Falcons Beat Miami In Millett Hall For First Time In A Decade

Wednesday, January 18

Oxford, OH

7:00 pm

Bowling Green State University

2-28-9; MAC

Miami (Ohio)

1-35-11; MAC

Team	1	2	F
Bowling Green	24	41	65
Miami	28	29	57

Photo by: Doug Sampson

January 18, 2012 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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

Boxscore (.html)
Louis Orr Postgame Audio

Oxford, Ohio – Jordon Crawford scored a career-high 25 points and Scott Thomas had a remarkably versatile performance as the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team won a Mid-American Conference road game at Miami 65-57 Wednesday.

The Falcons overcame a four-point halftime deficit to win at Miami's Millett Hall for the first time in eight attempts, dating back to a 65-50 win on Feb. 20, 2002. Bowling Green shot 56 percent in the second half as four Falcons scored in double-figures.

Crawford's 23 points came on 10-of-13 shooting and the diminutive point guard added four assists, his 11^th consecutive game with at least three. Thomas tied a program record with eight steals to go with a double-double effort of 11 points and 11 rebounds. He also had a team-high five assists and a blocked shot. Trent Jackson was the last BGSU player to post eight steals in a game, doing so against Wilmington on Dec. 21, 2000.

Along with those two, A'uston Calhoun had 13 points and six rebounds, while Dee Brown chipped in 10 points, including 4-of-4 free-throws in the final 42 seconds to ice the win. Cam Black, who played just four minutes in the team's last game before leaving with an injury, played 25 minutes off the bench and tied his career-high with three blocked shots.

Bowling Green used a 17-2 run midway through the second half to pull away from a close contest. Miami got a Josh Sewell tip-in to take a 40-38 lead with 13:12 left and the Falcons held the RedHawks to just one field goal over the next eight minutes.

Thomas connected on his only three-pointer to give Bowling Green a lead it would never relinquish and Crawford scored on a jumper to make it 43-40. Calhoun then scored inside and Thomas added a jumper to give the Falcons a 47-40 lead.

After Miami's Julian Mavunga cut the deficit back to five on an inside lay-up, Dee Brown made a jumper and the Falcons scored four consecutive points from the free-throw line to build a double-digit lead at 53-42 with 8:09 to go. Crawford's lay-up a minute later made it 55-42 and it took two more minutes before the RedHawks' Brian Sullivan connected on a three-pointer to end the drought.

By that point, Miami was attempting to play at a frenetic pace and, although the RedHawks did knock down two more three-pointers down the stretch, the Falcons' lead never dwindled to less than five.

Bowling Green shot 50 percent for the game and outrebounded Miami 32-28. The Falcons also had just 11 turnovers, winning the turnover battle for the first time in conference play. Miami turned it over 16 times as Bowling Green posted 10 steals.

In the first half, there were three ties and 10 lead changes but the Falcons held a 24-23 lead on a Calhoun jumper with 1:36 left. Miami's Quinten Rollins scored on a lay-up and Josh Sewell hit a three-pointer as the first half expired to give the RedHawks a 28-24 advantage at the break.

Miami falls to 5-11 overall and 1-3 in MAC play. Bowling Green improves to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in MAC play, moving up into a four-way tie for second in the East Division. Akron leads at 3-1, while Kent State, Ohio, and Buffalo are all 2-2. The Falcons will host Buffalo Saturday at 4 p.m. to close out the first trip through the division.

NOTES: The victory was BGSU's 50^th over Miami all-time. The RedHawks lead the all-time series 76-50 … BGSU has trailed at the half in all nine of its road games this year. The Falcons have outscored seven of those opponents in the second half … BGSU has outrebounded seven consecutive opponents … Scott Thomas passed Rosie Barnes (1977-80) and Antonio Daniels (1994-97) to move into fifth place in career steals at Bowling Green … It was the seventh time BGSU shot at least 50 percent for a game this year. The Falcons reached that threshold nine times a year ago … Torian Oglesby started for the first time this season. He had 16 starts a year ago.