Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
Falcons Pull Within One Game Of MAC Lead With Victory Over Buffalo
February 18, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2009
Box Score
Orr/Moten Postgame Press Conference Audio
Buffalo, N.Y. - Brian Moten scored a season-high 22 points as the Bowling Green men's basketball team completed a season-sweep of Mid-American Conference leader Buffalo with a 59-48 win Wednesday night in Alumni Arena. The victory was the Falcons' fifth consecutive road win and gets BGSU to within a game of Buffalo at the top of the conference standings.
Bowling Green bounced back from a disappointing loss to Eastern Michigan, the last place team in the MAC, just three days ago by getting timely shooting from Moten and using a stifling defensive effort that held Buffalo to only 34 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers. The win was the Falcons' seventh in the past eight games and guarantees no worse than a .500 regular season and a .500 conference record, the first time BGSU will reach those marks since the 2004-05 campaign.
The Falcons used an 11-0 run early in the first half, getting a pair of three-pointers from Moten, to take a 19-9 lead. BG continued to pull away for the remainder of the half and took a 37-22 lead into the break. The Falcons shot 56 percent in the first half, while making 5-of-10 three-pointers, and held Buffalo to only 30 percent shooting.
Buffalo made an early run in the second half by scoring the first eight points of the period, but Bowling Green never folded. Darryl Clements knocked down a jumper, Nate Miller scored on a lay-up and Moten hit a three-pointer to get the lead back to 12.
The Bulls made one last run and cut the deficit to seven on a John Boyer three-pointer with 9:36 to play. But the Falcon defense stiffened and held Buffalo scoreless for the next eight minutes, putting the game away.
Moten tied his career high with six three-pointers and BGSU ended 8-for-17 on the night from long range. No other player scored in double-figures, but Erik Marschall came off the bench to score nine points as BG's bench outscored Buffalo's 36-13.
Buffalo falls to 17-7 overall and 9-3 in MAC play, with two of those losses coming at the hands of Bowling Green. The Falcons improved to 15-10 overall and move into a four-way tie for second in the MAC standings at 8-4. BG is tied with Kent State, Akron, and Miami, teams the Falcons will play in succession after hosting Canisius in the ESPNU BracketBusters series Saturday at 2 p.m.
