Early Foul Woes Haunt BGSU in Loss to Bulls

Friday, November 15

Bowling Green, Ohio

8:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

1-1

South Florida

3-0

South Florida

Bowling Green

November 15, 2013 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Box Score
Coach Orr Postgame Audio
Jehvon Clarke Postgame Audio
Photo Gallery
Video Highlights: BGSU vs. South Florida

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team saw early foul trouble put the home team behind early in the contest, as South Florida was able to hold off a late second half charge by the Falcons to come away with the 75-61 non-conference win at the Stroh Center on Friday night.

The Falcons were led by point guard Jehvon Clarke's 17 points, which matches his career-high, while both Spencer Parker and Richaun Holmes chipped in with 11 and 10 points apiece, respectively. Redshirt-sophomore Josh Gomez added a seven points off the bench, a career-high, while Holmes hauled in a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.

For South Florida, guard Corey Allen, Jr. led the way with a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds, while fellow starter Victor Rudd poured in 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. Center John Egbunu tallied 12 points and eight rebounds, while American Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference selection Anthony Collins had seven points and five assists.

Bowling Green started the game out with a fast break dunk from Parker to take an early 2-0 lead, but saw Holmes pick up two early fouls in the first three minutes of the contest and have to go to the bench early for the Falcons.

The Falcons' defense continued to play well, as it forced the Bulls into three turnovers over its first four possessions and held a slight 6-4 lead heading into the first media timeout.

Fouls continued to mount up for the Falcons, as both Cameron Black and Gomez picked up multiple calls over the next several minutes, as the home team remained in the game and took an 18-13 lead on a three-pointer from Clarke followed by an old-fashion three-point play by Parker with 8:21 to go in the opening half.

South Florida eventually took advantage of the Falcons' foul woes, as the Bulls went to the paint to go on a 10-0 run to take a five point lead at 23-18.

With just over two minutes to go before the halftime break, BGSU's Gomez tied the score up at 27-27 on a long jumper from just inside the top of the key, only to see the Bulls go to the free throw line four more times down the stretch of the half and take a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Falcons finished the half with both Black and Gomez each called for three fouls apiece, while Holmes sat out most of the second half with two early fouls to start the game.

Bowling Green got an early bucket from Black to start the second half and cut the South Florida lead to five, however, as was the trend for the rest of the contest, the Bulls had an answer as the visitors responded with a 6-0 run to take a double digit lead at 41-30 with 17:40 to go in the game.

Clarke would keep the home team in the contest over the next several minutes, as the junior scored 10 straight points over a four minute span to trim the Bulls lead back to five at 45-40 with 13:08 on the game clock.

That would be as close as the Falcons would get for the remainder of the contest, as BGSU cut the South Florida lead to single digits four more times over the final 10 minutes of play, yet could never put together a series of defensive stops as the Bulls pulled away late for the 14 point win.

South Florida outscored Bowling Green 44-34 in points in the paint and 17-9 in bench points.

The Bulls were 17-of-27 (63 percent) from the free throw line, including going 9-of-16 (56.3 percent in the first half, compared to BGSU's 11-of-20 (55 percent).

Bowling Green outscored South Florida 19-11 in points off turnovers, as the Falcons forced the Bulls into 14 miscues, and also held a slight 19-13 advantage in second chance points.

The Falcons (1-1) will open up a four-game road trip at Wisconsin on Thursday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m. in Madison, Wisc. The game is the first of four that is part of the Cancun Challenge which will wrap up in Cancun, Mexico over the Thanksgiving break.

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