Falcons Win Third Straight, Defeat Ball State 61-54

Wednesday, February 8

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 pm

Bowling Green State University

12-11, 6-4MAC

Ball State

12-10, 4-6MAC

Bowling Green

Ball State

Photo by: Doug Sampson

February 08, 2012 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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

Boxscore (.html)
Louis Orr Postgame Audio

Muncie, Ind. – A'uston Calhoun scored 27 points and Dee Brown broke a late tie with back-to-back three-pointers as the Bowling Green men's basketball team went on the road to defeat Ball State 61-54 Wednesday evening.

Prior to Wednesday night's victory, Bowling Green (12-11, 6-4 MAC) had not won or lost more than two consecutive games all year. The win was the Falcons' third straight and keeps the team in contention for one of the four byes in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Calhoun took over midway through the second half, scoring 13 consecutive Bowling Green points during one stretch. His personal 13-6 run helped the Falcons go from three points down to four points ahead at 48-44 with 5:04 to go.

Ball State tied the game at 48-48 on a Jarrod Jones jumper and two Aaron Adeoye free-throws with four minutes to play. But Brown, a senior, stepped up and knocked down a three-pointer with 3:04 left. After the Cardinals came up empty on their next possession, Brown hit a corner three with 2:22 left to make it 54-48.

Ball State was never able to get back into the game as the Falcons made 7-of-8 free-throws in the final 40 seconds to win the contest. Brown made 3-of-4 and Calhoun knocked down all four of his attempts in the last 26 seconds.

Calhoun came up just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine rebounds to go with his 27 points on 11-of-21 shooting. Brown was the only other double-figure scorer for Bowling Green with 12 points. Jordon Crawford, who leads the MAC in assists in conference games, finished with six assists. Scott Thomas, who ranks in the top 10 in the country in steals, finished with four more takeaways.

Ball State was led by Jones, a MAC Player of the Year candidate, who had 14 points and eight rebounds. Senior point guard Randy Davis came into the game leading the country in assist/turnover ratio but had just four assists and seven turnovers. Davis had just 10 turnovers combined in his team's first nine MAC games.

The contest featured three ties and eight lead changes, but Bowling Green went into the break with a 28-24 lead behind 10 points and six rebounds from Calhoun. A Crawford alley-oop to Torian Oglesby put the Falcons on top 11-10 with 12:01 to go and Ball State never led again in the first half.

Ball State used a 7-0 run early in the second half to take a 34-33 lead on a Davis three-pointer and the Cardinals extended the lead to three on a pair of Jones free-throws with 11:04 to go. That's when Calhoun took over and pushed the Falcons back on top.

Bowling Green forced Ball State into 18 turnovers, five more than the Falcons committed, but the Cardinals had a 32-28 rebounding edge. The Falcons, though, outscored Ball State 15-8 on second-chance points. Bowling Green also had 34 points in the paint, six more than the Cardinals.

Ball State falls to 12-10 on the year and 4-6 in MAC play. Bowling Green will host its annual rivalry game with Toledo Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Stroh Center. The Rockets are 11-13 on the year and 3-7 in MAC play following a 77-73 win over Ohio Wednesday evening.