Falcons Fight Back for 79-78 Road Win at WMU

Tuesday, January 26

Kalamazoo, Mich.

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

13-7, 4-3MAC

Western Michigan

8-12, 2-5MAC

Bowling Green

Western Michigan

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

January 26, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, BGSU Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

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Final Stats: Box Score (HTML)
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Audio: Postgame Press Conference: Huger | Worrell | Fox
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        1st half - Lillard 3pt from the baseline
                       Alcegaire layup
                      Tisdale rebound and basket
                      Tisdale swooping layup
       2nd half - Denny 3PT basket
                        Joseph steal and three-point play
                        Lillard steal and slam
                        Fox 3PT FG from the corner
                    Ali driving layup late in the game
                    Fox clutch 3pt to give BG lead
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Kalamazoo, Mich. – Sophomore guard Matt Fox drained a three-pointer from the left wing in front of the BGSU bench with 53 seconds left to give the Falcons the lead, as the visitors in orange then got two free throws from senior Spencer Parker with 3.2 seconds left on the game clock to seal the 79-78 come from behind road win over the Western Michigan Broncos on Tuesday night in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The Falcons improved to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in league play with the win. BGSU also improved to 3-0 on the road in MAC play on the season with wins at Ohio, at Eastern Michigan and tonight at WMU.

Bowling Green out-rebounded the Broncos 40-33 for the game and outscored the home team 40-22 in points in the paint, 15-13 in points off turnovers, 11-0 in fast break points and 13-4 in second chance points.

The BGSU bench was huge in the win, as the Falcon subs outscored the Broncos' bench 32-20 for the game. JD Tisdale had a career-high 11 points in 14 minutes off the bench, while Antwon Lillard finished with seven points. Fox chipped in with six points, while Ismail Ali and Demajeo Wiggins each added four points apiece off the bench. Ali also had a team-high five assists.

Wes Alcegaire led BGSU with a team-high 14 points, his fourth straight game with double digit points, while Rasheed Worrell totaled 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Parker finished with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes, while David Joseph added nine points in the win.

Western Michigan was led by Tucker Haymond's game-high 20 points, as he was 7-of-15 from the field overall, to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Thomas Wilder poured in 17 points, which included a three-pointer as the final horn sounded, while Drake Lamont tallied 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Broncos.

BGSU came out of the halftime break with six straight points to take its first lead of the game since the early stages of the first half at 44-43 on an old fashion three-point play from Joseph at the 17:16 mark of the second half.

After Western Michigan responded with a 10-4 edge over the Falcons over the next 3:30 of play to pull back out in front by seven at 55-48, the visitors in orange refused to go away and answered with another 6-0 spurt to get to within one at 55-54 on a layup in the lane from Lillard with 10:30 left on the game clock.

The Broncos would use a three-pointer from Kellen McCormick on the next offensive possession to push their lead back out to four at 58-54.

While the Falcons' defense clamped down on the Broncos, WMU was able to get to the free throw line 10 more times over the next seven minutes of the contest, making eight of their 10 attempts from the charity stripe to stay out in front of the Falcons at 68-63 on a foul shot from Haymond with 4:35 to go in the game.

On the ensuing BGSU offensive possession, the Falcons' Alcegaire pulled down a huge offensive rebound and picked up a big put back basket to put the Falcons within three at 68-65.

Following another defensive stop, BGSU's Fox hit the first of two three-pointers, this one from the left corner to tie the score up at 68-68 at the 3:45 mark of the second half.

WMU continued to answer with points of its own, as two free throws from Bryce Moore and a tough jumper from Haymond put the home team back on top by four at 72-68 as time ticked under three minutes on the game clock.

Two free throws from Worrell, another fade away jumper from Haymond and a driving right-handed layup by Ali over the next minute put the Falcons down just two at 74-72.

Two more defensive stops by the Falcons on a Worrell block and a missed three-pointer from WMU, got the ball back to the visitors as Worrell would get fouled on the offensive end. The redshirt-freshmen stepped up and knocked down two free throws to knot the score back up at 74-74 with 1:23 in regulation.

On the next WMU offensive possession, the Falcons were called for a foul to send Haymond to the free throw line to shoot two free throws. The leading Bronco scorer would hit the front rim on both foul shot attempts to keep the score tied at 74-74.

Off the second miss, Worrell grabbed the rebound and passed it up to Ali who pushed the ball up and found an open Fox on the left wing who swished the three-ball in to put the Falcons on top at 77-74 with 53 seconds left to play.

BGSU made a defensive stop on the next WMU offensive series, yet missed two free throws to keep the score at 77-74 with 11 seconds left in the game.

The Falcons immediately fouled WMU to send them to the free throw line rather to take the chance of them tying the game up with a three-pointer. Wilder made the first free throw to put the score at 77-75 and then missed the second one intentionally to try to get the offensive rebound.

However, Parker pulled down the board and was fouled on the play. The senior confidently sunk both free throws to seal the win for BGSU and put the visitors in front by four at 79-75 with 3.2 seconds left in the contest.

WMU made a meaningless three-pointer as the final horn sounded to put the final score at 79-78 in favor of the Falcons.

The Falcons again started slow out of the gate, as WMU's Haymond scored five quick points to take a 5-0 lead over BGSU less than three minutes into the contest.

After BGSU battled back to take an 8-7 lead on a jump-hook in the lane from Wiggins at the 15:47 mark of the opening half, the Broncos responded with four quick points to the Falcons' two to retake the lead at 11-10 on a jumper from Seth Dugan with 14:29 to go before the halftime break.

Back and forth the two teams went, swapping the lead twice before the Broncos pushed their lead out to 10 at 31-21 on a three-pointer from Jared Klein with 8:43 left in the first half.

The Orange and Brown were able to get to within two at 38-36 on a layup from Tisdale and again at 40-38 on a fast break bucket from Tisdale, yet WMU used three free throws from Wilder with less than five seconds left in the opening half to take a 43-38 lead into the halftime intermission.

BGSU shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) from the field overall and shot 40 percent (6-of-15) from behind the three-point line in the win. The Falcons also shot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the free throw line.

WMU shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51), including going 7-of-18 (38.9 percent) from long distance. The Broncos were 27-of-36 (75 percent) from the free throw line on the night.

Bowling Green (13-7, 4-3 MAC) will remain on the road to take on Central Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 4:30 p.m. in Mount Pleasant, Mich. CMU defeated the Falcons 79-67 back on Jan. 9 at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

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Notes

With BGSU's win, the Falcons are 3-0 on the road in MAC play on the season.
BGSU improved to 6-2 overall in true road contests this season with the victory.
The win increased the Falcons' winning streak to five straight games over Western Michigan.
The road win on Tuesday night snapped BGSU's losing streak at two straight games.
With the Falcons' 44.6 field goal percentage in the win, BGSU is now 12-0 on the season when shooting better from the field than their opponents for the game.
BGSU has now shot 44 percent or higher in all 13 of their wins on the year.
By out-rebounding WMU, the Falcons are now 12-0 on the year when pulling down more rebounds than their opponent for the contest.
The Falcons are now 12-2 when scoring 70 points or more for the game.
JD Tisdale scored a career-high 11 points in the victory on Tuesday night.
Rasheed Worrell hauled in a career-high nine rebounds in the road win.