Valiant Effort Falls Short in 77-75 Road Loss at UB in Regular Season Finale

Friday, March 6

Buffalo, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

19-10, 11-7MAC

Buffalo

21-9, 12-6MAC

Bowling Green

Buffalo

Valiant Effort Falls Short in 77-75 Road Loss at UB in Regular Season Finale

March 06, 2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Audio: Postgame Press Conference with Coach Jans
Audio: Postgame Radio Interview with Coach Jans
Radio Calls by Todd Walker:
Henderson 3pt basket in 1st half (UB, 10-9)
Henderson 2nd 3pt basket in 1st half (BG, 18-12)
Holmes alley-opp slam from Joseph in 1st half (BG, 20-13)
Henderson hits a 3rd 3pt basket in 1st half (BG, 23-16)
Henderson and-1 basket in 1st half (BG, 27-17)
Henderson another 3pt in 2nd half (BG, 40-37)
Joseph and-1 basket in 2nd half (BG, 55-53)
Clarke rebound and basket in 2nd half (BG, 59-55)
Henderson with a 2nd 3pt basket in 2nd half (UB, 66-65)
Parker and-1 basket in 2nd half (UB, 68-67)
Joseph score after Clarke steal in 2nd half (BG, 73-71)

Buffalo, N.Y. – In a contest with at least a share of the MAC East Division regular season title on the line, the game lived up to the hype as it was intense, physical and tight for all 40 minutes of play, as the Falcons put up a valiant fight from start to finish in a 77-75 road loss at Buffalo on Friday night in the two teams' regular season finale in a sold out Alumni Arena.

The game saw 14 ties and 21 lead changes on the night, as well as a total of 42 fouls in the physical affair in front of 6,607 in attendance.

The loss drops the Falcons to 19-10 overall and 11-7 in the MAC. BGSU finished third in the MAC East Division behind both Kent State (12-6) and Buffalo (12-6), who finished as co-East Division Champions.

"I told our team in the locker room, I don't remember ever being more proud to be associated with a group of young men because of their willingness to fight back. They were in a tough situation once we realized Richaun wouldn't be playing with us for the rest of the evening and they didn't miss a beat," commented BGSU head coach Chris Jans. "They just rallied amongst themselves and they kept competing. They kept sticking together and at the end of the game we had a chance to win the game. As a coach that is all you can ask for, is that the young men you are working with show that kind of heart."

Jehvon Clarke led the Falcons with 21 points, on 8-of-15 shooting, while redshirt-senior Anthony Henderson added 19 points and was a perfect 5-of-5 from behind the three-point line. Junior guard David Joseph chipped in with a BGSU career-high 13 points and four assists, while off the bench redshirt-junior center Josh Gomez totaled a career-high eight points and eight rebounds in extra minutes due to the absence of Richaun Holmes in the second half due to injury.

Holmes, who got tangled up with a Buffalo player and fell to the floor where another UB player fell on his head on a rebound attempt off a missed free throw late in the first half, had to leave the game at the 4:17 mark of the first half with a bad cut below his lip and only returned for a minute in the second half before returning to the bench with an apparent head injury. He finished with seven points and seven rebounds in only 13 minutes of play.

Buffalo had four players in double figures led by Justin Moss' 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals, as the junior got to the free throw line 14 times in only 21 minutes of play. UB's Will Regan totaled 17 points, on five made three-pointers, and added eight rebounds, while Shannon Evans and Lamonte Bearden finished with 14 and 10 points apiece, respectively. Evans also finished with a game-high nine assists.

The game opened up like a heavyweight championship fight, as the two teams traded baskets, free throws and the lead for the first four minutes of play until a layup in the paint by Moss and a jumper in the lane from Rodell Wigginton put the home team in white up by four at 10-6 with 14:24 to go in the opening half.

BGSU ended a five minute scoring drought with a three-pointer from Henderson at the 11:27 mark, which opened up the flood gates and basket for the Orange and Brown who went on a 14-3 tear, capped off by an alley-oop slam from Joseph to Holmes, to put the visitors in front once again at 20-13 with 8:02 remaining in the first half of play.

After the two teams swapped treys to put the score at 23-16, BGSU used the free throw line, as well as a layup from Henderson and three-pointer from the top of the key from Clarke, to run out to a 14-point lead at 34-20 with 3:48 to go before the halftime break.

The momentum quickly shifted less than 20 seconds later, as UB closed out the half on a 15-1 run by way of five three-pointers combined from Evans and Regan to send the game into the halftime intermission all tied up at 35-35.

In the second half, the two teams went back-and-forth with the Falcons getting eight straight points from Gomez, as a tip-in basket from the 6-10 redshirt-junior at the 12:12 mark gave the Falcons a two-point lead at 50-48.

However, neither team could string together a run to pull away from the other, as four lead changes later the Falcons extended its lead to four at 59-55 on back-to-back layups from Joseph and Clarke with 7:39 to go in the game.

The Bulls answered with three straight free throws from Xavier Ford and Moss, before a three-pointer from Evans banked in off the glass from straight on at the top of the key to give UB back the lead at 61-59 with 6:09 to play.

With Holmes out of the game and fouls mounting up on the post players down low for the Falcons, the Bulls went to the paint where Moss would score on an old-fashion three-point play and Ford would stick back an offensive rebound that fell into his hands after a loose ball scuffle to keep the Bulls in front by four with less than five minutes in regulation.

As time ticked away, the Falcons went to Henderson who nailed a three-pointer from the left corner to trim the Bulls lead to one at 66-65 at the 2:42 mark of the contest.

Following a jumper in the lane from Bearden to put the Bulls back up by three, BGSU's Spencer Parker drove the baseline and got an old-fashion three-point play to tie the game up for a 12th time at 68-68 with just over two minutes left on the game clock.

Two free throws from Clarke 23 seconds later gave the Falcons the lead back at 70-68, only to see the Bulls go back down low to Moss on the block who answered with a bucket and a foul to tie the game up once more at 70-70.

Moss made good on the and-1 free throw attempt to put the Bulls back on top by one at 71-70.

The next three possessions saw Parker hit 1-of-2 free throws, a UB turnover on a steal from Clarke, and fast break layup from Joseph to put the Falcons back on top by two at 73-71 with 52 seconds left in the contest.

However, on the Bulls ensuing offensive possession Regan hit a three-pointer from the wing to give the lead back to UB at 74-73.

The Falcons refused to go away, as BGSU's Joseph answered with a driving layup along the baseline to put the score at 75-74 in favor of the Orange and Brown.

With just 25 seconds remaining, the Bulls got the ball back where Bearden hit a one-handed running jumper in the lane over the outstretched arm of a BGSU defender to put UB back in front once again at 76-75 with 15 seconds to play.

BGSU raced the ball up the floor where Henderson was fouled trying to make a move to the basket from the right wing. The redshirt-senior stepped up to the free throw line for the 1-and-1, but missed on the front end where the ball was rebounded by UB with six seconds on the game clock.

UB's Moss missed the first free throw, but made the second to give BGSU the ball back down 77-75 with six seconds to play.

The Falcons' Clarke took the inbounds pass and went sprinting up the court where he had the ball knocked loose by a UB defender which caused a jump-ball call and gave the ball back to the Falcons with 1.5 seconds left.

After a UB timeout, BGSU set up a play that sent the ball towards the rim where Henderson was leaping to make the catch and lay the ball into the basket. However, contact with UB's Moss sent Henderson flying off-balance through the air and the ball sailed out of play.

The ball, after an official review, would be given to UB with 1.5 seconds to play, as the Bulls through the ball inbounds to hold on for the 77-75 win over the Falcons.

BGSU shot 26-of-61 (42.6 percent) overall and was 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from behind the three-point arc, while Buffalo shot 25-of-59 (42.4 percent) overall for the game.
Both teams made 16 free throws on the night, however, Buffalo shot five more (28) than the Falcons (23) overall.

The Falcons, who were without Holmes for all but a minute and half in the second half, still outscored the Bulls 32-25 in points in the paint and 19-9 in second chance points. However, Buffalo was 11-of-24 (45.8 percent) from behind the three-point line and held an 18-10 edge in bench points for the game.

"This group of young men have already been in some tough situations and from my perspective every time they've had their backs against the wall they have responded, and I don't see that being any different this time," continued Jans. "Certainly, we are going to be in a situation where it is a one and done and everyone is playing for keeps. It's not the route we wanted to take, but we can't change that now and we've certainly made it a little more difficult. They're one game seasons now. We'll regroup, put a game plan together and on Monday we'll be ready to play."

BGSU (19-10, 11-7 MAC) finished as the No. 5 seed and will host No. 12 Ball State on Monday night, March 9, at the Stroh Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m. ET.

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Notes
* BGSU finished the regular season at 19-10 overall and 11-7 in MAC play.
* The 11 conference wins is the most for the Falcons since BGSU totaled 12 MAC wins in 2001-02.
* BGSU finished third in the MAC East Division behind Buffalo (12-6) and Kent State (12-6).
* The Falcons received the fifth seed for the 2015 MAC Men's Basketball Championship, as Toledo held the tiebreaker over the Falcons with a 71-67 win over BGSU this season.
* The Falcons are now 9-5 on the road overall on the year.
* BGSU's Jehvon Clarke scored a season-high 21 points on a season-high eight made field goals.
* BGSU's Anthony Henderson drained a season-high five three-pointers en route to 19 points.
* The Falcons' Josh Gomez posted a career-high eight points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes of play.
* David Joseph scored a BGSU career-high 13 points and pulled down five rebounds.
* Richaun Holmes had his double digit scoring streak snapped at 17 games.