Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Shoot Down Nationally-Ranked Kent State, 89-83
March 01, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2008
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Al Fisher & Jim Christian Post-Game Audio | Jakubowski & Moten Post-Game Audio| Coach Orr Post-Game Audio
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Brian Moten and Joe Jakubowski each had career days as the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team downed nationally-ranked Kent State University, 89-83, Saturday afternoon (March 1). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars."
With the win, the Falcons improve to 13-14 overall and 7-7 in MAC action. The Golden Flashes, who entered the game ranked 23rd by the Associated Press and 24th in the USA Today/ESPN poll, fall to 23-6 and 11-3, respectively.
Moten, a junior, led the Falcons in scoring for the second consecutive game, scoring a career-high 24 points. The Saginaw, Mich., native made six three-point field goals as the home team went 11-for-21 from long range.
Jakubowski, a freshman from nearby Rossford, Ohio, set a career scoring high for the second-straight game, with 21 points, and also had 12 assists to shatter his previous best.
Junior Nate Miller and redshirt freshman Chris Knight each came close to posting a double-double on the afternoon. Knight had 10 points and nine rebounds, while Miller scored nine points and pulled down a game-high 11 boards. The Falcons had a 40-31 rebounding advantage.
BGSU's total of 89 points was a season high. The Falcons scored 51 of those points in the second half, shooting 56.7 percent from the field after halftime. BGSU made 17-of-30 second-half shots en route to a 50.8% field-goal rate for the game.
The Flashes shot 46.0% on the afternoon. Mike Scott led the visitors with 23 points, while Al Fisher added 20 and Chris Singletary 16.
The Falcons led for much of the day. BGSU raced out to a 9-2 lead in the game's first 2:38, largely on the strength of the team's defense. After Miller opened the day's scoring with a pair of free throws, the junior got a steal which led to a Knight layup and a 4-0 lead.
The teams traded baskets before Knight's steal led to a Jakubowski free throw. Then, Miller's second steal of the day resulted in another transition opportunity for the home team. Miller fired the ball ahead to Jakubowski, who made the 'extra pass' to find an open Knight for a layup and a 9-2 advantage, as the Flashes called a timeout.
Singletary's three-pointer cut the Falcons' lead to four points, but Moten answered with a triple of his own, in a preview of what was to come.
Scott got the visitors within 12-8, converting a three-point play at the 15:23 mark, but sophomore Ryan Sims drilled a triple, and a Jakubowski jumper gave the Falcons a nine-point cushion.
Several minutes later, Moten leaped to block a Rodriguez Sherman three-point try from behind, and the resulting fast-break opportunity led to Knight's layup for a 19-11 lead.
The Flashes, however, would respond. After BG took a 21-13 lead on a jumper by junior Darryl Clements, the visitors would score nine-straight points. That run culminated with back-to-back dunks. First, after a Fisher steal, Jordan Mincy's bounce pass found Scott all alone for a dunk, and then Singletary stole the ball at midcourt and sailed in ahead of the pack, the Golden Flashes had a 22-21 lead at 9:42.
But, as they would do all day, the Falcons answered. Clements found Knight for a finger-roll layup, and BG regained the lead. Fisher hit a layup, but the Falcons then went on a run of their own.
After Fisher's hoop at the 6:32 mark, BG went on a 12-0 run, holding the Flashes scoreless over the next 5:18.
The run began innocently enough, with Jakubowski splitting a pair of free throws. Then, the freshman knocked down a jumper, and fed Clements for a three-pointer and a 29-24 lead.
With 2:38 left in the half and the shot clock winding down, Moten drained a three-pointer to give the hosts an eight-point advantage. When Miller grabbed a defensive rebound and scored on a transition layup, BG's lead was in double digits for the first time, 34-24. Sophomore Otis Polk got an offensive rebound, was fouled and split his FTs for an 11-point margin.
Julian Sullinger finally stopped the Falcons' run with a layup at the 1:14 mark, but Polk took a Jakubowski pass and hit an acrobatic layup as he was fouled with 44.1 seconds on the clock. The soph completed the three-point play for a 38-26 BG lead. Singletary's trey cut the margin to nine points at the intermission.
In the second half, two Fisher layups in the first minute cut BG's advantage to 38-33 and prompted a BGSU timeout. Jakubowski hit a three-pointer off of Miller's kickout, but the Flashes had back-to-back three-point players in the span of just 38 seconds.
After Scott converted an old-fashioned three-point play, soph Marc Larson scored on a layup from Clements' pass. But, Haminn Quaintance hit a layup and the ensuing free throw, and BG's lead was six points.
That lead was cut in half on yet another three-point play, from Scott, at the 15:32 mark. And, when Sherman converted a layup just 18 seconds later, the run was 8-0 and the KSU deficit was a single point, at 45-44.
Moten hit a three-pointer, but Fisher answered with a trey of his own. Back came the Falcons, however, as Sims hit a long ball for a 51-47 lead. Jakubowski, who assisted on both of those BG triples, scored on a layup while drawing contact, hitting the resulting free throw for a 54-47 BG lead at 12:33.
The lead was extended to 11 points on triples by Moten and Jakubowski less than a minute apart. Mike McKee answered with a tri-lighter, but a Jakubowski steal and breakaway layup resulted in a double-digit lead, 62-52, with 10:31 on the clock.
The points kept coming. Miller drove the baseline and hit a tough left-side layup in traffic, and Jakubowski picked up his 10th assist of the day by feeding Moten for yet another triple. BG's lead was 67-57 with 8:32 left.
Polk's putback gave the Falcons a 12-point lead at the 7:33 mark, and after a Singletary trey, Polk knocked down a pair of free throws for a 71-60 lead.
BG kept the lead right around the double-digit mark for the next few minutes. Moten's three-pointer on yet another Jakubowski assist made the lead 74-64, and after a Rashad Woods jumper, Jakubowski hit a spinning layup, adjusting his shot in midair. The lead was back to 10 points with 4:15 left.
Kent kept coming, looking to narrow the gap. The Flashes cut the lead to six points at the 1:37 mark, as Scott hit a three-pointer. But, BG broke Kent's press, leading to Moten's second transition hoop in a 21-second span. Scott made three free throws, with the last two coming at the 1:06 mark, to get the Flashes within 81-76.
But, the Falcons again broke the press, and Moten again hit a layup, with a shot-fake to get his defender in the air, and banked the ball off the glass as the clock went under the one-minute mark. BG's lead was 83-76.
The visitors got as close as four points with nine seconds left, but the Falcons went 6-of-7 from the free-throw line over the last 35 seconds of the game to salt away the victory.
The Falcons had 10 blocked shots in the game, with Knight and Larson rejecting three apiece and Moten two. Polk scored eight points, while Clements had seven points and four assists without a turnover.
Sims scored six points on a pair of three-pointers, while Larson had four points and five rebounds in addition to his three blocks.
The Falcons close the regular season with a pair of road games, beginning with a Tuesday (March 4) tilt at Buffalo. Then, BGSU heads to Miami for a noontime game on Sunday, March 9. The MAC Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 12.
TEAM NOTES
* With Saturday's win over Kent State, the Falcons have matched the victory total for all of last year ... BGSU, after going 13-18 a season ago, is now 13-14 with at least three games remaining in 2007-08.
* The Falcons have more than doubled last season's MAC win total ... the 2006-07 team was 3-13 in conference play, and this year's edition of the Falcons are 7-7 with two games left in league regular-season action.
* BGSU finished the home portion of the schedule with eight wins for the second consecutive year ... the Falcons went 8-5 at Anderson Arena in 2007-08 after posting a home mark of 8-7 a season ago.
* The Falcons went 6-2 in MAC home games, doubling the total for last season (3-5).
* BGSU scored a season-high 89 points in the win over the nationally-ranked Golden Flashes ... the Falcon tied season bests in three-point field goals made, with 11, and blocked shots, with 10.
* BGSU was facing a nationally-ranked team for the first time in over six years, since a game vs. #2 Alabama on Dec. 14, 2001.
* The Falcons have won four consecutive home games against top-25 teams ... BGSU has not lost to a nationally-ranked team at Anderson Arena in over three decades, since a setback to #16 Marquette on Dec. 6, 1978 ... since that time, BGSU has won home games vs. #5 Michigan State (98-85; Dec. 1, 1990); #23 Eastern Michigan (72-70; Feb. 14, 1996), #25 Miami (69-58; Feb. 20, 1999) and #23 KSU (all rankings according to Associated Press).
* The Falcons now have a record of 22-47 against ranked teams since the Associated Press began conducting a poll on Jan. 20, 1949 ... BGSU is 13-9 all-time in home games vs. AP Top-25 opponents, including a 7-5 mark since Anderson Arena opened prior to the 1960-61 season.
* The Falcons have made 31 three-point field goals over the last three games, an average of 10.3 per game ... that comes after BGSU averaged 4.4 successful triples over the first 24 games of the year.
* The Falcons have gone a combined 31-for-65 (47.7%) in the Ohio, Detroit and Kent State games ... since the final few minutes of the Ohio contest, the Falcons are 26 of their last 47, for a blistering 55.3% from long range over the past two-plus contests.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
* Junior Brian Moten scored a game-high 24 points, the most of his career, vs. the Golden Flashes ... the 20-point game was the second of his career ... he had a then career-high 20 points in the Falcons' win over Buffalo on Jan. 17.
* Moten's 24 points tied a BGSU season best ... redshirt freshman Chris Knight scored 24 points in the Falcons' win at Cincinnati on the opening weekend of the regular season (Nov. 11, 2007).
* In addition to points, Moten set career bests in field goals made (9) and attempted (12), three-point FG made (6) and blocked shots (2).
* Freshman Joe Jakubowski had career-high totals in both points and assists, with 21 points and 12 helpers ... he had a career-best scoring total for the second consecutive game, after scoring 17 points at Detroit last Saturday (Feb. 23) ... his assist total nearly doubled his previous high (seven vs. Duquesne on Jan. 2).
* Jakubowski's double-double was the first of his career ... he is the fourth different Falcon to post a double-double this year (joining Knight, Nate Miller and Otis Polk), and the first to put together a double-double in points and assists.
* In addition to points and assists, Jakubowski also set career bests in field goals made (7) and attempted (13), and tied his standard in free throws made, with five.
* Knight tied his career best with three blocked shots vs. the Flashes ... he also had three rejections in the first KSU meeting, in Kent on Jan. 12.
* Polk now has 44 blocked shots this year, tying him for third place on the BGSU single-season list in that category ... Polk is now deadlocked with Ed Colbert (1990-91) ... his next target is second-place Skip Howard (49 blocks in 1972-73) ... Cornelius Cash holds the school record with 59 blocked shots in the 1973-74 season.
* Soph Marc Larson's three blocks vs. Kent State give him a total of 33 on the season, ranking him 10th on the school list.
* Moten and Jakubowski gave the Falcons two 20-point scorers in the same game for the first time in exactly three months ... Knight had 23 points and Miller 21 in the Falcons' 90-80 loss at Oakland on Dec. 1, 2007.
