Falcons Control the Paint in 62-54 Win Over SEMO

Tuesday, November 25

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

3-0

Southeast Missouri State

2-3

Southeast Missouri State

Bowling Green

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 25, 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 (Part 1) | Jans, Chris (Part 2) | Holmes, Richaun
Video: Game Highlights
Postgame Audio: Wood County Postgame Show
Radio Calls by Todd Walker:
Orr Give-and-Go Basket from Holmes in 1st Half
Dickerson Dunk in 1st Half
Austin & Dickerson Alley-Oop in 1st Half
Denny Three-pointer in 2nd Half
Holmes And 1 Basket in 2nd Half
Photos: Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza)

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team improved to 3-0 on the season by dominating the paint, as the Falcons outscored Southeast Missouri State 36-20 in points in the paint, 17-9 in second chance points, and hauled down a total of 15 offensive rebounds in the 62-54 home win on Tuesday night at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The game, which saw four lead changes and a total of seven ties, was iced late on six straight made free throws by the Falcons over the final 40 seconds of the contest.

"I thought we played really well. And obviously we started off great … we couldn't have drawn it up any better. Then they went to the zone and we got a little bit hesitant. We anticipated them actually pressing more and playing a lot of multiple defenses, which I was looking forward to see how we would react to that cause we haven't seen a lot of zone. Unfortunately we didn't react as well as I would have liked," commented head coach Chris Jans. "But we settled down a little bit in the second half and certainly talked a lot about how we would attack their zone."

The win pushes BGSU to 3-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, while the loss drops SEMO to 2-3 on the year.

Senior forward Richaun Holmes led the way for the Falcons with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds, while fellow starter Spencer Parker added 10 points and four rebounds of his own in only 16 minutes of action due to foul woes. Zack Denny chipped in with nine points, five rebounds and three steals, while junior forward Delvin Dickerson tallied six points, four of which came off two fast break dunks, and a career-high seven rebounds. Guard David Joseph led the Falcons with four assists.

The Redhawks had a trio of players in double digits in Jarekious Bradley with a game-high 18 points, as he hit 4-of-8 three-pointers on the night, Aaron Adeoye with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and Nino Johnson with 10 points and four blocks.

"I was pleased with the rebounding. We had I think nine offensive rebounds at the half and I told them that if we can do that again we would win the game. We came up short, we ended up with 15, but I thought for the most part they did a better job on the glass then we were doing previously," continued Jans. "And we took care of the basketball. I'd take 10 turnovers every game all year long and I think we would be in good shape."

The Falcons jumped out to a hot start, connecting on three of its first four shot attempts of the contest, to take a 10-2 lead on a layup on the left block from Chauncey Orr on a give-and-go play with Holmes at the 16:13 minute mark of the opening half.

However, the Falcons would go ice cold from the floor offensively for the next several minutes, as the Redhawks crept back into the game with a 7-0 surge over a six minute span to cut the BGSU lead to one at 10-9.

After a layup by Parker down low ended the Falcons scoring drought at just under six minutes and put the score at 12-9 in favor of the home team, the Redhawks answered with a three-pointer from Bradley to jump-start a 12-4 run by the visitors in red who pulled out to a five point lead at 21-16 on another trey from Bradley and forced the Falcons to call a timeout with 4:36 to go before the halftime break.

Out of the timeout BGSU responded favorably, as the Falcons got a three-ball from Denny, a tip-in basketball on an offensive rebound from Garrett Mayleben, a fast break two-hand slam from Dickerson and a breakaway alley-oop from Jovan Austin to Dickerson over the next three minutes of play to give BGSU the lead back at 24-21 with 1:31 in the first half.

Each team would add a basket in the final minute of the opening half to give the Falcons a three-point lead at 26-23 at the halftime intermission.

Bowling Green looked to start the second half much like the first, as Parker hit a jumper on the Falcons' first offensive possession to increase the home team's lead to five at 28-23, only this time SEMO answered with a quick seven straight points to retake the lead at 30-28 on yet another three-pointer from Bradley at the 15:53 mark.

The two teams would tie the game up two more times over the next five minutes, first at 30-30 and then again at 38-38, before BGSU went on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a three-pointer from the corner from Jehvon Clarke, to fly out to an eight point lead at 48-40 on a jumper from Holmes with 7:40 to go in regulation.

Over the next several minutes the Falcons had an answer for every Redhawks' basket until back-to-back jumpers from Adeoye and Johnson trimmed the BGSU lead to two at 54-52 with just 1:53 remaining on the game clock.

Four straight points from Austin, followed by two free throws apiece from both Denny and Parker, helped to put the game on ice for the Falcons in the 62-54 win.

BGSU shot 23-of-57 (40.4 percent) overall for the game, but was only 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from behind the three-point arc. The Redhawks connected on 19-of-46 (41.3 percent) shot attempts from the field and was 6-of-15 (40 percent) from long distance. However, the Falcons had nine steals and forced SEMO into 17 turnovers for the game.

The Falcons got to the charity stripe often, as BGSU was 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) from the foul line and attempted eight more free throws than SEMO who was 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line for the game.

Bowling Green also held a 38-30 edge on the glass on the night.

BGSU will look to add to its three-game winning streak this Sunday, as the Falcons will hit the road to take on regional foe Detroit on Nov. 30 at 3 p.m. in Detroit, Michigan. The game is slated to be shown on ESPN3 or the Watch ESPN App.

###

Notes
* BGSU is off to its first 3-0 start since the 1999-2000 season. That year the Falcons won the MAC Championship.
* First year head coach Chris Jans is the first BGSU men's basketball head coach since Harold Anderson to win his first three games as the head coach of the Falcons. In his first year as the BGSU head coach in 1942-43, Anderson won his first 14 games with the Falcons.
* The win was the first-ever win for BGSU on the hardwood over Southeast Missouri State, making the Falcons 1-0 all-time versus the Redhawks.