Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
11-15, 5-8MAC
Toledo
22-4, 10-3MAC
Falcons' Fury Falls Short in Final Seconds in Home Loss to Toledo
February 21, 2014 | Men's Basketball
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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Falcons had three players in double figures and outscored Toledo 35-21 in the second half, which included a 25-7 run, yet came up short in a 60-58 home loss on Thursday night in front of a packed house in the Stroh Center.
The Falcons and Rockets played in front of 3,182 fans on Thursday night in the Stroh Center, the fourth largest crowd at the arena for a men's basketball contest in the building's young history.
The contest marked the fourth straight for the Falcons in which the game was decided within the final seconds of the contest.
Bowling Green falls to 11-15 overall and 5-8 in league play with the loss, while Toledo improves to 22-4 overall and 10-3 in the MAC with the victory.
BGSU was led by Anthony Henderson's 15 points, while senior Cameron Black added 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Forward Richaun Holmes had 13 points, eight boards and two blocked shots as well, giving him 73 swats on the year, which ties his own BGSU school record for the most blocks in a single season set just last season.
Julius Brown led the visiting Rockets with a game-high 21 points, while Rian Pearson had 10 points, but none bigger than the final two points of the game to send Toledo home with a win.
Coming out of the halftime break down by 16 at 39-23, the Falcons watched a three-pointer from Brown at the 17:14 mark of the second half put Toledo up by 19 at 42-23.
Following a 30 second timeout by BGSU, the Falcons clamped down defensively and found some rhythm offensively, as a fast break layup from Henderson at the 15:44 mark kicked-off a 25-7 run by the home team over the next five minutes of play that saw BGSU get right back into the contest.
During the run, the Falcons held Toledo to only one made field goal, a jumper in the lane from Nathan Boothe at the 14:17 mark for close to a nine minute period, while the home team picked up buckets from four different players, highlighted by dunks from JD Tisdale and Holmes, as well as an alley-oop from Black to Holmes, putting the BGSU down by single digits at 47-40.
After back-to-back free throws from Black and a single free throw from Toledo's Jordan Lauf, BGSU got a big basket from the left block from Black to cut the Rockets' lead to four at 48-44 with 10:06 to go in the contest.
With Toledo still without a basket since the 14:17 mark, BGSU got another dunk from Holmes and a layup from Spencer Parker over the next two minutes to get within one point of the Rockets at 49-48 with just over eight minutes to play.
Neither team would score over the next three minutes until a layup and an old-fashion three-point play by Brown ended the Rockets' field goal drought at the 5:28 mark and pushed Toledo's lead back out to four at 52-48.
BGSU refused to quit, as Clark answered with a long three-pointer from the top of the key just over 30 seconds later to put the Falcons down just one once more at 52-51 with 4:56 on the game clock.
The next two minutes saw Toledo hit two free throws to extend its lead to three at 54-51, followed by a jumper in the lane from BGSU's Black to put the home team down one yet again at 54-53.
Brown answered with a jumper of his own on the ensuing possession to give Toledo breathing room once more at 56-53, yet the Falcons had an answer yet again, as exactly 30 seconds later Henderson nailed a trey from the right corner with the shot clock winding down to knot the score up at 56-56 with 2:45 to go in the game.
After a missed free throw by Toledo and a BGSU defensive stop, Black gave the Falcons a 57-56 lead, its first lead of the game since the opening bucket, on a made free throw with at the 1:40 mark.
However, the second foul shot missed offline as Toledo hauled in the rebound and looked to retake the lead on its next offensive possession.
The BGSU defense forced the Rockets to call not just one, but two timeouts during that span and then came up with a huge stop on a block from Holmes, which sent the Falcons on a fast break chance in which the home team missed the layup and gave the ball right back to Toledo.
With less than a minute to play, Brown hit a contested jumper to give the lead back to the visitors with 42 seconds to go in regulation.
With yet another game coming down to the wire, the Falcons' Parker, who had a career-high 10 rebounds, was fouled on an offensive rebound to go to the free throw line to shoot a 1-and-1.
The leading free throw shooter for the Falcons hit the first shot to knot the score up at 58-58, but missed the backend of the 1-and-1 to give Toledo the ball with 12 seconds remaining.
The Rockets pushed the ball up the floor off the rebound and moved the ball around the perimeter until it reached an open Pierson on the left baseline who fired off a jumper in front of the Toledo bench which fell through the bottom of the net to put the visitors in front by two at 60-58 with 3.2 seconds on the game clock.
BGSU called a timeout to set up one last play, as Clarke got a decent look from just over 30 feet out as time expired only to see it hit off the front rim, as Toledo escaped with a 60-58 road win.
The Falcons overcame a miserable first half in which they shot 8-of-34 (23.5 percent) and were outscored 20-8 by Toledo in points in the paint, to shoot 14-of-28 (50 percent) in the second half and outscore the Rockets 22-4 in points in the paint and 12-0 in fast break points over the final 20 minutes of play.
Bowling Green shot 22-of-62 (35.5 percent) overall for the contest, while Toledo, who was held to only six made field goals in the second half, shot 21-of-51 (41.2 percent) for the game.
BGSU outscored Toledo 30-24 in points in the paint, 21-10 in points off turnovers and 12-4 in fast break points, yet the Rockets held a four point edge at the free throw line where they were 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) compared to the Falcons' 10-of-17 (58.8 percent).
The final outcome of the Falcons last four games has been by a combined seven points, while BGSU has now had 11 games this season decided by five points or less, including seven of BGSU's 13 MAC contests.
In fact, each of the Falcons last three losses have come by two points or less and in the final seconds of the contest – 65-63 vs. Akron, 62-61 at Kent State and 60-58 against Toledo.
The Falcons (11-15, 5-8 MAC) will look to avenge an earlier season loss to the Miami RedHawks this Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. in Oxford, Ohio.
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