling below three points.
CMU went 13-for-17 from the charity stripe in overtime, outscoring the Falcons by a 17-13 count in the extra session. Miller (seven points) and Jakubowski (six) combined for all of BGSU's overtime points.
For the game, the Falcons shot 49.1 percent from the field. BGSU shot 51.1% in regulation, including a 13-for-21 performance (61.9%) in the second half.
Central Michigan shot 47.3% from the field on the night, and made six three-pointers to the Falcons' one.
The rebounding (Central 33, BGSU 32) and free-throw lines (Central 23-for-30, BGSU 20-for-27) were nearly even on the final boxscore. Spencer and Bitzer hit two triples apiece for the visitors, while Moten was 1-for-1 from long range for the Brown and Orange.
Overall, Moten was 6-for-8 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line. Knight came close to a double-double, with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Spencer pulled down nine boards for the Chippewas.
BGSU will look to bounce back Sunday (Feb. 10), when the Falcons host the arch-rival University of Toledo in a game scheduled to tip off at 4:05 p.m. The rivalry game will be televised on ESPNU.
NOTES
* The Falcons' loss snapped a four-game home winning streak, all in MAC play ... BGSU had won five consecutive games vs. MAC foes at Anderson Arena, dating to the final home game of last season.
* Wednesday's game featured eight ties and 12 lead changes ... all eight deadlocks, and 11 of the lead changes, came in the second half ... the final lead change bridged the end of regulation and the start of overtime.
* Junior Brian Moten is shooting a team-best 53.4 percent from the field in MAC games, and is second on the team in scoring, with 12.0 ppg in conference contests (junior Nate Miller leads BG with 12.9 ppg in MAC play).
* Moten has a team-leading 11 three-point field goals in MAC action, and is shooting 44.0% from long distance (11-for-25) in those nine games.
* Moten has scored in double digits nine times this season to date, including seven times in the nine conference games ... he has hit double figures in each of the last four contests.
* With 20 points vs. CMU, Miller missed tying his career best by a single points ... he has a team-leading 16 double-figure games this year ... Wednesday's performance was Miller's third game of at least 20 points this season.
* Freshman Joe Jakubowski was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, the Falcons' best such performance in MAC play this year.
