Evansville Escapes With Win Over BGSU Despite Wiggins' Double-Double

Tuesday, December 6

Evansville, IN

8:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

3-6

Evansville

5-4

Bowling Green

Evansville

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

Evansville Escapes With Win Over BGSU Despite Wiggins' Double-Double

December 06, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Game Highlights: BGSU at Evansville
Post-Game Audio: Coach Huger With Todd Walker
Final Statistics: NCAA Box/Play-By-Play | HTML

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sophomore Antwon Lillard's game-tying three at the buzzer rolled around the rim, and popped out, and the University of Evansville escaped with a 69-66 win over the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team on Tuesday (Dec. 6) night at the Ford Center. Sophomore Demajeo Wiggins recorded the first double-double of his career in the loss.

Wiggins scored a career-high 18 points, and also tied his career high in rebounds with 12. Wiggins went 5-for-9 from the field, and 8-for-13 from the free throw line.

Bowling Green falls to 3-6 on the season with the loss, while Evansville improves to 5-4 on the campaign with the win.

"Once we got back into the game, we lost it on turnovers. We turned the ball over at critical times during the game, and that was the difference in the game I thought," said head coach Michael Huger. "I'm proud of the effort in the second half. But I'm disappointed in the start of the game, and giving them a nine-point lead at halftime.

"But then you have to fight your way back. We have to learn how to fight from the start. Like I said, we are still a young team, and we are still learning. This is how you learn on the job."

Along with Wiggins' big night, senior Zack Denny and freshman Rodrick Caldwell also scored in double figures. Denny scored 11 points, and added six rebounds, while Caldwell scored a career-high 10 points. He went 2-for-5 from the floor, 2-for-3 from downtown, and 4-for-5 from the line.

Lillard scored nine points and had four rebounds. Lillard got back on track from downtown, and hit 2-of-3 attempts from three-point range. The sophomore went 2-for-4 from the field. Senior Wes Alcegaire and junior Matt Fox each scored six points. Fox hit two triples, while Alcegaire converted on 3-of-6 shots.

Senior Ismail Ali scored four points and had six assists. Freshman Dylan Frye chipped in with two points, two assists and one rebound.

After trailing by nine points at the half, the Falcons stormed back and tied the game at 40-40 at the 16:24 mark of the second half. The Falcons and Purple Aces then battled it out for the remainder of the game.

Ali tied the game up with 2:46 left at 58-58, but Jaylon Brown, who finished the game with 29 points and went 14-for-15 from the charity stripe, converted a three-point play to give Evansville a 61-58 lead with 2:02 to go.

Evansville built up a 64-58 lead, but Caldwell nailed a three with 59 seconds left on the clock. After two more made free throws, Caldwell drew a foul while launching another triple, and made 2-of-3 at the line to trim the Evansville lead to 68-66 with nine seconds left.

BG fouled with five seconds left, and after Brown hit his first free throw, he missed his only free throw of the night. Lillard grabbed the rebound, ran the length of the floor, and got a great look from just behind the three-point line. But the ball rolled around the rim, and popped out.

Bowling Green will return to the Stroh Center on Dec. 10 to face Detroit Mercy. The game is scheduled to tip at 12 p.m. The Falcons will then fly across the country to face San Jose State University on Dec. 18, before concluding the non-conference schedule with home games against Alabama A&M (Dec. 22) and Norfolk State (Dec. 30).