Falcons Stifle Raiders in 70-55 Home Opening Win

Wednesday, November 19

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

2-0

Wright State

2-1

Wright State

Bowling Green

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 19, 2014 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Stats: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Postgame Video: Jans, Chris | Denny, Zack
Postgame Audio: Jans, Chris | Denny, Zack
Video: BGSU vs. Wright State Highlights
Photos: Photo Gallery (courtesy of Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing & Communications)

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team moved to 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon with a 70-55 win over Wright State in the Falcons' 2014-15 home opener. BGSU outscored the Raiders 43-27 in the second half and used stifling defense to hold the visitors in green without a made field goal over the final 10:10 of the contest.

"We anticipated a Wright State team to come in here with an established culture, Coach Donlon has done a good job and they had just beat Belmont, so they came in with some confidence. Belmont is a very good program and in our scouting it really told our guys how hard they played. That was the thing that stuck out the most was how intense they played and how they scraped and scratched and clawed. So as a staff we were really looking forward to playing a team like that to see where we are at," commented head coach Chris Jans.

With the win, the Falcons extend its winning streak to 23 straight wins in home openers with the last loss coming back to Findlay in 1991-92.

BGSU also improved to 17-0 in the Stroh Center when scoring 70 points or more in the game.

Sophomore guard Zack Denny led the Falcons with a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds, as the sharp-shooter was 6-of-9 from the field overall and 4-of-4 from behind the three-point line in 27 minutes of play.

Junior forward Spencer Parker added 14 points, six rebounds and three steals, while senior big man Richaun Holmes had nine points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

The Raiders were led by Chrishawn Hopkins 13 points, as he was 4-of-8 from the floor overall, while Joe Thomasson added nine points and nine rebounds in the loss.

For the second straight game, the Falcons got on the scoreboard first, as Chauncey Orr hit a layup from the left block 23 seconds into the contest to take a 2-0 lead.

BGSU would push its lead to seven at 9-2 on a layup from Garrett Mayleben at the 14:43 mark, only to see Wright State answer with an 11-4 run over the next six minutes to tie the game up at 13-13 on a free throw from Mark Howell with 9:08 to go in the opening half.

The home team answered with a layup from Jehvon Clarke and a free throw from Parker to retake the lead at 16-13. However, Wright State responded once more with five quick points to jump-start a 15-6 run and take its largest lead of the game at 28-23 on a three-pointer from Reggie Arceneaux with 1:10 to go before the break.

Denny closed out the first half with four quick points to cut the Raiders lead to one at 28-27 at the halftime intermission.

The Falcons, who had 10 turnovers in the first half, took care of the ball in the second half, committing only four turnovers over the final 20 minutes of play, and picked up the intensity on the defensive end to hold the Raiders to only six made field goals for the entire second half.

"We settled down in the second half and our defense took hold and we continued to guard," continued Coach Jans. "I was probably most pleased in the fact that for forty minutes I felt like they were trying to defend the way we want them to."

The trend started from the opening possession of the second half, as Bowling Green's Orr drew a charge on Steven Davis of Wright State to give the ball to the Falcons.

BGSU followed with three straight layups down low in the paint to retake the lead at 33-31 on a rebound and put back basket from Holmes at the 18:03 mark.

Following an old-fashion three-point play from Hopkins of WSU to put the Raiders back on top at 34-33, the two teams traded both baskets and the lead until a free throw from Parker and a trey from Denny pushed the Falcons' lead back out to three at 41-38 with 15:41 to go in the game.

The Falcons did not look back, as a turn-around jumper from Delvin Dickerson, a layup from Denny and a free throw by Holmes kept the home team in front by five at 46-41 with 12:53 left on the game clock.

After a three-pointer from Grant Evans less than 20 seconds later and a jumper by Michael Karena in the paint put the Raiders down just three at 49-46 with 10:10 left to play, the Falcons defense locked down Wright State as the visitors would score just nine points the rest of the way with all nine points coming from the free throw line.

The defense fueled the offense, as the Falcons got a 12-foot jumper from Anthony Henderson at the 8:56 mark which kicked-off a 15-3 run, highlighted by three's from Denny and David Joseph, as well as back-to-back blocks on the same defensive possession from Holmes, to pull away from the Raiders by 15 points at 64-49 with just over three minutes to play in regulation.

Wright State would hit six free throws over the final 3:03 of the game, as the Falcons held on to the double digit lead on the way to a 70-55 home opening win.

BGSU outscored the Raiders 30-16 in both points in the paint and bench points, and also held an 11-point advantage in second chance points at 14-3.

The Falcons shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) overall, including going 5-of-11 from down town, and held the Raiders of Wright State to 32.7 percent (17-of-52) shooting for the game.

Bowling Green (2-0) will return to the Stroh Center on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m. to host Southeast Missouri State.

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Notes
* The win was the 23rd straight home opening win for the Falcons. The last BGSU loss in a home opener was to Findlay back in 1991-92.
* The Falcons improve to 17-0 all-time at the Stroh Center when scoring 70 points or more for the game.
* The win was the first win at home in the Stroh Center for first year head coach Chris Jans.
* With the win, BGSU is 2-0 to start the season for the first time since opening up the 2003-04 season with two wins over Urbana and Findlay.
* With the 2-0 start, first year head coach Chris Jans is the first coach in BGSU history to start his career off at 2-0 since John Weinert in 1976-77.
* The Falcons have now posted an overall record of 87-13 in home openers since tipping-off the inaugural season in 1915-16 with the win.
* BGSU is averaging 9.0 blocks per game over their first two games this season.
* The Falcons have had five different players score in double figures so far this season.