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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Go For Sweep Of MAC West Foes Sunday
February 13, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2009
Game #24
Bowling Green (14-9, 7-3 MAC East) vs. Eastern Michigan (3-21, 1-9 MAC West)
Feb. 15, 2009 • Bowling Green, Ohio (Anderson Arena) • 7:00 p.m.
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker/Kirk Cowan
Television: BCSN • Greg Franke/Kevin Brechmacher
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
SETTING THE STAGE
• The Bowling Green men's basketball team will look to complete an unbeaten run through the Mid-American Conference West Division with a home game against Eastern Michigan Sunday. BG is 8-2 at home this year, while Eastern Michigan is 0-11 on the road, losing by an average of 17.5 points per game in those contests.
• BG has surpassed its overall win total from a year ago when the Falcons went 13-17. As well, the team's seven conference wins have equaled last year's total with six games remaining in MAC play. A win would mean that BGSU has improved its conference win total in two successive years for only the second time in program history. The team also improved two straight years beginning in the 1997-98 season through the 1999-00 year (seven wins to 12 wins to 14 wins).
• Bowling Green holds a 43-37 advantage in the all-time series with Eastern Michigan but has lost the last two meetings, including the last time the two teams faced off in Anderson Arena, a 65-63 EMU victory on Feb. 10, 2007.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• Bowling Green's six-game winning streak is the team's longest since winning six in a row early in the 2004-05 season. The Falcons have not won seven in a row since the team reeled off 12 straight wins during the 2001-02 campaign. As well, the team's six consecutive conference wins are the most in eight years and if the Falcons were to beat Eastern Michigan, it would be the most consecutive MAC victories since the 1979-80 season.
• Bowling Green's defense has keyed the Falcons' win streak. The team has held opponents to 57.7 points per game and just 39 percent shooting during the stretch. As well, BG has cleaned up the boards, outrebounding opponents by 4.0 per contest, and is shooting 73 percent from the free-throw line.
• With seven blocked shots against Western Michigan and Central Michigan, Otis Polk has put himself in position to become Bowling Green's all-time blocked shot leader at any time. He has 115 career blocks and is one shy of second place, two shy of tying the school record and three away from breaking the record. His 34 blocked shots this year already rank as the 10th best single season in program history despite having seven regular season games remaining plus the postseason.
SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
• Eastern Michigan was picked to finish second in the MAC West in the preseason poll, but the Eagles have struggled all year, winning just one game over NCAA Division I opponents. Eastern Michigan opened the year by rolling through NAIA Marygrove 119-48 but then lost six in a row before defeating NCAA Division II Wayne State 67-47. The Eagles have lost 15-of-16 games since that point, picking up their only Division I win in an 84-77 overtime victory against Central Michigan.
• Most of Eastern Michigan's struggles have come from shooting the ball. The Eagles rank last in the MAC in three-pointer percentage (28.3 percent) and 11th in both field goal percentage (40.1 percent) and free-throw shooting (60.0 percent). EMU has been solid inside, outrebounding its opponents on the year and ranking second in the MAC in blocked shots, behind only Bowling Green.
• Sophomore Brandon Bowdry is the key to Eastern Michigan as he ranks fifth in the MAC in scoring (15.1 points per game) and sixth in rebounding (6.9 boards per game), while shooting a respectable 46.4 percent from the field. Ten different players have started at least four games for the Eagles.
MILLER NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior forward Nate Miller was named Mid-American Conference men's basketball Player of the Week for the East Division Monday after posting a pair of double-doubles and leading the Falcons to two conference wins.
Miller had 21 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots as Bowling Green defeated Western Michigan 68-61 Wednesday in Anderson Arena. The Falcons then went on the road to defeat Central Michigan 67-61 Saturday behind 10 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks from Miller. One of Miller's blocked shots against Central Michigan came on a three-point attempt with four seconds remaining that iced the win.
For the week, Miller averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks. The double-doubles were the first two of the season for Miller and gave him 950 career points and exactly 500 career rebounds. The four steals on the week gave him 122 for his career, putting him just two shy of moving into the top 10 in program history in that category.
It marks the first time in Miller's career that he has been named MAC Player of the Week and is the third time this year that a Bowling Green player received the award. Chris Knight was named MAC Player of the Week on both Dec. 29 and Jan. 12.
SCHEDULE CHANGES
• Bowling Green will host Canisius on Feb. 21 for the seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters series. The game with start at 2 p.m. and the Falcons will play a return game at Canisius in either November of December of the 2009-10 season as part of the contract for BracketBusters.
• Bowling Green's home contest against Kent State has been moved to a 6:30 p.m. start to accomodate a Fox Sports Ohio television broadcast of the game.
• The Falcons' game at Akron on March 1 is now scheduled for a 12 p.m. start time for a Fox Sports Ohio television broadcast.
JAKUBOWSKI AND LARSON HONORED FOR ACADEMICS
Junior center Marc Larson and sophomore point guard Joe Jakubowski were both named to the ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. Among the eight University (NCAA Division I) all-district teams around the country, Bowling Green was one of only four schools to have more than one player listed. To be eligible for the award, athletes must have at least a 3.3 grade point average, be at least a sophomore and have been at their current school for at least a year. Both players will now be placed on the ballot for Academic All-American.
MILLER'S SURGE TO 1,000
As Nate Miller gets closer and closer to 1,000 career points, he keeps increasing his production. He has scored seven or more points in 13 straight games and has scored 15 or more in five of the past eight contests. He had his 50th career double-digit scoring game against Ohio and went over 900 career points against Ball State, currently sitting at 964. At his current pace of 12.3 points per game, he would become the 37th player in BG history to reach 1,000 career points when the Falcons host Canisius for the ESPNU BracketBusters series Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.
THE TOURNEY LOOMS
With Mid-American Conference play more than halfway over, Bowling Green is positioning itself for a run at the MAC Tournament. The top seed for the MAC Tourney will go to the division winner with the best record and the No. 2 seed will go to the other division winner. From there, seeds are determined based on conference record with no regard to divisions. The top four seeds all get a bye to the quarterfinals. Currently, the Falcons are tied with Miami and Akron for third place, but would receive the No. 5 seed if the tournament were to start today based on tiebreak procedures. As the No. 5 seed, Bowling Green would face the No. 12 seed (currently Eastern Michigan) in the opening round for the right to play the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals.
BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Junior Otis Polk blocked two shots against Duquesne to become just the fifth player in program history with 100 career blocked shots and moved into third place against Northern Illinois. He set a career-high with five blocks against Western Michigan and added two more against Central Michigan to push his career total to 115. He is just two behind all-time leader Tom Hall, with 117 from 1989-92. A year ago, he had four blocks in four different games, ending the season with 51, the second highest single-season total in Bowling Green history. Cornelius Cash set the mark with 59 blocks in 1973-74.
TRACKING FALCON MILESTONES
A number of BGSU players are closing in on career milestones or have recently reached them:
• Darryl Clements played in his 100th career game Saturday against Toledo. With classmate Brian Moten, the pair is the first Falcon teammates to have played in 100 games since Brent Klassen, Len Matela and Keith McLeod all reached the mark in the 2001-02 season. With four assists against Toledo, Clements reached 200 for his career and became the first Falcon with 500 career points, 250 career rebounds and 200 career assists since Steven Wright (2003-06). He is also just four steals from 100.
• Joe Jakubowski picked up his 50th career steal against Toledo.
• Chris Knight picked up his 300th career rebound against Western Michigan and is 56 points shy of 500.
• Erik Marschall went over 500 career points in the team's win over Northern Illinois and is one rebound away from 300.
• Nate Miller went over 900 career points in the team's win over Ball State and currently sits at 964. He needs to average 5.2 points during the rest of the regular season to become the 37th player in program history to score 1,000. With 12 rebounds against Central Michigan, he reached 500 for his career. He also needs one steal to move into the top 10 in program history.
• Brian Moten became the 10th player in program history to make 100 career three-pointers with the first of two against Northern Illinois. With his action against Ohio, he played in his 100th career game, becoming the first player to reach that total since Matt Lefeld played in 105 games from 2003-07. With one more game played, he will pass Lefeld for his 106th game played, the most since Cory Eyink played in 112 from 2001-05.
• Otis Polk moved into third place in career blocks at Bowling Green against Northern Illinois and now sits at 115. He needs two more to tie BGSU's all-time record of 117. He also reached 300 career rebounds against Western Michigan.
RISING STOCK
Bowling Green's returners worked hard in the offseason to develop their games. That work has paid off in three visible areas -- scoring, rebounding, and free-throw percentage. The Falcons are averaging 2.0 points per game more than a year ago and are shooting .708 from the free-throw line, as opposed to .633 in 2007-08. Finally, BG was outrebounded by 2.6 boards per game last year, but has flipped that stat and is now outrebounding opponents by 2.9 in 2008-09.
DEEP THINKING
Bowling Green's depth has been critical to success in 2008-09 and the Falcons' bench has contributed in a big way this year. BGSU's bench has scored in double-figures in 21 consecutive games, scoring at least 40 points twice (in wins over Wayne State and Buffalo). The Falcons are averaging 23.6 points per game from their bench this year, compared to just 16.7 points per game for opponents. The Bowling Green bench outscored its opponent in 15 consecutive games at one point this year and 18-of-23 contests overall.
QUADRUPLE THREAT
Bowling Green has four active players who have scored at least 500 points in their career, the most on a BG team at one time since the 2003-04 team also had four. Nate Miller, Brian Moten, Darryl Clements, and Erik Marschall have all scored 500 career points with Marschall reaching the mark against Northern Illinois. BG has two other players -- Chris Knight and Joe Jakubowski -- who have passed 400 career points. The last time Falcon fans watched four players with 500 career points all play in the same game came March 11, 2004 against Kent State when Ron Lewis, Kevin Netter, John Reimold, and Josh Almanson all saw action.
KNIGHT TIME
Over the past 14 games, sophomore forward Chris Knight has been living up to the potential he flashed as a freshman in 2007-08. After missing the first three games of the 2008-09 season, Knight scored just 15 points over the next six games, averaging 2.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. But in the last 14 contests, he has averaged 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds, posting the first Falcon double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds against Eastern Illinois. He grabbed 14 rebounds against Fordham, five on the offensive glass, and scored 17 first-half points in BGSU's MAC opener against Buffalo, finishing with 22 points on the afternoon. He has been named MAC East Player of the Week twice during the stretch.
DEFENSE WINS
• Bowling Green has bucked down defensively in 2008-09, holding 18-of-23 opponents to less than 45 percent shooting, allowing less than 70 points 18 times. It is a critical stat because the Falcons are just 3-10 under head coach Louis Orr when an opponent shoots 45 percent or better. BG leads the MAC in blocked shots, ranks second in field goal percentage defense and third in three-point percentage defense.
• Bowling Green is on pace to post a historically significant season defensively. The Falcons' .397 field goal percentage defense allowed is the best total since the 1963-64 team held opponents to a .390 clip for the year. As well, the team's 62.4 points per game allowed is the best average since the 1962-63 team allowed 62.3 points per contest.
• Bowling Green's defensive prowess has not been more apparent than in the Falcons' win over Detroit. The Titans scored just 38 points, the lowest point total for a BGSU opponent since an 87-37 Bowling Green win over Western Ontario on Feb. 1, 1964. As well, the Titans shot just 22.7 percent from the field and had just two assists. Both of those stats were the lowest BG opponent totals since game-by-game boxscores have been archived (1987-88 season).
PLAYING FROM BEHIND
Prior to the Falcons' six-game win streak, BG had lost 32 consecutive games when it trailed with 10 minutes to play dating back to a win over Buffalo Jan. 7, 2007 when it was able to overcome a deficit. But twice in the past six games, the Falcons have made up a deficit with 10 minutes left. Against Ohio, the Falcons won 52-51 despite trailing by one with 10 minutes left. As well, BGSU came back from a 46-41 deficit against Central Michigan with 10 minutes to play to pick up a 67-61 win.
MAKING THINGS INTERESTING
Bowling Green is 8-5 in games decided by seven points or less this year with numerous games coming down to the final few possessions. Three of the most exciting of those were a 77-76 overtime win over Georgia State, a 52-51 win on road in front of 10,988 fans over Ohio, and a 62-58 home win over Ball State. Darryl Clements and Brian Moten made three-pointers in the final 15 seconds of regulation to force overtime against Georgia State and Joe Jakubowski knocked down a 25-foot three-pointer as the buzzer sounded in the extra session for the win. Against Ohio, the Bobcats had three possessions in the final 15 seconds but missed three shots, including a blocked shot from Chris Knight with less than four seconds remaining. Clements scored the Falcons' final five points of that game, helping the team overcome a late 47-44 deficit. Knight came up with a critical block for the second game in a row against Ball State, swatting away a fastbreak lay-up late in a 62-58 win.
BLOCKING OUT
The Falcons lead the MAC in blocked shots this year, averaging 4.5 per game. BGSU's 4.1 blocks per game in conference competition also ranks as the best in the league. The team had a season-high 11 blocks at Illinois State and the team has recorded six blocks or more four times.
GOOD KNIGHT
Chris Knight was named MAC East Player of the Week twice in a three-week stretch earlier this season. Most recently he was awarded after he scored 17 first half points, and finished with 22 for the game, as Bowling Green opened up an early lead and held on for an 86-82 win over Buffalo in the team's MAC opener. Knight was also named MAC East Player of the Week Dec. 29 after averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in leading the Falcons to a pair of wins. He is the only BGSU player to be named conference player of the week this year and it is the third time in his career he has received the award. Knight received the honor a year ago after being named MVP of the Peggy Cronin Classic in Cincinnati.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons are 8-2 at home in 2008-09, beating teams by an average of 9.3 points per game. BG is off to its best start at home since the 2001-02 team went 13-1 in "The House That Roars". The Falcons are 445-178 (.714) all-time in Anderson Arena and 159-52 (.754) in the past 16 years.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
For much of the year, Bowling Green struggled in the second half of games. But during the team's six-game win streak, the Falcons have changed that trend. On the season, opponents have shot just 38 percent from the floor in the first half and 42 percent in the second half. However, during the win streak, opponents are shooting 44 percent in the first half and only 35 percent in the second half. BG has led at the break in only half of the team's six wins in a row, but has been able to overcome deficits.
Half Scoring Margin FG% FGA%
1st +4.8 291/664 (.438) 236/625 (.378)
2nd -1.8 251/616 (.407) 260/623 (.417)
During Six-Game Win Streak
Half Scoring Margin FG% FGA%
1st +2.7 69/161 (.429) 68/156 (.436)
2nd +2.5 60/145 (.414) 58/167 (.347)
WINNING EARLY
Bowling Green had six wins by the team the calendar turned to 2009. Since the 2002-03 season, the Falcons have won more games than that before the turn of the new year just once. The 2006-07 team had nine wins when Jan. 1 struck and last year's team had just five wins by that time.
CAN IT GET ANY TOUGHER?
Although Bowling Green went 7-6 in its first 13 non-conference games, the opponents that the Falcons faced have made them stronger in MAC play. BGSU's six non-conference losses have come against teams with a combined record of 93-49. Ohio State is ranked No. 24 in the AP Top 25 poll and Minnesota is receiving votes. Illinois State is also ranked No. 11 in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
HITTIN' THE BOOKS
Sophomore point guard Joe Jakubowski was named the Mid-American Conference's Male Scholar Athlete of the Week Dec. 18. He had 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the team's 58-38 win over Detroit and has maintained a 3.56 grade point average entering the fall semester. The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week is presented to a male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative gpa of 3.0 or better and performed well during the previous week's competition.
CLEMENTS' CAREER WEEKEND
Senior guard Darryl Clements was named to the NABC Classic All-Tournament team after setting his new career scoring high not just one time, but twice during the season's opening weekend. Clements made a crucial three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining in regulation that helped pushed the season opener against Georgia State to overtime -- a game the Falcons eventually won. He then scored a career-high 19 points in the team's loss to Minnesota, before pumping home 22 in BGSU's win over Concordia St. Paul. He also led Bowling Green in assists, steals and field goal percentage during the weekend.
FRESH FACES
Head coach Louis Orr announced the signing of two players for the 2009-10 season during the early signing period. Luke Kraus, of Findlay, Ohio (Findlay HS), and Danny McElroy, of Cincinnati, Ohio (La Salle HS), will join the Falcons next year. Kraus is a two-time player of the year in the Greater Buckeye Conference and McElroy is a tenacious defender who averaged 14.2 points and seven rebounds per game as a junior. Those two will join transfers Darion Goins and Adrion Graves, both of which are sitting out the 2008-09 season due to transfer rules.
CATCH THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green's men's basketball games can be listened to through the Falcon Sports Radio Network with Todd Walker, the voice of the Falcons, handling the play-by-play duties. Former Bowling Green basketball player Kirk Cowan does the color commentary at all BGSU home games as well. All but one game can be heard on WFRO 99.1 FM and the other can be heard on WOHF 92.1 FM (Feb. 18 at Buffalo). As well, all games can be heard on WCSM 1350 AM/96.7 FM in Celina, WONW 1280 AM in Defiance, and WCWA 1230 AM in Toledo.
• BGSU men's basketball coach Louis Orr appears on the Falcons' Nest Coaches Show on select Monday evenings, hosted by Todd Walker. The show runs from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., and is scheduled for live broadcast from Fricker's in Bowling Green (1720 E. Wooster Street).
• All game broadcasts and the Falcons Nest Coaches Show can also be heard via live stream on the official site of Falcon athletics, www.BGSUfalcons.com. Shortly after broadcasts are complete, an archived stream is available to listen to as well.
• BGSU men's basketball coach Louis Orr will talk live on 1470 WLQR "The Ticket" throughout the year. He is scheduled to be on host Norm Wamer's show Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. to discuss the season.
• Live statistics for all BGSU home men's basketball games are available on the web via Gametracker. Gametracker allows fans to view in-game stats as they occur, and may be accessed by going to www.BGSUFalcons.com. Falcon fans can utilize Gametracker for home events in numerous BGSU sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball.
