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Wednesday, February 9
Bowling Green, Ohio
7 pm
Bowling Green State University
65
vs
64
Ball State
Photo by: Doug Sampson
Falcons Subdue West Division Leader Ball State 65-64
February 09, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Boxscore
Photo Gallery
Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team overcame an early deficit and never trailed in the second half, defeating West Division leader Ball State 65-64 Wednesday night. The two teams entered the contest with identical 6-3 records in Mid-American Conference play.
Bowling Green held Ball State to just six points in a 14-minute stretch of the first half to come back from down 15-6 to take a 29-21 lead. The Cardinals had made their first six shots of the game, including three three-pointers, to build the lead but Bowling Green's defense held Ball State to 4-of-22 shooting and 0-of-8 three-pointers over the final 15 minutes of the stanza. The Falcons were able to take a 31-25 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Falcons pushed the lead to 10 early and Ball State tried to make runs on numerous occasions to get back in the game. Each time, Bowling Green countered with a run to keep the Cardinals from taking a lead.
Dee Brown made a pair of free-throws with 18:28 to go in the game to give the Falcons their largest lead at 35-25. Ball State went on a mini-run, completed by a Randy Davis three-point play that made it 37-32 with 14:59 to play but Luke Kraus knocked down a three-pointer to give Bowling Green a cushion.
Ball State began to chip away at the lead and cut the deficit to three on a Jesse Berry fastbreak lay-up with 9:14 left to make it 43-40. But Brown made a pair of free-throws on the next possession and Scott Thomas got a steal and picked up a three-point play. Brown then forced a turnover on Ball State's next possession and then knocked down a jumper with 8:15 left to make it 50-40.
After Joe Jakubowski hit a three-pointer to make it 53-43, Ball State made its biggest run of the game. The Cardinals used a 13-4 spurt to get within one with 2:36 to go. That's when Bowling Green looked to Calhoun to take over.
The redshirt sophomore scored with 2:16 to go to make it 59-56 then got a steal and scored on the other end for a five-point lead. After Ball State missed a three-pointer with 1:27 left, Jordon Crawford hit a clutch three-pointer with 53 seconds left to make it an eight-point game.
Ball State was able to get close thanks to missed Bowling Green free-throws but the Cardinals never put up a shot that could have tied the game or taken the lead.
Calhoun finished with a team-high 15 points and seven rebounds. Crawford came off the bench to score 10 points and Brown added nine. Thomas did not reach double-figures in scoring for the first time in a conference game this year, finishing with nine points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Kraus had six points and four steals off the bench.
Bowling Green, which ranks in the top 10 in the country in steals, had 13 takeaways and forced 18 Ball State turnovers, six more than the Falcons committed. That helped make up for a 40-32 Ball State rebounding edge.
Ball State falls to 14-9 overall and 6-4 in MAC play, remaining ½ game in front of Western Michigan for the West Division lead. Bowling Green improves to 12-12 overall and 7-3 in MAC play, trailing 7-2 Kent State by ½ game and remaining tied with Miami and Buffalo for second in the East Division. The Falcons will head on the road Saturday to face Central Michigan at 6:30 eastern time.
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