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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Kent State Hands Falcons First MAC Loss Of Season
January 14, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2009
Coach Orr Postgame Press Conference Audio
Kent, Ohio - The Bowling Green men's basketball team went cold in the second half Wednesday and Kent State held the Falcons to just 15 points in the final 20 minutes for a 72-48 win at the M.A.C. Center. The Golden Flashes used a 19-point second half run to pull away after a halftime tie.
After matching Kent State bucket-for-bucket in the first half, Bowling Green shot just 23 percent in the second half, missing all 10 of its three-point attempts. Chris Knight's lay-up with 16:20 to play brought the Falcons to within two points at 41-39, but BG would not score again until Knight made a pair of free-throws with 8:01 to play.
Between that eight-minute stretch, Kent State scored 19 points to take a 60-39 lead, while Bowling Green missed 11 shots and two free-throw attempts. The Falcons would not get closer than 19 the rest of the way.
Kent State shot 56 percent in the second half and 46 percent for the game, while Bowling Green was just 35 percent on the night and made just 2-of-20 three-pointers. The Golden Flashes entered the game as the worst free-throw shooting team in the MAC at less than 60 percent, missed their first free, and then proceeded to make all 16 of their attempts the rest of the way.
Bowling Green did rebound well, grabbing 20 offensive boards and holding a 38-33 edge overall. However, Kent State turned the ball over just seven times compared to 13 for the Falcons.
The first half was a different story as Bowling Green jumped out to an early 11-5 lead behind the inspired play of Otis Polk. Polk had eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in the opening half.
Kent State came back with nine straight points but the lead see-sawed back-and-forth until the Golden Flashes put together a small run to take a 29-22 lead. Nate Miller scored three consecutive buckets to cut the deficit to one before Kent State came back with four in a row to take a 33-28 lead. Chris Knight scored on a lay-up, added a free-throw 30 seconds later, and freshman Scott Thomas hit a lay-up with 41 seconds left to tie the game at the half.
For his part, Thomas played some of his best basketball of his young career, scoring a career-high nine points in 20 minutes, grabbing five rebounds and blocking a shot. He was also 4-for-6 from the field.
Knight led the Falcons with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added six rebounds. Polk ended the game with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Kent State improves to 8-8 with the win and 1-1 in the MAC. Bowling Green falls to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in MAC play and the Falcons will try to bounce back Saturday when they host Akron at 8 p.m. on a game televised nationally on ESPNU.
