Trio of Falcons Post Double Digit Points in Home Loss to WMU

Saturday, February 13

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

13-12, 4-8MAC

Western Michigan

10-15, 4-8MAC

Western Michigan

Bowling Green

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 13, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

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        1st half - Fox three-ball from the corner
                       Tisdale block leads to Lillard layup
                       Alcegaire's second trey of the game
                       Gomez layup off the pick & roll
      2nd half - Alcegaire drains a 3pt FG to start 2nd half
                       BGSU defense leads to a Parker layup
                       Wiggins' huge offensive rebound
                       Ali block leads to layup by Parker
                       Wilder offensive foul gives BGSU life
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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University Falcons had three players in double figures and shot 46 percent from the field overall for the game, yet couldn't overcome a poor day at the free throw line and a strong offensive shooting performance in the first half from Western Michigan in a 74-68 home loss to the Broncos on Saturday afternoon inside the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Western Michigan was 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) from the field as a team in the first half, including making all six of its first six shot attempts to take an early lead and not look back on its way to the win.

BGSU shot 46 percent (23-of-50) overall for the game, yet struggled from the free throw line where the Falcons were just 15-of-32 (46.9 percent) overall.

WMU outscored the Falcons 40-32 in points in the point and 13-9 in points off turnovers, while the Falcons held a 32-17 advantage in bench points, an 8-0 lead in fast break points and a 9-6 edge in second chance points despite being out-rebounded 36-30 for the game.

The game saw a total of 42 fouls, two technical fouls and had a total of eight players with three fouls or more for the contest.

Spencer Parker paced the Falcons with 16 points, on 6-of-10 shooting, to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Fellow starter Wes Alcegaire added 15 points, as the junior was 4-of-8 from long distance, while off the bench freshman Demajeo Wiggins finished with a career-high 13 points to go along with eight rebounds and two blocks.

Western Michigan had four players in double figures, as big man Drake Lamont finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Tucker Haymond, Thomas Wilder and Seth Dugan all added 14 points for the Broncos in the win.

The Broncos came out of the gate on fire, as the visitors in black knocked down each of their first six shots and added a free throw from Lamont to gallop out to a 13-2 lead over the Falcons, whose lone basket came on a tough offensive rebound and stick back bucket from Parker over the first four minutes of play.

After WMU missed its first field goal attempt of the game at the 15:05 mark of the first period, the Falcons picked up a corner three-ball from Matt Fox to cut the Broncos' lead down to eight at 13-5 with 14:23 to go in the opening half.

BGSU got a layup from both Wiggins and Parker over the next minute of play, yet couldn't cool off the Broncos who outscored the Falcons 7-4 over a three minute stretch to pull back out in front by 11 at 20-9 on a layup in the paint from Dugan at the 12:15 mark.

A 6-0 run by the home team by way of back-to-back baskets from Antwon Lillard and a layup from David Joseph put the Falcons down just five at 20-15, before a jumper from Anthony Avery, Jr., ended the BGSU surge and put WMU back on top by seven with 8:53 to go before the halftime break.

The Falcons were able to get to as close as five points four more times over the rest of the opening period of play, however, each time the Broncos answered with a basket of their own and then finished the half out on a 7-1 run to take a 41-30 lead at the halftime break.

An Alcegiare trey opened up the second half, as BGSU trimmed the WMU lead down to eight at 41-33, yet the Falcons could not get enough defensive stops on the other end as the visitors pushed their lead out to a game-high 14 points at 51-37 at the 15:05 mark of the second half on a three-pointer from Haymond.

With plenty of time left on the game clock, the Falcons chipped away at the BGSU lead to first cut it to nine at 53-44 on a three-ball from Lillard at the 13:13 mark and then down to eight at 60-52 on back-to-back free throws from Ismail Ali with 8:39 left in regulation.

The two teams then traded layups and after a Bryce Moore bucket put Western Michigan back on top by 10 points at 64-54, Alcegaire drained another three-pointer to put the Falcons down seven at 64-57 with just over five minutes to play.

BGSU cut the lead to five at 64-59 on a layup from Wiggins, again at 66-61 on a drive by Alcegaire and once again at 68-63 on two straight free throws from Ali, before a layup from Parker put the Falcons within striking distance at 68-65 with 2:21 to go in the game.

After a WMU offensive foul gave the ball back to the Falcons, BGSU's Parker was fouled driving to the basket on the next offensive possession by Avery, Jr., who then promptly drew a technical foul for contact after the play was whistled dead with 1:56 on the game clock.

With the two calls, BGSU was awarded four free throws. Parker hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe for the foul, while Ali hit just 1-of-2 from the line for the technical to place the Falcons within one at 68-67 with less than two minutes to go in the contest.

The Falcons failed to score after getting the ball from the technical foul, yet hustled back to get a block on the defensive end from Parker to keep the Broncos from adding to the lead.

However, a Falcon turnover handed the ball right back to the Broncos who then drew two quick fouls to send Wilder to the free throw line where he connected on 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to give WMU a 69-67 lead with under a minute to go in the game.

On the next two offensive series, BGSU missed two free throws and turned the ball over, while in-between WMU's Haymond hit two free throws to push the Broncos' lead back out to four at 71-67.

As the final 29 seconds ticked off the clock, the Orange and Brown went 1-of-2 from the free throw line and 0-of-2 from behind the three-point line, as Western Michigan closed the game out with a free throw from Kellen McCormick and two foul shots from Wilder to give the visitors a 74-68 road win.

The Falcons finished the game with 14 assists, eight blocks and eight steals.

Bowling Green (13-12, 4-8 MAC) will hit the road for a cross-divisional contest at Northern Illinois on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m. ET in DeKalb, Ill.

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Notes

The Falcons' eight total blocks on the game are the most in a single game this season.
BGSU's 32 free throw attempts are tied for the second most by the Falcons in a game this season (32 vs. Ball State & New Orleans).
Demajeo Wiggins' 13 points is a new career-high for the freshman.
With his 16 points, Spencer Parker has now scored in double figures in 19 games this season.
Spencer Parker has totaled 1,043 career points over his time at BGSU, which puts him in 40th-place all-time on the BGSU scoring list.
Wes Alcegaire's 15 points gives him 10 games with double digit points on the year.
The Falcons finished with 14 assists, giving them double digit assists in back-to-back games.
BGSU's 14 assists and 12 turnovers gives the Falcons two straight games with more assists than turnovers overall.
The Falcons had three players with multiple assists in Ismail Ali (5), David Joseph (3) and Spencer Parker (3).