Falcons Battle Weather To Defeat NIU In Overtime

Wednesday, February 2

DeKalb, Ill.

8 pm

Bowling Green State University

Northern Illinois

February 02, 2011 | Men's Basketball

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

Boxscore

DeKalb, Ill. – Scott Thomas scored a season-high 23 points and A'uston Calhoun had 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team went on the road to beat Northern Illinois 73-70 in overtime Wednesday.

It was the second time this year that Bowling Green won a road conference game in overtime and the Falcons remained in first place in the Mid-American Conference with a 6-2 record. BGSU has also worked its way back to .500 at 11-11 after starting the year 1-8.

Thomas was 7-of-13 shooting and added five rebounds and four steals. Calhoun had 12 of his 16 points after the halftime break. Dee Brown came off the bench to score 12 points but no other Bowling Green player scored more than six.

The Falcons contained Xavier Silas after the nation's second-leading scorer put up 15 first-half points. He scored just eight in the second half and overtime to end just shy of his 24.2 points per game average. He also turned the ball over eight times compared to nine turnovers for the entire Bowling Green team.

Bowling Green jumped out to a 14-6 lead as Thomas scored the team's first seven points but Northern Illinois fought back with a 12-2 run, capped by a Silas three-pointer, to put the Huskies on top 18-16.

A pair of Silas free-throws gave NIU a 25-24 lead but Bowling Green closed the half with a 9-3 spurt to take a 33-28 lead into the break.

Northern Illinois never led in the second half and the Falcons looked to put the game away when Calhoun completed a three-point play with 9:33 to go that made it 51-42. But Nate Rucker answered with a three-point play for NIU and the Falcons never held a nine-point lead again.

Thomas scored with 2:04 to go that gave Bowling Green a 65-57 lead but Antone Christian scored on back-to-back jumpers that cut the deficit to four with 50 seconds left. Bowling Green went just 1-for-4 at the free-throw line down the stretch, giving Northern Illinois a chance to tie the game.

Thomas missed two free-throws with 27 seconds left and the Falcons clinging to a three-point lead and Christian knocked down a three-pointer that tied the game. Jordon Crawford's off-balanced leaner was off the mark and sent the game to overtime.

In the overtime session, Northern Illinois scored on a tip-in just 15 seconds in to put the Huskies on top. But Thomas avenged the missed free-throws late in regulation by knocking down a pair to tie the score. Brown and Calhoun hit back-to-back jumpers that put the Falcons on top 72-68, but Northern Illinois got one more chance to tie the game thanks to more missed free-throws late.

Bowling Green clung to a 73-70 lead but Danny McElroy missed two free-throws with nine seconds left. Silas got a good look at a three-pointer from the top of the key but his shot rimmed out to give the Falcons the win.

For the game, Bowling Green shot just 41 percent from the floor but held Northern Illinois to 37 percent shooting. The Huskies were also just 4-of-22 from three-point range and missed 14 free-throws (20-of-34).

Northern Illinois falls to 7-13 overall and 3-5 in MAC play. Bowling Green (11-11, 6-2 MAC) will host Western Michigan Saturday at 5 p.m. looking to remain in first place in the conference.