Falcons Edged by Kent State, 62-59, in The Centennial Game

Saturday, January 23

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

12-7, 3-3MAC

Kent State

14-5, 5-1MAC

Kent State

Bowling Green

Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications

January 23, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Stats: Box Score (PDF)
Final Stats: Box Score (HTML)
Video: BGSU Highlights
Video: Postgame Press Conference: Huger | Parker
Audio: Postgame Press Conference: Huger | Parker
Audio: Postgame Interview with Todd Walker: Huger
Audio: Radio Calls by Todd Walker:
1st half - Ali reverse layup
                          Parker and-1 basket
          2nd half - Alcegaire three-ball
                          Another Alcegaire three-pointer
                          Ali long pass to Parker for the bucket
                          Worrell block leads to Parker layup
                          Alcegaire with a third trey
                          Wiggins layup on the block
Photos: Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza)
News: The Centennial Season
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Schedule: 2015-16 BGSU Men's Basketball Schedule
Tickets: Men's Basketball Season Tickets on Sale Now!

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Falcons surrendered 19 offensive rebounds and allowed 21 second chance points to Kent State, as the Golden Flashes escaped the Stroh Center with a 62-59 road win over the Falcons in BGSU's Centennial Game, in which the Falcons were celebrating 100 years of BGSU men's basketball.

The Bowling Green State University Athletics Department recognized over 40 men's basketball alums that came back to be a part of the Centennial Game, as well as the program's reach 100-year history, during the halftime intermission.

It was a tale of two halves for the Falcons, as BGSU scored just 19 points on 20 percent shooting (6-of-30) in the first half to trail the Golden Flashes 30-19 at the halftime break. In the second half, the Falcons poured in 40 points on 57.7 percent shooting (15-of-26) to get back into the contest and give the home team a chance to win the game.

Spencer Parker and Wes Alcegaire each tallied a team-high 14 points apiece, while off the bench Antwon Lillard added eight points and four rebounds. Parker was 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line in 31 minutes of play, while Alcegaire was 4-of-7 from long range in 37 minutes of play. Ismail Ali finished with six points and six assists, while Demajeo Wiggins chipped in with seven points and five rebounds off the bench.

Preseason All-MAC East selection Jimmy Hall led the Golden Flashes with 26 points and 16 rebounds, as the forward was 11-of-25 overall from the field and hauled in nine offensive rebounds. Guard Xavier Pollard finished with 12 points, while Khaliq Spicer ended the game with seven points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

The trend of the game was set early in the contest, as the Golden Flashes' first four made field goals were all off of an offensive rebound tip-in, as the visitors in gold flashed out to a 10-6 lead on a free throw from Chris Ortiz with 13:28 to go in the opening half of play.

Following three straight free throws from the Falcons, one from Wiggins and two straight from JD Tisdale, which cut the Kent State lead to one at 10-9 just over 30 seconds later, the Golden Flashes used back-to-back jumpers in the paint to stay in front of the home team at 14-11 with just over 10 minutes left in the first half.

An old-fashion three-point play from Parker on the ensuing BGSU offensive possession knotted the game up at 14-14 at the 10:07 mark, yet the basket and free throw would be the last points for the Orange and Brown for the next six minutes of play.

During the Falcons' six minute scoring drought, Kent State ran off 11 straight points to storm out to an 11 point lead at 25-14 on a layup in the paint from Spicer with 4:58 to go before the halftime break.

A layup on the block from Wiggins at the 4:07 mark snapped the BGSU offensive famine, however, the Falcons would continue to struggle offensively over the remainder of the half, as Kent State used a layup off another offensive rebound late in the half to take a 30-19 lead over BGSU into the halftime intermission.

Kent State pushed its lead out to a game-high 13 points on a jumper from Kellon Thomas to open up the second half, in which the Falcons responded with back-to-back mid-range jumpers from David Joseph to start a 9-0 surge by the Orange and Brown over the next two minutes of the contest to trim the KSU lead to four at 32-28 on a three-ball from Alcegaire at the 17:02 mark of the second half.

After Kent State pushed the lead back out to nine three more times at 37-28, 39-30 and then again at 41-32, BGSU picked up another trey from Alcegaire, a layup from Parker, two foul shots from Parker and a baseline jumper from Lillard over a two minute stretch to put the Falcons within three points at 44-41 with 10:19 left on the game clock.

Back-and-forth the two teams went until another three-ball from Alcegaire and a layup on the right block from Wiggins on back-to-back offensive possessions, put the home team within one at 49-48 with 6:36 remaining in the contest.

However, Kent State continued to come up with an answer to remain on top of the Falcons, as Hall calmly sank two free throws to propel the visitors back out in front by three at 51-48.

On the next BGSU offensive series, Parker would get fouled on a three-point attempt from the right wing at the 5:52 mark and then step up to the free throw line where he knocked down three straight from the charity stripe to tie the game up at 51-51.

BGSU looked to take its first lead of the game, however, Kent State was able to answer once again, this time on an offensive rebound and tip-in basket from Spicer at the 5:23 mark to put the Golden Flashes back in the lead at 53-51.

The Falcons were able to get to as close as three at 55-52 on a free throw from Lillard at the 2:46 mark of the second half, before a tough driving layup from Parker and a layup underneath the basket from Lillard put the home team within three at 59-56 with 28 seconds left in regulation.

KSU's Pollard would hit two free throws on the next Golden Flashes' offensive possession to put the visitors back in front by five at 61-56.

Following a BGSU timeout, the Falcons' Lillard had a driving layup blocked at the rim by Ortiz, as Kent State came away with the loose ball rebound which forced the Falcons to foul once again.

Kent State missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the Falcons a chance, as Parker found Lillard under the basket for a layup to put BGSU down three once again at 61-58 with just over nine seconds to go in the game.

The final nine seconds would see Kent State miss one free throw, BGSU's Ali hit 1-of-2 foul shots to put the Falcons down two at 61-59 and then see the Golden Flashes' hit the second of two free throws to put the score at 62-59 with just under three seconds to go in the game.

BGSU tried to throw the ball the full length of the court only to see the Golden Flashes knock the ball out of bounds with 0.9 seconds left in the game. The Falcons, just on their side of midcourt, got the ball in to the corner for a last second shot attempt only to have the Kent State defense tightly contest the ball and not allow the home team to get a clean shot attempt off as the final horn sounded.

For the second straight game, the Falcons were out-rebounded, as Kent State edged BGSU 44-38 on the boards on the night.

BGSU's bench outscored the Golden Flashes' bench 23-9, however, Kent State outscored the Falcons 36-22 in points in the paint, 11-8 in points off turnovers and 21-4 in second chance points.

Bowling Green (12-7, 3-3 MAC) will return to play on Tuesday night, Jan. 26, as the Falcons will hit the road to face off with Western Michigan for a 7 p.m. tilt in Kalamazoo, Mich.

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Notes

BGSU is now 12-7 overall, 3-3 in the MAC and 6-4 at home on the season.
With the final score of 62-59, the last three games between the Falcons and Kent State have all been decided by three points or less. (3/3/15 – L, 81-80; 1/7/15 – W, 66-64)
The Falcons' 19 first half points was tied for the fewest points for the Falcons in a single half this season (second half vs. Cincinnati)
BGSU is now 1-7 overall on the season when being out-rebounded by its opponent.
With his 14 point effort, Spencer Parker has now scored in double figures 14 times this season.
With his 14 points, Wes Alcegaire has now scored in double digits in three straight games and in seven games overall this season.
BGSU's bench outscored KSU's bench 23-9 on the game to give the Falcons a 145-67 advantage over its opponents in points off the bench thus far this season in MAC play.