Cleveland State Edges Falcons In Overtime

Monday, November 12

Ann Arbor, Mich.

6:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

1-1

Cleveland State

2-0

OT 1

Bowling Green

Cleveland State

November 12, 2012 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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

Boxscore
Photo Gallery
Louis Orr Postgame Audio
A'uston Calhoun Postgame Audio

Ann Arbor, Mich. – A'uston Calhoun scored a career-high 30 points but Cleveland State outscored the Bowling Green men's basketball team 13-7 in overtime to defeat the Falcons 79-73 in the opening game of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at the University of Michigan Monday evening.

The Falcons made strides from the team's season opener, battling back from a pair of eight-point first half deficits to tie the score at the break. Bowling Green shot 56 percent in the second half and led most of the way before going to overtime.

Cleveland State scored the first seven points of the game and jumped out to a 13-5 lead before the Falcons went on a 12-2 run to take its first lead at 17-15. Five different Falcons scored during the run but Cleveland State answered with a 12-2 run of its own, capped by a Tim Camczyc three-pointer to take a 27-19 lead.

Bowling Green, though, held the Vikings to just six points over the final 7:22 and Calhoun began to heat up, scoring eight points down the stretch, to tie the game at the break.

As the second half began, Calhoun continued his strong play offensively, knocking down a three-pointer and following that up with a lay-up. The Falcons built the lead to as many as seven, getting alley-oop dunks on three consecutive possessions, one from Calhoun and two from Richaun Holmes, to take a 55-48 lead.

This time it was Cleveland State's turn to battle back from behind and the Vikings went on a 10-3 run to tie the score at 58-58 with 5:30 remaining. The teams traded scores until Chauncey Orr scored on a fastbreak lay-up to put the Falcons on top 64-61 with 1:24 to play.

Kamczyc followed with a three-pointer on Cleveland State's next possession to tie the game, but Holmes got an alley-oop from Orr with 44 seconds left to put Bowling Green up 66-64. Charlie Lee hit a tough 16-foot jumper 12 seconds later to again tie the score. BGSU held for the final shot but had the ball stripped away with 3.5 seconds left. Cleveland State's Anton Grady missed on a tough off-balanced lay-up defended by Holmes at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

In the overtime session, Luke Kraus made a pair of free-throws and Orr scored on a tough leaner to put BGSU ahead 70-68, but Kamczyk followed with his fifth and final three-pointer to spark a 7-0 run. Down by five, Bowling Green got a three-pointer from Kraus to cut the deficit at two at 75-73.

The Falcons got a stop on the next possession, but Kraus' potential game-tying lay-up rimmed out and the Vikings went 4-of-4 at the free-throw line for the 79-73 win.

Calhoun was 12-of-17 shooting and added a team-high seven rebounds in 40 minutes of play. Kraus was the only other double-figure scorer with 10 points. Holmes, making his first career start, had six points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. Cam Black came off the bench to score nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in just 13 minutes as he continues to work his way back from injury. Jordon Crawford played 44 minutes and finished with eight points, six assists and four rebounds.

As a team, Bowling Green shot 45 percent from the floor and held Cleveland State to 39 percent. The Vikings got 17 offensive rebounds and had a 45-38 rebounding advantage for the game. Cleveland State also made 9-of-20 three-point attempts and had just 11 turnovers, five less than Bowling Green.

Cleveland State improves to 2-0 on the season with the win and Bowling Green falls to 1-1. The Falcons will play IUPUI in the second game of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tuesday at 5 p.m.