Falcons Carry Win Streak Into Rivalry Game With Toledo

Bowling Green Falcons (12-11, 6-4 MAC) vs. Toledo Rockets (11-13, 3-7 MAC)
Feb. 11, 2012 • 4 p.m. • Bowling Green, Ohio • Stroh Center (4,347)
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)/Kirk Cowan (Color)
Television: BCSN • Greg Franke (Play-by-Play)/Kevin Brechmacher (Color)
Live Stats: http://www.bgsufalcons.com
Live Video: America One Network
Live Audio: Stretch Internet
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
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QUICK HITS
* BGSU is on a season-long three-game winning streak and holds sole possession of fifth place in the MAC at 6-4. Toledo enters Saturday's game at 3-7 in MAC play but defeated Ohio Wednesday night at home.
* BGSU is 78-83 in 161 all-time meetings with the Rockets. The Falcons have won three straight meetings and five straight in Bowling Green.
* With four more steals Wednesday, Scott Thomas leads the MAC and ranks in the top 10 in the country at 2.6 per game. His 3.2 steals in conference games is second-most in the country.
* Thomas' 59 steals are tied for the 10th-most in a single-season in BGSU history.
* Jordon Crawford and Thomas rank nine and 11th on BGSU's all-time assist list. Crawford has 293 and Thomas is just behind at 287. Crawford climbed into the top 10 over the past two games.
* The Falcons have held their last five opponents to less than 60 points and four of those five below 40 percent shooting.
* Crawford leads the MAC in assists in conference play (6.2 per game) and has at least three assists in 17 consecutive games.
* Dee Brown has made eight of his last 12 three-point attempts.
* With 12 points against Ball State, Brown now has 946 career points.
* Bowling Green has shot 50 percent or better in a game nine times this year. The Falcons are 6-3 when reaching that percentage.
* Cam Black has had at least one block in 10 straight games and ranks third in the MAC in that category. His 36 blocks this year are tied for the 10th best single-season in program history.
* A'uston Calhoun ranks seventh in the MAC in scoring. No BGSU player has finished that high since Martin Samarco led the league in scoring in 2006-07.
* BGSU has led or been tied at the half in six straight games.

FALCONS CARRY WIN STREAK INTO RIVALRY GAME WITH TOLEDO
The Bowling Green men's basketball team will look to extend its season-long three-game winning streak Saturday as the Falcons host rival Toledo in the Stroh Center at 4 p.m. Both teams enter the contest playing their best basketball of the year. The Falcons are 12-11 overall and 6-4 in MAC play, while Toledo is 11-13 and 3-7 in league action. The Rockets, though, are coming off of a win over 19-5 Ohio Wednesday night.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green has faced no team more often than it has Toledo and the Falcons are 78-83 in 161 all-time meetings. BGSU has won three in a row overall and five straight in Bowling Green (all of those being in Anderson Arena) since Toledo last won in 2002-03.

SCOUTING TOLEDO
Toledo is 11-13 overall and 3-7 in Mid-American Conference play but has played well recently and is the only West Division team to boast two wins over East Division opponents. Wednesday night, the Rockets overcame a 15-0 deficit to beat Ohio 77-73. Sophomore Rian Pearson followed head coach Tod Kowalczyk from Green Bay and is averaging 17.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 49 percent from the field. He leads the MAC in scoring and ranks third in rebounding. The Rockets are a fundamentally sound free-throw shooting team, leading the conference at 73.0 percent. Toledo also forces 7.6 steals per contest (the same as Bowling Green) with Pearson leading the way with 42. Kowalczyk is in his second year leading the Toledo program, showing a seven-win improvement already this year over last year's 4-28 team. He has a career record of 151-153.

LAST GAME: DEE BROWN'S CLUTCH SHOTS LEADS BG TO WIN
With Wednesday night's game against Ball State tied at 48-48, Dee Brown connected on back-to-back three-pointers and the Falcons made 7-of-8 free-throws down the stretch to win on the road 61-54. The win was Bowling Green's season-best third in a row. A'uston Calhoun carried the Falcons through the middle portion of the second half, scoring 13 consecutive Bowling Green points and finishing with 27 and nine rebounds. Jordon Crawford, the MAC's leading passer, had six assists and Scott Thomas, the league's best thief, had four steals.

THE MAC TOURNAMENT
A new format for the MAC Tournament changes the bracket and seeding this year. The teams with the top two records in the league (regardless of division) will earn a double-bye into the semifinals and the next two best records will earn a bye to the quarterfinals. Teams seeded fifth through eighth will host a first-round game and teams seeded ninth through 12th will play on the road in the first round. Currently, the Falcons hold sole possession of fifth place, just one game behind both Kent State and Ohio for one of the four byes. If the MAC Tournament were to start today, Bowling Green would be the No. 5 seed and would host No. 12 seed Central Michigan in the first round.

TORCHING THE NETS
Offensively, Bowling Green has played well in Mid-American Conference play, ranking second in the league in both field goal percentage and three-point percentage. The Falcons have shot at least 50 percent from the floor in five of the 10 conference contests and are shooting 47.6 percent in total, behind only Kent State at 47.9 percent. Bowling Green is also shooting 37.9 percent from three-point range, behind just Miami at 38.3 percent.

TORCHING THE NETS IN THE LONG TERM
Bowling Green is 35-8 in head coach Louis Orr's five years when making at least half of its shots. A year ago, the Falcons reached 50 percent nine times and went 8-1 when doing so. This year, BGSU has shot 50 percent in a game nine times again and is 6-3 when doing so, including four MAC wins. The last BGSU team to shoot 50 percent more than nine times in a season was the 2004-05 squad that did it 14 times.

OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Early in the year, Bowling Green struggled to get things going in the first half of games, especially on the road. But lately, the Falcons have fixed those problems. BGSU has led or been tied at the half in each of its past six games, averaging a 7.0 point halftime lead.

STAT STUFFER
While Scott Thomas has proven to be the team's most consistent scoring threat this year, he will also go down as one of the most versatile players in program history. Earlier this year, he tied the program record with eight steals in one game and currently has 185 for his career, fourth all-time at Bowling Green. Thomas also ranks ninth in school history with 129 career three-pointers, needs two assists to break into the top 10, and has 625 career rebounds. He went over 1,000 career points with a three-pointer early against Duquesne and is the only player in program history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 150 steals and 100 three-pointers in a career.

STREAKING
Bowling Green is currently on a three-game winning streak, the longest of the year. In fact, prior to the recent binge, the Falcons had not won or lost more than two in a row all year. Bowling Green's last three-game win streak came during crossover play a year ago and the last four-game winning streak also came a year ago with wins over Manhattan, UTSA, St. Louis, and Buffalo.

SO THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WIN THERE
Three of Bowling Green's four road wins this year have come in locations in which the Falcons had not won since at least 2002. BGSU had one non-conference road win (against FIU) and has posted three conference road victories (Miami, Western Michigan, and Ball State), equaling last year's MAC road win total.

WHAT A STEAL
Over the course of the past two seasons, Bowling Green has been one of the top teams in the Mid-American Conference in steals, leading the conference in that category a year ago. This year, the team is fourth in the conference and, once again, Scott Thomas and Jordon Crawford are leading the way individually. The duo has combined for 91 steals and Thomas tied the school record with eight against Miami. In fact, he leads the MAC in steals overall and in steals in league games only. He is fourth in BGSU history with 185 career steals and Crawford is now over the century mark with 111. Thomas ranks ninth in the country with 2.6 steals per game.

THE RECORD SETTER
Senior forward Torian Oglesby set an NCAA Division I record by making 26 consecutive field goal attempts, a streak that ended with a first-half miss against Ohio. Despite the miss, Oglesby has made 58-of-71 shots on the year, shooting 81.7 percent. The old record of 25 consecutive field goal attempts without a miss was set by Ray Voelkel of American University in 1978, a mark which stood for 33 years. As if all of that is not remarkable enough, Oglesby has made 37-of-43 shots on the road, for an 86.0 field-goal percentage away from the Stroh Center.

HEIGHT IS OVERRATED
At 5-feet-6, junior point guard Jordon Crawford is the fourth-shortest player in NCAA Division I basketball. Green Bay's Eric Valentin measures in as the shortest player at 5-4, while Denver's Charles Webb and George Washington's Malik Tonkins are both 5-5. None of those players have the type of impact that Crawford has on the Falcons. In fact, Crawford's 25 points against Miami are more than the other three have combined to score all season. He is third on the team with 10.9 points per game and has started 21-of-23 contests.

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY
While Scott Thomas does just about everything on the floor for the Falcons, the area in which he most needed to improve coming into the 2011-12 season was shooting from three-point range and the free-throw line. A year ago, Thomas shot 29 percent on three-pointers and 59 percent from the charity line. This year, he has made 37-of-100 three-pointers (37.0 percent) and 39-of-55 free-throws (70.9 percent).

THE BIG APOSTROPHE
Junior A'uston Calhoun has turned his game up as the 2011-12 season has worn on. He averaged just 2.5 points in the first two games of the season, improved to 12.4 points over the next five, and then averaged 14.3 in the next ten. Over the past six games, Calhoun is averaging 17.0 points per game, while shooting 54.3 percent from the floor and grabbing 6.7 rebounds per contest.

THE STROH CENTER
BGSU played its first regular season game ever in the Stroh Center against Howard. After 51 years in venerable Anderson Arena, the Falcons opened one of the newest facilities in the country.

DOWN LOW
Head coach Louis Orr's philosophy is always to play inside-out and the Falcons have done that well during his tenure. This year, the Falcons have scored at least 20 points in the paint in 21-of-23 games with a season-high 58 against Malone. In fact, the 58 points in the paint represents the most in a game in Orr's tenure. BGSU had scored at least 30 points in the paint in seven consecutive games before being held to 16 at Eastern Michigan. In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the Falcons scored 20 or more points in the paint in 57-of-63 games.

1,000 POINT SCORERS
With a three-pointer against Duquesne, Scott Thomas became the 38th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. Senior Dee Brown also has a chance to reach 1,000 points this year, which would be just the seventh time in school history that two players have reached the milestone in the same year. Considering seven regular season games remaining and a minimum of one MAC Tournament game, Brown needs to average 6.8 points through the remainder of the year to reach that total as he sits at 946 career points.

A NEW HOLIDAY TRADITION
BGSU men's basketball played on New Year's Day for the second consecutive season as the Falcons lost to Texas San Antonio in overtime, 86-79. Bowling Green is 4-2 all-time when breaking in the New Year and the Falcons were just one of eight NCAA Division I programs to play on New Year's Day in each of the past two seasons (joining Syracuse, DePaul, Marquette, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, and Evansville).

DEFENSE WINS
Over the course of the past three years, Bowling Green has held its opponent to 45 percent shooting or worse in 34 of the Falcons' 40 wins. A year ago, Bowling Green went just 2-12 when an opponent shot at least 45 percent, posting victories against only Manhattan (48.9 percent shooting) and Ohio (45.8 percent). This year, the Falcons have already surpassed that win total and are 3-6 when an opponent shoots over 45 percent. Bowling Green actually won for the first time in Louis Orr's tenure when a team shot 50 percent as Austin Peay scored at a 51 percent clip, but the Falcons won 82-72.

THE NEW HOUSE
Anderson Arena provided BGSU with an excellent home court advantage as the Falcons went 466-190 (.710) all-time in The House That Roars. Bowling Green will attempt to build a new home court advantage after going 10-5 in Anderson Arena a year ago. This year, the Falcons are 8-3 (.727) in the Stroh Center, the team's best home mark since the 2004-05 team went 12-3.

PARKER/HOLMES SIGN WITH THE FALCONS
Louis Orr announced the signing of Spencer Parker and Richaun Holmes during this year's early signing period. Parker is from West Bloomfield, Mich. and is playing for Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Va. this year. He will have four years of eligibility remaining. Holmes is from Lockport, Ill. and is playing this year at Moraine Community College. As a full qualifier out of high school, he will transfer to Bowling Green and be able to play immediately with three years of eligibility remaining.

FALCONS TO PLAY ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of six games on ESPNU, SportsTime Ohio, or the Big Ten Network this year. The Falcons played on ESPNU at Georgia on Nov. 13 and then played on the Big Ten Network Dec. 17 at Michigan State. The Falcons also played on STO on Jan. 7 against Ohio in the first MAC game in the Stroh Center and then again Jan. 28 at Eastern Michigan. The Falcons have two more STO games -- Saturday against Northern Illinois and Feb. 25 at home against Kent State.

THOMAS NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Scott Thomas was named MAC East Division Player of the Week on Nov. 28 after guiding the Falcons to a 3-1 week, including a win over Temple. Thomas scored in double-figures in all four games, averaging 12.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest. He also had seven assists, nine steals, and two blocked shots.

FIRST TEAM ALL-STATE
Bowling Green has brought in an Associated Press Division I First Team Ohio All-State player for three consecutive years. Junior Luke Kraus was named first team all-state at Findlay High School in 2008-09. Redshirt freshman Anthony Henderson earned the honor at Toledo Start High School in 2009-10 and Chauncey Orr was named to the team from Bowling Green High School in 2010-11. BGSU is the only school in the country with three players from the AP Division I First Team Ohio All-State teams from the past three years on the roster. Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State each has two.

FALCONS PICKED SIXTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the preseason media poll. Defending MAC champion Kent State was selected to win the East while Western Michigan was selected to win the West.

MAC Preseason Media Poll
East Division - 1. Kent State (132 points/16 first-place votes), 2. Akron (104 points/8 first-place votes), 3. Ohio (94 points), 4. Miami (80 points), 5. Buffalo (62 points), 6. Bowling Green (32 points)
West Division - 1. Western Michigan (128 points/14 first-place votes), 2. Ball State (111 points/9 first-place votes), 3. Central Michigan (92 points/1 first-place vote), 4. Toledo (76 points), 5. Northern Illinois (59 points), 6. Eastern Michigan (38 points)
Tournament Champion - Kent State 12, Akron 6, Ball State 3, Western Michigan 2, Central Michigan 1

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