Falcons and Zips Go Down to the Wire in a 69-68 BGSU Loss

Saturday, January 31

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

13-6, 5-3MAC

Akron

15-6, 6-2MAC

Akron

Bowling Green

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

January 31, 2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Video: Game Highlights
Video - Postgame Press Conference: Jans, Chris | Austin, Jovan
Audio - Postgame Press Conference: Jans, Chris | Austin, Jovan
Video: Postgame Radio Interview with Coach Jans
Audio: Postgame Radio Interview with Coach Jans
Photos: Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza)
Radio Calls by Todd Walker:
Joseph runner (5-2) | Holmes Thunder Dunk (11-6) |
Clarke 3pt basket (16-8) | Joseph drive (18-10) |
Parker and-1 (20-12) | Denny steal & Henderson layup (26-12) |
Dickerson 3pt basket (36-33) | Parker drive (52-42) |
Henderson 4-point play (57-50) |Austin drive late (66-62) |
Gladden put back FG with 3.7 seconds to play (68-69) |
Final Call - BGSU last second shot

Bowling Green, Ohio – In front of the third largest crowd to see a BGSU men's basketball game inside the Stroh Center with a crowd of 3,859 fans, the Bowling Green State University Falcons dropped a nail-bitter to the Akron Zips, 69-68, in a tough 40 minute contest, that saw five ties, five lead changes and a chance for the Falcons to win the game with a last second shot as the final horn went off on Saturday night.

The Falcons, who led in the game for over 35 minutes, saw junior guard Jovan Austin hit back-to-back free throws with 17 seconds left in the contest to put the Falcons up one at 68-67.

However, on the very next Akron offensive possession, the Falcons forced Akron's Noah Robotham to take a contested reverse layup that rolled off the front of the rim, only to see the rebound go to the Zips' B.J. Gladden who put the stick back basket though the net to give the visitors in blue a 69-68 lead with 3.7 seconds left on the game clock.

After a timeout by BGSU, the Falcons got the ball into scoring range where a heavily contested three-pointer from Richaun Holmes came up short, allowing Akron to escape with a 69-68 road MAC win.

The loss snaps the Falcons' home winning streak at five games and puts BGSU at 13-6 overall and 5-3 in MAC play. The win pushes Akron's winning streak to 13 straight games over the Falcons and places the Zips to 15-6 overall and 6-2 in league play.

"It was a heck of a college basketball game. We certainly had our chances to put them away. We didn't execute very well the last minute, minute and a half. We had two turnovers and we were sloppy. We just didn't finish the game," commented head coach Chris Jans. "I just felt like we could never knock them out. We had them staggering a couple of times, but for whatever reason we couldn't finish them off. I think it says a lot about Coach Dambrot's staff and the program that he's built, and certainly the players that they have. They had the toughness to keep playing and to not go away. They figured out a way to win the game at the end."

Holmes paced a balanced offensive attack for BGSU with 11 points to go along with seven rebounds, one block and two steals, while redshirt-senior guard Anthony Henderson chipped in with 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor overall. Both Spencer Parker and David Joseph each tallied nine points each, while Zack Denny and Delvin Dickerson added eight points apiece in the loss. Denny also pulled down seven rebounds and registered two steals in 35 minutes of play.

Akron's Pat Forsythe scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting and pulled down six rebounds to lead the Zips, while Gladden totaled 11 points for the game with none being more important than the final two with 3.7 seconds to play.

The Falcons came out of the opening tip with a sense of urgency, as a three-pointer from Joseph opened up the scoring for the home team who ran out to a 7-2 lead on a jumper from Henderson at the 17:23 mark of the first half.

Following four quick points from Akron to cut the Falcons' lead to one at 7-6 on free throws from Forsythe, BGSU used a layup from Jehvon Clarke and two straight field goals from Holmes, including a one-handed slam, to use a 9-2 run over a five minute span to take a 16-8 lead on a three-pointer from Clarke with 11:00 to go in the opening half.

After two more free throws from the Zips' Forsythe put the Falcons' lead back to six at 16-10, BGSU answered with a 10-2 spurt to take a 14-point lead at 26-12 over the Zips on a Denny steal and Henderson fast break layup at the 5:57 mark.

The largest lead of the game for either team would dwindle for the Orange and Brown, as the Falcons would not make another field goal for the remainder of the half. Akron took advantage of BGSU's offensive woes and used a 17-3 run over the final 5:57 of the opening half to tie the score up at 29-29 going into the halftime break.

In the opening minutes of the second half, the Falcons would take a four-point lead over Akron at 33-29 on a layup down low from Holmes and once again at 37-33 on a free throw from Denny, before a dunk from the left block from Holmes and a three-pointer from Dickerson pushed BGSU's lead out to eight at 44-36 with 11:34 to go in the game.

Akron, however, refused to go away as the Zips would chop the Falcons' lead back down to three at 44-41 on a driving layup from Deji Ibitayo only a minute later.

Two free throws from both Parker and Denny would end the Zips' 5-0 scoring run and flip the momentum back over to the home team who would respond with an 8-1 stretch to pull back out in front by double digits at 52-42 on back-to-back layups from Parker with 8:41 in regulation.

The Zips crept back into the game with the help of the three-point line, as Akron would make five three-pointers over the next five minutes of play to tie the game up this time at 60-60 with 3:43 left on the game clock.

Time would not tick away fast enough for the Falcons, as the two teams' respective big man in Forsythe and Holmes each knocked down two straight free throws to put the score dead even at 62-62 at the 2:54 mark.

The Falcons looked poised to finish the game out strong, as Clarke hit two straight foul shots with just less than two minutes to go in the game to put BGSU back on top at 64-62, while Austin followed with a layup in the paint a minute later to put the home team on top by four at 66-62 with 1:01 to play.

Nevertheless, the Zips had other plans, as Robotham hit a three-pointer from the top of the key over the outstretched hands of a BGSU defender with 50 seconds to play and then after a BGSU turnover gave the ball back to the Zips, Robotham followed an Akron timeout with a tough 15-foot baseline jumper to put the visitors in front by one at 67-66 with 25 seconds remaining.

Just eight seconds later, BGSU's Austin would draw a foul and connect on both of his free throw attempts to put the Falcons in front by one at 68-67.

With 17 seconds left on the game clock, Akron got the ball to Robotham who drove toward the basket from the left wing and flicked up a contested reverse layup where Gladden would score what would prove to be the game winning basket off an offensive rebound with 3.7 seconds to play.

BGSU, who shot 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) in the first half, shot only 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) in the second half to finish the game 20-of-52 (38.5 percent) overall from the floor.

On the other hand, Akron, who shot 10-of-27 (37 percent) in the first half, was 13-of-30 (43.3 percent) in the second half to finish the game at 23-of-57 (40.4 percent) overall.

BGSU outscored Akron 26-24 in points in the paint, yet the Zips held an 18-8 edge in points off turnovers as the Falcons coughed up the ball 15 times.

The Falcons were also out-rebounded by Akron 38-35 for the game.

BGSU (13-6, 5-3 MAC) will hit the road for each of their next two contests, first taking on Central Michigan on Wednesday night, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The Chippewas are 12-0 at home this season. The game is slated to be broadcast by ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App.

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Notes
* The crowd of 3,859 in attendance is the third largest crowd to watch a men's basketball game in the Stroh Center's four-year history.
* The Falcons fall to 9-2 at home on the season with the loss.
* The loss snaps the Falcons' home game winning streak at five games.
* BGSU has now lost 13 straight to the Akron Zips in men's basketball action.
* David Joseph matched his BGSU career-high with nine points. He also had nine points vs. Wright State on Nov. 19.
* BGSU's Richaun Holmes increased his double digit scoring streak to eight straight games with his 11 points.
* Bowling Green falls to 2-5 on the season when being out-rebounded by their opponent.
* The MAC loss to Akron on Saturday night is the first home conference loss for Coach Chris Jans in nearly two years. He last experienced a home conference loss on the sidelines as part of the staff at Wichita State back on Feb. 27, 2013 when the Shockers loss at home to Evansville.