Holmes' Buzzer Beater Lifts Falcons Over Detroit, 64-63

Sunday, November 30

Detroit, Mich.

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-0

Detroit

4-3

Team	1	2	F
Bowling Green	36	28	64
Detroit	28	35	63

Photo by: Doug Sampson

November 30, 2014 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Stats: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Video Highlights: Game Winner as Time Expired (low quality)
Video Highlights: Holmes Buzzer Beater & Locker Room Celebration (Jordan Strack)
Video Highlights: Game Highlights
Video: Postgame Presser with Coach Jans and Richaun. Holmes
Audio: Radio Call of the Holmes' Buzzer Beater by Todd Walker
Audio: Postgame Presser with Coach Jans and Richaun. Holmes
Audio: Postgame Radio Interview with Coach Jans and Todd Walker

Detroit, Michigan - With 2.2 seconds left on the game clock and the Falcons down one, BGSU's Spencer Parker threw an inbounds pass to senior Richaun Holmes at the free throw line. Holmes turned, took one dribble and drove the right side of the lane where he flicked up a contested layup that hit off the backboard and went through the net as time expired to give the Falcons a 64-63 road win at Detroit on Sunday afternoon in the Calihan Hall in Detroit, Mich.

The last time the Falcons won on a buzzer beater was on a three-pointer by Joe Jakubowski over Georgia State on Nov. 14, 2008.

The Falcons improved to 4-0 with the win, while Detroit falls to 4-3 with the loss. The win is the fourth straight victory for BGSU over the Titans.

"Obviously it was a heck of a college basketball game. A game where it is too bad that someone had to take a loss. I'm certain they feel like they got one stolen from them. You do this long enough you win some and lose some in that fashion, and certainly the losses sting for a long time when you lose a game like that, but when you win the joy and the elation is pretty awesome," commented head coach Chris Jans.

Holmes had a career night, as the senior tied a career-high with 26 points and pulled down a new-career-high 18 rebounds to lead the Falcons. He also swatted away five Detroit shots. It was his first double-double of the season and the ninth of his career.

BGSU guards Jovan Austin and Jehvon Clarke added nine points and three assists, while David Joseph chipped in with seven points and three assists in the win.

Detroit was led by Paris Bass' 17 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Juwan Howard, Jr., poured in 14 points, including the shot that gave the Titans the lead at 63-62 with 2.4 seconds to play. Guard Anton Wilson followed with 13 points, as he was 3-of-5 from behind the three-point line.

"It felt like we were in control for the majority of the game. I'm not sure when they took their first lead, but they certainly battled back and wouldn't go away. It became nip and tuck down the stretch," continued Jans. "I was proud of our guys that they stayed together. You know, we could have easily folded and went the other way on a foreign court, on the road like that. But I felt like they stayed together. And then obviously in the end, the last 3-4 seconds with the timeouts and the deflections, the unbelievable execution by all of our guys, obviously including Richaun (Holmes), and having just the where with all to understand how much time he had left and to make a move like that and lay the ball in."

The Falcons, who had led for most of the contest, found themselves down one at 57-56 on a jumper from Bass at the 4:19 mark of the second half.

On the ensuing offensive possession, junior forward Delvin Dickerson pulled down a huge offensive rebound on a missed three-pointer by Clarke as the shot clock was winding down to give the Falcons new life. The offensive rebound led to a drive and dish from Clarke to Holmes, who threw down a thunderous two-handed slam to put the Orange and Brown back on top at 58-57 with 3:44 to go in the game.

A jumper from Howard, Jr., followed by a layup from Clarke over the next minute, saw the two teams' trade both baskets and the lead, as BGSU held a 60-59 with 2:47 on the game clock.

After back-to-back free throws from Detroit's Wilson put the team in white in front at 61-60 at the 2:35 mark, the Falcons' Clarke hit a baseline jumper off a pass from Austin with 1:08 to play to put the team in orange back in front at 62-61.

Following a defensive stop, which saw Holmes register his fifth block of the game on a Bass driving layup and a missed three-pointer by the Falcons as the shot clock expired on the offensive end, the Titan's Howard, Jr. dribbled up the court and hit a tough fade away 15-foot jumper over a BGSU defender to give Detroit a 63-62 lead with 2.4 seconds left in the contest.

BGSU, who had to go the full length of the court, threw the ball toward midcourt where a Detroit defender cut in front of the pass and intercepted it, but stepped on the sideline and went out of bounds on the steal attempt to give BGSU the ball with 2.2 seconds to play.

Two timeouts later, one from each team, the Falcons' Parker found Holmes at the free throw line for the game-winning drive and layup as time expired to give BGSU the one-point win.

BGSU flew out to a 10-2 lead to start the contest on back-to-back baskets in the paint from Holmes over the first five minutes of the contest.

However, Detroit refused to go away and took advantage of a five minute scoring drought by BGSU to cut the Falcons lead to one at 10-9 with 13:55 to play in the first half on a dunk by Bass.

The Falcons continued to have an answer for every Detroit basket over the next several minutes until a 7-0 run by Bowling Green over a two minute span pushed the Falcons out to a nine-point lead at 30-21 on two straight foul shots from Holmes at the 3:40 mark.

The Titans cut the lead to four down the stretch of the opening half, only to see BGSU score the final five points of the half to take a 36-28 lead into the halftime break.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Detroit to open up the second half of play cut the BGSU lead to two at 36-34, yet the Falcons refused to give in and pulled back out to a game-high 10 points at 54-44 on a jumper from Zack Denny with 11:21 in the contest.

The next eight minutes of the contest saw Detroit climb its way back into the game by way of the three-ball and the free throw line to take its first lead of the game since the opening minutes at 57-56 with 4:19 in regulation.

BGSU outscored Detroit 28-14 in points in the paint and 17-4 in second chance points, as the Falcons hauled down 14 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Titans 41-27 for the contest.

The Falcons knocked down 22-of-57 (38.6 percent) of its shot attempts for the game and was just 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) from behind the three-point line. However, BGSU was 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) from the charity stripe in the win.

"Obviously our locker room was a bunch of excited teenagers and grown men for that matter," joked Jans.

BGSU (4-0) will remain on the road to take on Western Kentucky on Wednesday night, Dec. 3, at 8:00 p.m. ET in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

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A video posted by BGSU Athletics (@bgfalcons) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:30pm PST

Notes
* The Falcons are 4-0 to start a season for the first time since the 1999-2000.
* The last time the Falcons won on a buzzer beater was on a three-pointer by Joe Jakubowski over Georgia State on Nov. 14, 2008.
* The win is the fourth straight victory for BGSU over the Titans.
* Richaun Holmes had a career-high 18 rebounds. His 18 rebounds was the most in a game by a player since Otis Polk had 16 at Towson on Dec. 30, 2009.
* Holmes also tied his career-high with 26 points, matching his 26 point effort at Xavier on Dec. 7, 2013.
* The four wins this season over the month of November marks the first time a BGSU team has had four or more wins for the month of November since the 2011-12 team had four wins in the first month of play (4-2).
* The Falcons are 2-0 on the road this season.
* First year head coach Chris Jans is the first BGSU men's basketball head coach since Harold Anderson to win his first four games as the head coach of the Falcons. In his first year as head coach in 1942-43, Anderson won his first 14 games with the Falcons.