.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
2-4
Oral Roberts
4-3
Falcons Fall in Mayan Division Championship Game to Oral Roberts, 63-56
November 27, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Box Score (PDF)
Box Score (HTML)
Coach Orr Postgame Audio
Cancun, Mexico – Bowling Green State University had three players score in double digits and held the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles to only two points for over eight minutes in the first half, yet saw the Golden Eagles hit free throws down the stretch to escape with a 63-56 win over the Falcons in the Mayan Division Championship Game of the 2013 Cancun Challenge held at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Cancun, Mexico.
The loss drops BGSU to 2-4 on the season, while Oral Roberts improved to 4-3 on the year with the win.
Senior center Cameron Black and redshirt-junior guard Anthony Henderson both earned a spot on the Mayan Division All-Tournament Team.
Both Henderson and forward Spencer Parker had 12 points apiece to lead the Falcons offensively, while Black registered his second straight double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. With his second straight double-double, Black becomes the first Falcon to accomplish that feat since Nate Miller posted three-straight double-doubles in March of 2008.
Forward Richaun Holmes, who fouled out late in the second half, had nine points and six rebounds, while point guard Jehvon Clarke tallied seven points and three assists in 36 minutes of play.
For Oral Roberts, Shawn Glover, the Tournament MVP, had a game-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, while Korey Billbury and Adrion Webber added 17 and 10 points apiece, respectively, in the win.
Bowling Green got two early baskets down low in the paint from Black, yet saw Oral Roberts go back-and-forth with the Falcons over the next several minutes to tie the score up at 10-10 on a Glover jump shot with 13:48 to go in the first half.
Another jumper from Glover less than a minute later kicked-off a 9-2 run by Oral Roberts to push the visitors in blue out to its largest lead of the first half to that point at 19-12 with 10:55 to go before the halftime intermission.
After back-to-back free throws and a three-point from Webber gave the Golden Eagles a 10 point lead at 24-14, the final eight minutes of the first half belonged to the Falcons.
BGSU got an old-fashion three-point play from Holmes at the 6:49 mark which jump-started an 8-0 run for the Falcons, highlighted by a breakaway dunk from freshman JD Tisdale, to put the home team down just one at 24-23 with 5:06 remaining in the opening half.
Oral Roberts got another jump shot from Glover to push the visitors lead to three at 26-23 with 4:40 on the game clock, yet it would not slow down the offensive surge by the Falcons who ran off 12 straight unanswered points to finish the half to take a 35-29 lead into the break on back-to-back three-pointers from Parker and Clarke.
The Bowling Green defense gave up an early jump shot to Glover to start the second half, ending the Golden Eagles' scoring drought at five minutes, yet responded with back-to-back layups from Black and Henderson to extend its lead to 11 at 39-28 just two minutes into the second half of play.
BGSU continued to thwart off the Golden Eagles' scoring runs with key fast break layups, yet after a steal and breakaway layup from Henderson put the Falcons' lead to 10 at 45-35, Oral Roberts answered with a 15-5 run over the next six minutes to tie the contest up at 50-50.
The score would remain tied at 50-50 over the next three minutes as neither team could score the go ahead bucket, until a layup in the post by Glover out of a 30 second timeout gave the visitors the first lead since midway through the first half at 52-50 with 5:04 remaining on the game clock.
Bowling Green's Henderson answered back with a jump shot of his own at the 3:05 mark of the second half to knot the game back up, this time at 52-52, with just over three minutes to go in the game.
Oral Roberts immediately followed with a jumper from D.J. Jackson to retake the lead at 54-52 and then sent the Falcons to the free throw line on the very next BG offensive possession.
Yet the Falcons could not take advantage down the stretch, as BGSU went 1-of-5 from the charity stripe over the final 2:49 of the game, which forced them to foul on the defensive end where Oral Roberts went 6-of-7 to help seal the 63-56 win.
Bowling Green continued to play well in the paint, as the Falcons outscored the Golden Eagles 38-28 in points in the paint. However, Oral Roberts held a slight advantage in both points off turnovers, 17-14, and bench points, 12-6, over BGSU.
Bowling Green (2-4) will return home to host Western Kentucky on Monday night, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Stroh Center.
###
Mayan Division - All-Tournament Team
Cameron Black - BGSU
Anthony Henderson - BGSU
Jordan Downing - Presbyterian
Jelani Hewitt - GSU
Korey Billbury - ORU
Shawn Glover (MVP) - ORU
