Falcons Complete Four-Games-In-Eight-Days Stretch Saturday

Complete Game Notes (.pdf)

FOUR THINGS TO KNOW
• Bowling Green and Western Michigan are tied with Buffalo and Northern Illinois for sixth place in the Mid-American Conference standings heading into Saturday's contest. A win by either team would put them in position to push for one of those coveted top four spots and a bye through the first round of the MAC Tournament. The next four teams will host a first round game for an opportunity to head to Cleveland for the quarterfinals.
• Bowling Green attempted a season-high 21 three-pointers in Thursday's loss to Ball State, making just four. The Falcons are just 1-3 when attempting at least 17 three-pointers in a game this year.
• Bowling Green has now gone back-to-back games with single-digit turnover totals. The Falcons had eight against Toledo and nine against Ball State. Bowling Green had single-digit turnover totals just once in the team's first 19 games. Oddly, BGSU has lost five of the last six times it has had less than 10 turnovers in a game.
• Joe Jakubowski and Marc Larson were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team Thursday. Bowling Green was one of only five teams in the country to place at least two players on one of the eight first team all-district teams. Both players will be placed on the ballot for Academic All-American status.

THE SERIES
Saturday's meeting will be the 108th in the all-time series between Bowling Green and Western Michigan with the Falcons holding a 66-41 lead. A year ago, BGSU beat the Broncos 68-61 in Anderson Arena but the Falcons have lost five consecutive meetings in University Arena since a 78-66 victory there in the 2001-02 season. The programs first met with a home-and-home series during the 1945-46 season in which the Falcons swept Western Michigan on the way to a 27-5 record. The Broncos got their first win in the all-time series by splitting a home-and-home the next year.

SCOUTING THE WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
For Western Michigan, everything starts and ends with David Kool. The 6-foot-3 senior guard ranks 21st in the country at 21.0 points per game and is ninth in free-throw shooting at 89.9 percent. Although the Broncos are just 1-3 against MAC East teams, he has averaged 27.5 points in those four contests, including 38 in a one-point loss to Kent State. Senior center Donald Lawson is an imposing presence inside and ranks second in the MAC in offensive rebounding (3.27 per contest) and blocked shots (1.50 per game), as well as third in rebounding (7.6 per game). He has been an anchor for a team that leads the league in rebounding margin (+4.3) and ranks second in offensive rebounds (13.45). The team also leads the MAC in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 39.9 percent shooting.

THE COACHES
Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr has just about done it all. As a player at Syracuse, he made four NCAA Tournament appearances and spent eight years in the NBA. As a coach, he was named Big East Coach of the Year at Seton Hall and was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Falcons to the MAC regular season crown in 2008-09. He has a career record of 143-120 in his ninth season and 43-40 in his first three years at Bowling Green. Western Michigan Head Coach Steve Hawkins in in his seventh season leading the program (and 10th season overall at Western Michigan) and has a career mark of 117-94 while guiding his teams to the top of the MAC West standings in each of the past two seasons.

BRACKETS BUSTED
Bowling Green will play Valparaiso in the eighth annual ESPN BracketBusters series on Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. The Falcons are 4-3 all-time in such games. By contract, Bowling Green will play a return game at Valparaiso. The Falcons are 6-1 all-time in return games, including a victory over Canisius earlier this year.

THESE GUYS ARE SMART TOO!
Joe Jakubowski and Marc Larson were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team Thursday by voting of the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Bowling Green was one of only five teams in the country to place multiple players on one of the eight first team all-district teams and both will now be place on the ballot for Academic All-American status. Larson (3.97 gpa) and Jakubowski (3.32 gpa) joined Dayton's Kurt Huelsman, Wright State's Cooper Land, and Michigan's Zack Novak on the District 4 first team.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
Bowling Green has made a dramatic transformation in its free-throw shooting efficiency. Through 11 games of the season, Bowling Green ranked 329th out of 334 Division I teams at 56.6 percent from the line. But over the past 10 games, the team has shot 75.4 percent and the Falcons rank second in the MAC in free-throw shooting in conference games only at 74.1 percent.

BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Senior Otis Polk started the 2009-10 campaign by blocking a shot against Wayne State, a familiar sight for Bowling Green fans. He now has 23 blocked shots this year and is already the school's all-time blocked shot leader with 145, shattering Tom Hall's mark of 117 from 1989-92. With every shot he blocks, he'll be setting a new standard for current and future Falcons to aim for. Both Marc Larson and Erik Marschall are not to be forgotten inside either. With two against Ball State, Larson has 80 career blocks and is just two shy of cracking into the school's all-time top 10. Marschall now has 58 career blocked shots and forward Scott Thomas has become a factor in this area as well, posting three consecutive multi-block games at one point this year. All four of those players have at least 13 blocks this season and the Falcons are the only team in the Mid-American Conference with that many.

WHO SAYS TAKING CARE OF THE BASKETBALL IS IMPORTANT?
Bowling Green has had less than 10 turnovers in each of its last two games (eight vs. Toledo and nine at Ball State) after posting a single-digit turnover total just once in the first 19 games of the season (seven at Xavier). However, that may not be the best of trends for the Falcons. Dating back to last year, Bowling Green has lost five of its last six games when committing less than 10 turnovers (losses to Eastern Michigan, Akron in the MAC Tournament, and Creighton in the NIT a year ago).

CONSISTENT LINEUP
Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr has used just two starting lineups this year. For the first 10 games of the season he went with Joe Jakubowski, Dee Brown, Scott Thomas, Marc Larson, and Otis Polk. Since that time, Marschall has been inserted into the lineup for Larson and both have responded with their new roles. Marschall posted his first career double-double Saturday with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Central Michigan and is averaging 8.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest as a starter, while shooting 51 percent from the field. Larson posted eight points and a career-best nine rebounds against St. Louis in 26 minutes off the bench and then reversed those numbers with nine points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes against Ball State. He is also 17-for-21 (81.0 percent) from the free-throw line since coming off the bench and was on the floor late against Ohio, posting two points, a blocked shot, and a steal in the final four minutes of the game, sparking the team to a comeback win.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Bowling Green's three senior post players -- Otis Polk, Erik Marschall, and Marc Larson -- have all stepped up their games and produced at a higher level than the trio did a year ago. Those three are combining for 22.3 points and 16.6 rebounds per game, a much higher total than last year's 14.6 points and 12.0 rebounds.

OTIS ADDS THE BOARDS
Otis Polk has been dominant on the boards this year, averaging 7.3 rebounds per game (fifth in the MAC) and has been especially strong on the offensive glass, leading the Mid-American Conference with 3.3 offensive boards per game. He had a career-high 16 rebounds in the team's win over Towson and grabbed at least seven rebounds in 10 straight games at one point during the season.

RIDING THE PINE
In 2009-10, BGSU's bench has been a telling factor in how successful the Falcons are. In the team's 11 wins, the bench has played fairly even with the opposition, being outscored 157-146, but in the 10 losses has been outscored 246-131.

FEED THE POST
Head Coach Louis Orr's philosophy is to play an inside-out game and the Falcons have scored at least 20 points in the paint in 18-of-21 games and at least 30 points eight times, including each of the past three contests. The team peaked against Towson when Bowling Green held a 50-21 scoring edge in the paint. In all, BGSU has outscored 16 opponents in the paint and 7-of-9 conference opponents.

DIRECTING THE OFFENSE
Junior Joe Jakubowski and freshman Jordon Crawford have done an excellent job of running an efficient offense from the point guard position so far in the 2009-10 season. Jakubowski ranks fourth in the MAC (and among the top 100 nationally) with a 1.89 assist/turnover ratio, while Crawford has a solid 1.36 ratio. Forward Scott Thomas and shooting guard Dee Brown have been doing a solid job in this area as well. Thomas has a 1.41 ratio and Brown has 19 assists and just four turnovers in the past five games (4.75 assist/turnover ratio).

GREAT SCOTT
Sophomore Scott Thomas has always had great potential and lately he has been showing exactly the type of player he can be. He posted his first collegiate double-double against Buffalo with career-highs in scoring (21) and rebounding (10). He followed that up by making 8-of-10 shots and all eight of his free-throw attempts for a career-best 27 points, including 18 in the second half, at Kent State. In wins over Ohio and Eastern Michigan, Thomas carried the team to second-half comebacks, combining for just three points in the first half and 31 in the second. He leads the team with 11.8 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 27 steals. He also ranks second on the team in rebounding, assists, blocked shots, and free-throw percentage. He has an active streak of eight consecutive double-digit scoring outings and is averaging 16.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists, while adding 14 steals and eight blocks, during that stretch.

THE CLOSER
Call him The Closer because Scott Thomas has been unstoppable in the second half of the past eight games. During that time, he has scored just 31 first-half points (3.9 per game) and 98 second-half points (12.3 per game). He is shooting just 29 percent (11-of-38) from the field and 14 percent (3-of-22) from three-point range during the first half of those games and 52 percent (32-of-61) from the field and 43 percent (9-of-21) from three-point range during the second half.

DEE-LIGHTFUL
Sophomore guard Dee Brown has risen to the occasion since posting his first career double-digit scoring game against Milwaukee. Since that time, Brown has scored in double figures in 13-of-18 games and was named Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week on Dec. 7 after averaging 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 56 percent from the field, in wins over Savannah State and Fordham. He has carried the team offensively during critical stretches of key non-conference wins against Florida International, Fordham and Canisius. He made 5-of-8 three-pointers and scored a career-high 21 points in helping the Falcons win on the road at Kent State. Brown leads the MAC at 46.7 percent three-point shooting and ranks second on the team in scoring (10.6 points per game) and third in field goal percentage (43.4 percent). Over the past five games, he has added 19 assists and just four turnovers.

HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
The Falcons came back from halftime deficits of at least seven points in three of its four conference wins, outscoring Kent State, Ohio and Eastern Michigan 138-87 over the final 20 minutes.

THE SECOND HALF OFFENSE
In each of the last seven games, Bowling Green's second half offense has far exceeded its first half scoring. The Falcons have scored at least 31 points in the second half in all seven contests and have not scored more than 28 in the first half of any of those games. Bowling Green has shot 48.1 percent (89-of-185) in the second half of the past five games, as well as 22-of-57 (38.6 percent) from three-point range and 58-of-78 (74.4 percent) from the free-throw line.

MAKE HALF OF THEM
Bowling Green is 19-2 in three years under Louis Orr when shooting at least 50 percent from the field, including a perfect 4-0 this year. In fact, in three of those four games this year, the Falcons were exactly 26-of-51 from the field (wins over Wayne State, Fordham, and Kent State). Against Toledo, Bowling Green was 22-of-39 shooting.

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE BATTLE
Through the first three games of the season, Bowling Green struggled to get to the free-throw line and that culminated with just two free-throw attempts at Iowa. During that stretch, the Falcons attempted just 9.0 free-throws per game, 28 less than their opponents. However, over the past 18 games, Bowling Green has been to the line an average of 19.2 times (346 total), 15 more than opponents.

WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons are 6-3 in 2009-10. The Falcons are 453-183 (.712) all-time in Anderson Arena and 167-57 (.746) in the past 17 years.

ROAD WARRIORS
In the past two seasons, Bowling Green has won eight Mid-American Conference road games, more than any other team in the league. Only Buffalo has even won seven road games during that time. A year ago, BGSU won six consecutive road games during one stretch of league play, the longest streak in the conference since the 2001-02 Kent State team won seven in a row. This year, the Falcons are 5-7 on the road and went 3-2 during the team's five-game non-conference road stretch that spanned most of the month of December. Bowling Green is 2-3 in MAC road games in 2009-10.

MAC Road Wins Since 2008-09
8 - Bowling Green
7 - Buffalo
6 - Akron, Kent State
5 - Miami
4 - Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan
3 - Western Michigan, Ball State, Ohio
2 - Northern Illinois
0 - Toledo

DEFENSE WINS
Bowling Green has held opponents below 45 percent shooting in all 11 of its victories, a trend for success that has been the norm under Head Coach Louis Orr. In all, the team has held 15-of-20 opponents below 45 percent shooting and the team is just 3-17 under Head Coach Louis Orr when an opponent reaches that threshold, including 0-5 this year. A year ago, opponents shot just 39.3 percent from the field, the lowest total since the 1963-64 season. That team also held opponents to just 61.2 points per game, the lowest total since the 1949-50 season. In the Falcons' last 17 games, of which BGSU is 10-7, the team has been very similar to a year ago, holding opponents to 40.0 percent shooting and 60.8 points per game.

GIANT KILLERS
Bowling Green tends to have success when a team carries a top 25 ranking into a game at Anderson Arena. The Falcons have won four consecutive home games against nationally ranked opponents, most recently an 89-83 win over No. 23 Kent State on March 1, 2008. BGSU defeated fifth-ranked Michigan State (all rankings according to Associated Press) in December of 1990, topped No. 23 Eastern Michigan on Valentine's Day, 1996, and defeated No. 25 Miami in February of 1999. The Brown and Orange's last home loss to a top 25 opponent came more than three decades ago to No. 16 Marquette on Dec. 6, 1978. Since the Associated Press began conducting a poll on Jan. 20, 1949, the Falcons have a record of 22-48 against nationally-ranked foes. BGSU is now 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' last road win against a team ranked in the top 25 came when the team beat No. 25 Michigan State on Dec. 18, 1989 by a score of 81-79.

TO BE THE MAN, YOU'VE GOTTA BEAT THE MAN
In back-to-back games, Bowling Green beat head coaches with more than 450 career wins. In wins over Towson and St. Louis, the Falcons defeated coaching legends Pat Kennedy and Rick Majerus. Kennedy has won more than 450 games leading teams at Iona, Florida State, DePaul, Montana, and Towson, while Majerus has reached that mark at Marquette, Ball State, Utah, and St. Louis.

FALCONS ADD TWO IN EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
The Bowling Green coaching staff signed two prep players during the fall early signing period this year, adding 6-foot-6, 200 pound win Craig Sealey and 6-10, 230 pound forward/center Cameron Black. Sealey plays at Brookhaven High School in Columbus, Ohio and is described as an explosive wing who runs the floor well, is a slasher, and strong offensive rebounder. Black plays at Kent Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio who is a presence on the defensive end and has a high basketball IQ.

COACHING PEDIGREE
Bowling Green State University men's basketball coach Louis Orr was named the 2008-09 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year by vote of the MAC News Media Association. It is the second time Orr has received a conference Coach of the Year award. He was named the Big East Coach of the Year following the 2002-03 season after guiding Seton Hall to the NIT. In the offseason, Orr signed a contract extension with Bowling Green which lasts through the 2013-14 season.

RIGHT HAND MAN
While Head Coach Louis Orr has a long history of success, assistant coach LaMonta Stone is also recognized as one of the best in the country. Over the summer, HoopScoop.com named Stone the fourth-best mid-major assistant coach in the country, while College Insider named him the 15th best mid-major assistant coach in the nation.

IT WILL STILL ROAR
On Sept. 3, Bowling Green State University broke ground on the Stroh Center, the new home of Bowling Green men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars", will continue to host the Falcons through the end of the 2010-11 season. The Stroh Center will seat approximately 4,700 fans and is located near Doyt Perry Stadium. While Anderson Arena was named after Harold "Andy" Anderson, a long time BGSU athletics director and men's basketball coach who is also a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Stroh Center will continue to honor him. The club area in the new facility has been named the Anderson Club.

AROUND THE DIAL
Bowling Green will be on regional and national television a number of times this year. All BGSU home games not being broadcast nationally appear locally on BCSN on the Buckeye Cable Network. The Feb. 27 home game against Akron will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net as part of a televised doubleheader with the BGSU women's basketball game that day.

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. Games can be heard on the flagship station for BGSU athletics, WFRO 99.1 FM. Games can also be heard on WIMA 1150 AM in Lima, WONW 1280 AM in Defiance, and in Cleveland on both WHKW 1220 AM and WHK 1420 AM.
• All game broadcasts and the Falcons Nest Coaches Show can 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.
• Live statistics for all BGSU home men's basketball games are available on the web, allowing fans to view in-game stats as they occur, and may be accessed by going to www.BGSUFalcons.com. Falcon fans can utilize live stats for home events in numerous BGSU sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, and gymnastics.

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