Ohio Hands Falcons 82-60 Defeat To Close Regular Season

Thursday, March 4

Athens, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ohio

March 04, 2010 | Men's Basketball

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

Louis Orr Postgame Audio
Boxscore
Todd Walker Recap (.mp3 audio)

Athens, Ohio – Freshman Luke Kraus scored a career-high 16 points but the Bowling Green men's basketball team suffered through a miserable first-half offensively and lost to the Ohio Bobcats 82-60 Thursday night to close the regular season.

With the loss, Bowling Green falls to the No. 10 seed for the Mid-American Conference Tournament and will play Sunday at 2 p.m. in Kalamazoo, Mich. Against No. 7 seed Western Michigan in the first round.

Kraus was 7-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range, and scored all of his points in the second half. He played just 18 minutes off the bench but helped the Falcons to a 45-point second half.

That second half was in stark contrast to the first 20 minutes of the game when Bowling Green struggled to score. The Falcons made just 4-of-22 (18 percent) shots and missed all four of their three-point attempts.

Ohio built a huge lead after having similar offensive struggles during the first 10 minutes of the half. The Bobcats took an 8-7 lead on an Armon Bassett three-pointer with 10:23 to go and Bowling Green never led again. The Falcons made just one field goal in almost seven minutes as Ohio took an 18-12 lead.

A Scott Thomas jumper brought Bowling Green back within four with 3:42 to go but Ohio took over from there. The Bobcats closed with a 15-1 run to take a 33-15 lead into the break.

Bowling Green was never able to make much of a dent into the deficit during the second half but both Kraus and Thomas caught fire offensively. The pair combined for 28 points in the second half, making 12-of-18 shots and four three-pointers. Marc Larson added 10 points off the bench in the final 20 minutes.

Ohio shot 53 percent for the game and made 9-of-18 three-pointers. Bowling Green had 20 turnovers and Ohio picked up 15 steals, seven from freshman guard D.J. Cooper. Cooper added 11 assists and 10 rebounds, coming up four points shy of a triple-double.

Bowling Green shot 54 percent in the second half but just 40 percent for the game. The Falcons were outscored in the paint 38-30 and gave up 18 fast break points.

Thomas ended with a team-high 17 points and added nine rebounds. Larson had 12 points and six rebounds and Joe Jakubowski had eight assists to go with four points, four rebounds and four steals.

Bowling Green will look to regroup before Sunday's game at Western Michigan. The winner will play No. 2 seed Central Michigan in Cleveland during the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals.