Falcons Slam Wayne State In Season Opener, 67-45

Saturday, November 14

Bowling Green, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Wayne State

Photo by: Enoch Wu

November 14, 2009 | Men's Basketball

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Head coach Louis Orr and Otis Polk Postgame Audio File
Boxscore

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green men's basketball team had a banner unveiling and ring ceremony to honor the 2008-09 Mid-American Conference regular season championship prior to Saturday's season opener against Wayne State. Then, the Falcons displayed a bit of defensive form reminiscent of last season by holding the Warriors to 28 percent shooting in the second half for a 67-45 win.

Senior center Otis Polk was 7-for-8 shooting, including three monster dunks, as Bowling Green jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead and never looked back. Polk finished with 14 points, three shy of his career high, and six rebounds to lead a punishing inside game. The Falcons outrebounded Wayne State 35-28 and seniors Marc Larson and Erik Marschall along with freshman Danny McElroy combined to go 7-for-13 playing in the post.

With a dominant post game and large height advance, Bowling Green was able to take advantage of a sagging Wayne State defense to get open looks from outside. Sophomore Scott Thomas went 4-for-5 from three-point range and scored a career-high 15 points to lead the Falcons' offensive effort on the perimeter. BGSU went 7-for-16 from long range to help build the lead.

In fact, Dee Brown, who was perfect on two attempts from long range, opened the contest by knocking down a three-pointer and Thomas followed with the first of his four to give Bowling Green a 6-0 lead. But Wayne State battled back to tie the game at 6-6 and was still within four at 26-22 with 5:43 to play.

From that point through the remainder of the half, the Falcons scored 13 unanswered points, six from Polk, as Bowling Green took a 39-22 lead into the break. The Falcons defense buckled down in a suffocating zone that had Wayne State bewildered. The Warriors were 0-for-4 with four turnovers during that run.

Wayne State made a small run to start the second half, scoring the first eight points of the frame but the Falcons came back with a 19-1 run to put the game away.

In all, Bowling Green used six new players in Falcon uniforms, including junior transfer Darion Goins, who finished with seven points and four rebounds. Freshmen Danny McElroy (five points), Luke Kraus (two points), and Jordon Crawford (one point) scored the first points of their careers, while freshmen James Erger and A'uston Calhoun saw their first collegiate action.

With the victory, Bowling Green has now won 18 consecutive home openers and is 69-26 all-time in season openers. The Falcons head to the road for a pair of tough road games next, playing at Xavier Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. before playing at Iowa Friday night at 9:05 p.m.