Falcons Suffer First MAC Loss of the Season at Akron

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Final Statistics: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Audio: Postgame Press Conference with Coach Jans and Richaun. Holmes
Audio: Postgame Interview with Todd Walker and Coach Jans

Akron, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team was plagued by foul trouble and its worst offensive shooting night of the season in a 67-50 road loss in MAC play at Akron on Wednesday night at James A. Rhodes Arena.

BGSU shot a season-low 32.8 percent (20-of-61) overall and was just 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from the free throw line in the loss, while Akron was 24-of-44 (54.5 percent) from the floor overall, including going 16-of-19 for the game on two-point shot attempts inside the three-point arc.

The Falcons scored 20 of its 50 points off of 17 Akron turnovers in the game.

The loss snaps the Falcons' winning streak at four games and drops BGSU to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in league play. Akron moves to 11-5 and 2-1 in the MAC with the home win.

"Well there is not much to say after a game like that. A little bit back-and-forth to start the game and then we just got beat by a better team tonight. I was curious to see how our team would play at a place like this. I got a lot of respect for Coach Dambrot and his program that he's built, a very good program that is nationally known in the college basketball industry, and I was curious to see how we would react playing against a very well coached, tough minded team and obviously the results weren't very good for us," commented head coach Chris Jans. "So we got a lot to learn. That's all we can do at this point is to learn from our mistakes and try to figure out how we can get better moving forward."

The Falcons were led offensively by Anthony Henderson's team-high 11 points, on 4-of-9 shooting, while Richaun Holmes, who fouled out with over five minutes to go in the contest, added 10 points and four rebounds. Guard Zack Denny had eight points, on just 3-of-8 shooting, five rebounds and four steals in a team-high 30 minutes of play.

For Akron, the Zips were led by Deji Ibitayo and his game-high 15 points, on 5-of-10 shooting, while guard Noah Robotham and post player Pat Forsythe both finished in double figures with 14 and 10 points apiece, respectively.

The physical game started right off the opening tip, as the two teams' traded turnovers on back-to-back steals and then on the very first field goal attempt of the game, BGSU's Spencer Parker banged knees with an Akron defender and goes down to the ground without a whistle.

Akron countered the missed layup with a basket of its own from Kwan Cheatham, Jr. on the ensuing offensive possession to take a 2-0 lead over the Falcons at the 18:49 mark of the opening period.

BGSU was able to string together a free throw from Holmes and an offensive rebound and stick back basket from Henderson over the next minute of play to take a 3-2 lead over the Zips.

The two teams then traded baskets and the lead until a layup by Delvin Dickerson on an offensive put back bucket tied the score up at 7-7 at the 15:47 mark.

Following two made free throws from Akron 20 seconds later, the Falcons' Jehvon Clarke hit a long two-point jumper, which was followed by a layup from David Joseph just over a minute later to put the visitors in Orange and Brown in front by two at 11-9.

The Joseph layup at the 13:23 mark would be the last basket for the Falcons for the next 4:20 of the game, as Akron used BGSU foul trouble - two fouls apiece on Henderson, Holmes, Denny and Dickerson - as well as the three-point line to run off 15 straight points and zip out to a 13-point lead at 24-11 on back-to-back dunks from Forsythe and Ibitayo with 9:21 to go in the first half.

A jumper from Parker at the 9:03 mark ended the Zips scoring run, however, it only halted the Falcons' scoring drought for a bit, as Akron scored the next 12 points, highlighted by three-points from B.J. Gladden and Nyles Evans, to push its lead out to 23 points at 36-13.

Five straight points off of two free throws and a three-pointer from the right corner from Henderson cut the Akron lead to 18, while Holmes added to the 9-0 surge with a layup and a jumper of his own to put the Falcons down 14 at 36-22 with 1:39 before the break.

A late jumper by Akron's Robotham sent the game into the halftime break with the home-standing Zips in front by 16 at 38-22.

BGSU opened the second half 4-of-8 from the floor on the offensive end and was able to cut the Akron lead to 16 at 46-30 on a long trey from Clarke and then again at 48-32 on a steal and layup from Denny on the full-court press to force Akron to call a timeout with 13:45 to go in the game.

A Holmes layup at the 11:50 mark again put the Falcons down 16, this time at 51-35, yet BGSU continued to be whistled for fouls and saw the Zips push its lead back out to as high as 24 at 59-35 on a layup by Ibitayo on an and-1 opportunity at the 8:36 mark of the second half.

The Falcons got to within 17 points three times over the final seven minutes of play, but saw Holmes and Dickerson each foul out with over four minutes to go in the game as Akron went 4-of-6 from the charity stripe over the last 5:21 of play and held BGSU to just seven points over the final four minutes of the contest to hold on for the 67-50 home win.

Akron out-rebounded BGSU 36-33 for the contest and shot 10 more free throws (21-11) then the Falcons for the game.

Both teams scored 26 points in the paint on the night. However, Akron held a 17-11 edge in second chance points over BGSU and a 26-18 advantage in bench points.

Bowling Green (10-4, 2-1 MAC) will return home to host Ball State on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 4 p.m. The game is slated to be broadcast by BCSN Sports (Television) and on ESPN3 (Internet).

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Notes
* BGSU has now lost 12 straight to the Zips with their last win coming back on March 1, 2009.
* The Falcons had their winning streak snapped at four games with the loss.
* BGSU had eight different players score in the game.
* The 50 point output by the Falcons is the lowest points total in a game for BGSU all season.
* The 32.8 percent shooting by the Falcons for the game is the lowest field goal percentage by BGSU in a single game this season.
* The 54.5 percent shooting by Akron is the highest field goal percentage that BGSU has allowed its opponent to shoot in a single game this season.
* With his 10 points, Richaun Holmes has scored in double figures in 10 different games this season.

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Anthony Henderson

Richaun Holmes

Zack Denny

Jehvon Clarke

Players Mentioned

Jehvon Clarke

Zack Denny

Delvin Dickerson

Anthony Henderson

Richaun Holmes

David Joseph

Spencer Parker

Players Mentioned

Jehvon Clarke

Zack Denny

Delvin Dickerson

Anthony Henderson

Richaun Holmes

David Joseph

Spencer Parker

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