Falcons Second-Half Rally Comes Up Short In Loss At Oakland

Friday, November 11

Rochester, MI

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

0-1 (0-0MAC)

Oakland

1-0 (0-0HL)

Team	1	2	F
Bowling Green	29	41	70
Oakland	35	43	78

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 11, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: NCAA Box/Play-By-Play | HTML
Audio: Huger | Alcegaire

ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball opened its season with a 78-70 loss to Oakland University on Friday (Nov. 11) evening at the Athletics Center O'rena. Bowling Green cut a 15-point deficit in the second half to just a single possession, before the Golden Grizzlies held on for the victory.

Senior Wes Alcegaire led the Falcons in scoring with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Senior Zack Denny (15 points) and junior Matt Fox (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Orange and Brown. In his first game as a Falcon, junior Jeffrey Uju led BGSU in rebounding with seven.

Sophomore Demajeo Wiggins picked up two early fouls, but was extremely productive and efficient in his 13 minutes of work. He scored nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. Wiggins registered two rebounds.

Rasheed Worrell also played well in the low post for the Falcons. Worrell scored eight points, and shot 4-of-8 from the field. He also hauled in six rebounds, picked up two assists, and had one block.

Bowling Green shot just 35.1 percent (26-of-74) from the floor, while Oakland shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56). The ballgame may have been decided at the free throw line, as Oakland went 21-of-26 from the line, which was good enough for a percentage of 80.8. The Falcons, on the other hand, shot just 52.9 percent (9-of-17).

Bowling Green's defense created offensive opportunities throughout the night. The Golden Grizzlies dished out 18 assists, but the Falcons also forced 18 turnovers, and scored 28 points off of those turnovers.

The Falcons turned the ball over 11 times, but Oakland scored just eight points off those turnovers. The Orange and Brown scored 13 second-chance points, while Oakland totaled just six. BGSU's bench outscored Oakland's bench (23-17). Oakland did make a living in the paint, however, as the Golden Grizzlies scored 36 paint points compared to Bowling Green's 22.

Bowling Green trailed by a game-high 15 points with 15 minutes to go, but the Falcons trimmed the OU lead to three points at three different points in the game – all of which occurred late in the second half – but the Golden Grizzlies made several dagger-type triples.

Worrell scored on a nice, spinning layup to cut the Oakland lead to 69-66 with 4:19 to go in the game, but Sherron Dorsey-Walker hit a tough, highly-contested three to bump the OU advantage to six points. After an Alcegaire jumper, Dorsey-Walker hit another contested three to increase the Oakland lead to seven points. Wiggins made two free throws to pull BGSU within five, but then Martez Walker tripled to conclude the game's scoring.

The Orange and Brown will travel to South Dakota on Nov. 13. The game is slated for a 4:15 p.m. ET tip. Bowling Green will then turn its attention to the Bill Frack Tournament, which is set for Nov. 19-21. BGSU will play games against UMKC (Nov. 19), Green Bay (Nov. 20) and Murray State (Nov. 21).