Falcons Host First Place Broncos Wednesday

BGSU vs. Western Michigan
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
Stroh Center (4,280) / Bowling Green, Ohio
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COMPLETE GAME NOTES (.PDF)

2012-13 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Akron	10-0	19-4
Ohio	8-1	17-6
Bowling Green	4-6	9-14
Buffalo	4-6	9-15
Kent State	4-6	13-11
Miami	3-7	8-14
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Toledo	7-3	11-10
Western Michigan	7-3	15-8
Eastern Michigan	4-5	11-12
Ball State	3-7	9-13
Northern Illinois	3-7	5-17
Central Michigan	2-8	9-14

QUICK HITS (SIZED FOR YOUR TWITTER ADDICTION)
* Bowling Green host MAC West leader Western Michigan Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Stroh Center.
* BGSU is 7-3 at home and 3-1 in MAC play, while Western Michigan is 5-7 on the road, but 3-2 in league play.
* Bowling Green is 67-45 all-time against Western Michigan with a win over the Broncos last year.
* If the MAC Tournament started today, BGSU would be the No. 5 seed and earn a bye to the second round in Cleveland.
* A'uston Calhoun earned his second career MAC East Player of the Week award for his efforts last week.
* Craig Sealey had eight points and a career-high 12 rebounds in just 16 minutes at Ohio.
* A'uston Calhoun has scored in double-figures in nine straight games and has 15.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in the past four.
* Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-16 three-pointers and Luke Kraus has made 8-of-18 in the past seven games.
* BG's A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford are the second-highest scoring duo in the MAC, averaging 31.2 points per contest.
* Richaun Holmes ranks 26th in the country in blocked shots at 2.4 per contest.
* With 56 blocks, Richaun Holmes needs four more to post the highest single-season total in program history.
* Richaun Holmes has more blocked shots than three MAC teams.
* BGSU lost for just the second time this year when outrebounding an opponent at Ohio Saturday.
* BGSU has committed a MAC-low 12.4 turnovers per game.
* BGSU has won four games this year when shooting below 40 percent from the field.
* The Falcons will play at IPFW Feb. 23 in the 11th and final BracketBusters series.
* Bowling Green's March 2 game at home against Ohio has been picked up by STO and the start time has been moved to noon.

FALCONS HOST FIRST PLACE WESTERN MICHIGAN WEDNESDAY
Bowling Green returns home to host Western Michigan Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a game televised locally by BCSN. Western Michigan currently sits tied for the MAC West lead, while the Falcons are clinging to the final bye to Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. BGSU is 7-3 in the Stroh Center this year, while Western Michigan is 5-7 on the road but has picked up three road conference victories in five chances.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green is 67-45 all-time against Western Michigan, including a 72-48 road victory a year ago. The Broncos, though, won in Anderson Arena in 2010-11 and the Falcons have now beaten Western Michigan in Bowling Green since the 2008-09 season. The two programs have faced each other in the MAC Tournament in two of the past three seasons with Western Michigan coming out ahead in both contests.

LAST GAME: OHIO USES SECOND HALF RUN TO PULL AWAY
Ohio used an 11-0 run early in the second half to pull away from Bowling Green Saturday in a 72-63 win. The Bobcats led just 35-34 at the half and the score was tied at 37-37 before Ohio's run. A'uston Calhoun had a game-high 19 points and added eight rebounds, while Jordon Crawford had 17 points and four assists. Craig Sealey came off the bench for eight points and a career-high 12 rebounds in just 16 minutes and Richaun Holmes added eight points off the bench. BGSU held a 41-32 rebounding edge but the Falcons committed 16 turnovers, six more than the Bobcats.

BLOCK PARTY
With three blocked shots against Northern Illinois, Richaun Holmes now has 56 on the season and is just three away from tying the BGSU single-season record of 59 set by Cornelius Cash in 1973-74. Holmes is 26th in the country with 2.4 blocks per game and has blocked at least four shots six times this year. According to StatSheet, Holmes ranks fourth in the country in block percentage at 14.8 percent (percentage of non-three-point shots blocked while on the floor).

10 ORR MORE
Sophomore Chauncey Orr, son of head coach Louis Orr, has put together the strongest stretch of his young career, scoring at least 10 points in four of the past seven games. He scored a career-high 18 points in a win over Kent State and is averaging 10.6 points on 59.6 percent shooting during the stretch. Orr has also made 9-of-16 three-pointers and 9-of-11 free-throws to go with 12 assists and 11 steals.

THREE'S THE KEY
While Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-16 three-pointers over the past seven games, teammate Luke Kraus has been almost as strong during that time frame. Kraus has made 8-of-18 three-pointers, twice connecting on three in a game (at Toledo and at Northern Illinois).

CLOSE THE DEAL
Bowling Green has been ahead or tied in the final 10 minutes in 18 of the team's 23 games this year, including 9-of-14 losses. Seven times, Bowling Green has had possession in the final 10 seconds of those losses with a chance to win or tie.

BRACKETBUSTERS
The 11th and final Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters match-ups were announced Monday evening and Bowling Green will play at IPFW on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The Falcons are 6-4 all-time in the BracketBusters series and are 1-1 all-time against IPFW.

CALHOUN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior forward A'uston Calhoun averaged 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in two contests last week to earn MAC East Division Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career. Calhoun had his fourth double-double of the season Wednesday night as the Falcons won their first road game of the year, beating Northern Illinois 57-41. He finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, adding a blocked shot and a steal. In a tough 72-63 road loss at second-place Ohio Saturday, Calhoun had 19 points and eight rebounds. He was also 9-of-11 at the free-throw line on the week.

1,000 POINT TEAMMATES
With a fastbreak lay-up early in the game at Buffalo, Jordon Crawford joined teammate A'uston Calhoun in reaching 1,000 career points this year. The duo are the 40th and 41st players in program history to reach that milestone. They are the eighth set of teammates to score 1,000 career points in the same season, but it is the first time that it's happened in back-to-back seasons as Scott Thomas and Dee Brown reached that total a year ago.

PLUS/MINUS
Although none of them rank among the top two on the team in scoring, Anthony Henderson, Chauncey Orr and Richaun Holmes may have had the largest impact on the success of the team so far this year. Bowling Green has outscored its opponents by 22 points when Henderson is on the floor, 11 when Orr is on the court and 10 when Holmes is in the game. Those are the top three plus/minus ratings on the Falcons this year.

THE MAC TOURNAMENT
With six MAC games remaining before the MAC Tournament, Bowling Green has put itself into position to battle for one of the five byes. The Falcons would currently be the No. 5 seed and would face the winner of No. 8 seed Ball State and No. 9 seed Northern Illinois in the second round. BGSU is just 1/2 game behind Eastern Michigan (and holds the tiebreak) for the No. 4 seed, which would earn byes through the first two rounds.

THE SPLITS
Bowling Green's home and away free-throw shooting numbers are eye-popping. On the road, the Falcons have attempted 29 fewer free-throws than opponents have made, shooting just 66.1 percent. At home, Bowling Green has attempted 38 more free-throws than opponents, shooting 72.5 percent at the stripe. In nine road games, BGSU has given up an average of more than seven points per game at the free-throw line.

1-2 PUNCH
Senior forward A'uston Calhoun and senior guard Jordon Crawford currently rank as the second-highest scoring duo in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 31.2 points per game. Toledo's Rian Pearson and Julius Brown lead the way at 32.1 points, while Kent State's Chris Evans and Randal Holt are third at 30.9 points.

MORE OF THE DYNAMIC DUO
Both A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford are averaging at least 15.0 points per game. The last BG teammates to finish a season at 15.0 points per game or better were John Reimold (18.5 points) and Josh Almanson (17.2 points) in 2004-05.

68 OR LESS
Bowling Green is 0-10 this year when opponents score at least 68 points and 9-4 when holding those teams to 67 or less.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
In just over one year, the Stroh Center has proven to be a difficult place for opponents to play. The Falcons are 7-3 this year at home after going 12-4 a year ago, including a mark of 3-0 against teams that eventually went to the NCAA Tournament (victories over Detroit, Temple and Ohio). The 19-7 record in the Stroh Center comes out to a .731 winning percentage, which is higher than the program's .709 winning percentage in Anderson Arena, the home for the Falcons from 1960-2011.

STROH IN THE 70'S
BGSU is 8-0 all-time when scoring at least 70 points in the Stroh Center. The Falcons went 5-0 last year and defeated Detroit 70-65, Kent State 70-55 and Ball State 70-59 this year.

50% IS GREATER THAN 80%
Under Head Coach Louis Orr, Bowling Green has won more than 80 percent of its games when its shoots at least 50 percent from the floor. A year ago, the Falcons went 8-3 in such games and are 38-9 in Orr's five years at Bowling Green when reaching that total. BG shot 50 percent from the field twice this year, losing at Miami and defeating Ball State at home.

HINDSIGHT IS 20-20
When Jordon Crawford and A'uston Calhoun each scored 21 points at Miami, it marked the second time this year that the senior duo has each reached the 20-point mark in the same game. Unfortunately, the Falcons have lost both of those contests (the other being a triple overtime loss at South Florida). In fact, Bowling Green has lost all three games in their careers when they both scored 20 points (losing at Valparaiso a year ago).

BLOCKING OUT
Bowling Green has blocked as many or more shots than its opponent in 19-of-23 games this year, including a season-high 10 against USF. It marked the first time the Falcons had 10 blocked shots in a game since blocking 11 at Illinois State on Dec. 6, 2008. Sophomore transfer Richaun Holmes has led the way with 56 blocks, ranking second in the MAC.

WINNING UGLY
One sign of a good team is the ability to win games when not playing at its best. Four times this year, the Falcons have won games when shooting below 40 percent from the field, beating Lake Erie, Wright State, Samford and Eastern Michigan. A year ago, BGSU lost all seven contests when it show below 40 percent.

D-FENSE! D-FENSE!
Earlier this year, Bowling Green held Wright State and Samford to 42 points or less in back-to-back games. It was the first time the team had done that in successive games since doing so against Loyola and Pepperdine on Dec. 22 and Dec. 27, 1949. It also marked the first time the team held back-to-back opponents to 83 points or less since holding Western Ontario and Miami to 82 points on Dec. 8 and Dec. 12, 1962.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE OVERTIMES
While the school record for overtimes in a single game is four, Bowling Green played a triple overtime contest for the first time in 20 years against South Florida earlier this year. The last time the Falcons went that deep into the night came in a 91-88 loss to Ball State on Jan. 29, 1992. Overall, the Falcons have played in four overtime sessions already this year, the most since the team played four overtime games in the 2001-02 season.

THE POST GAME
Head coach Louis Orr's philosophy is always to play inside-out and the Falcons have done that well during his tenure. In the past four seasons, BGSU has scored 20 or more points in the paint in 105-of-117 games. The high-water mark came when Bowling Green scored 58 points in the paint against Malone a year ago.

FRESH FACES
BGSU head coach Louis Orr announced the signing of three student-athletes during the fall signing period. J.D. Tisdale (Flint, Mich./Swartz Creek High School), Zach Denny (Germantown, Ohio/Valley View High School) and Garret Mayleben (Milford, Ohio/Milford High School) will join transfer Josh Gomez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Rice High School/Iona) among next year's incoming class.

FALCONS ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of four games on ESPNU and SportsTime Ohio this year. The Falcons hosted Michigan State on ESPNU on Dec. 18 and then played host to Eastern Michigan on STO on Jan. 12 and Akron on Jan. 30. It was also announced that the Falcons would host Ohio on March 2 on STO with a game time set for 12 p.m. There will be 10 more MAC games selected to be aired on ESPN/STO throughout the year.

PRESEASON ALL-MAC
A'uston Calhoun earned East Division Preseason All-MAC honors by voting of 24 members of the MAC News Media. Calhoun was one of five players selected in the East Division, joining Buffalo's Javon McCrea, Akron's Zeke Marshall, and Ohio's D.J. Cooper and Walter Offutt.

MEDIA PICKS BOWLING GREEN FIFTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish fifth in the East Division by vote of 24 members of the MAC News Media. The Falcons were chosen ahead of Miami, while Ohio was selected to win the division, followed by Akron, Kent State and Buffalo.

A'USTON IS ALL-MAC
A'uston Calhoun was named to the 2012 All-MAC Second Team by vote of the league's 12 head coaches after being named honorable mention in 2011. Calhoun ranked fifth in the MAC in scoring in league games (15.1 points per game), eighth in field-goal percentage (50.3 percent), and 12th in rebounding (5.4 per game).

CSM HONORS CALHOUN, CRAWFORD
College Sports Madness released its preseason All-MAC awards, naming A'uston Calhoun first team preseason All-MAC and Jordon Crawford third team.

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