Strong Second Half Propels Falcons to 87-82 Win Over Ohio

Tuesday, February 23

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

14-14, 5-10MAC

Ohio

18-9, 9-6MAC

Ohio

Bowling Green

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 23, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, BGSU 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 - Joseph layup gets BG on the board
Alcegaire trey beats the shot clock
                      Wiggins on the feed from Tisdale
   Another Alcegaire three-pointer
                  Lillard putback basket at the horn
2nd half - Parker with the layin down low
                         Worrell from Ali for the big slam
Ali to Worrell in the lane for the jam
   Worrell with a two handed dunk
   Alcegaire drive to the bucket
Parker three-ball from the top of the key
   Lillard layup off the inbounds pass
   Final Call - BGSU beats Ohio 87-82
Photos: Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza)
News: The Centennial Season
Falcon Fans Photo Poster: Download your poster today!
Schedule: 2015-16 BGSU Men's Basketball Schedule

BGSU Highlights

Coach Huger Presser

Parker Presser

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University Falcons snapped a seven-game losing streak, ended Ohio's five-game winning streak and completed the regular season series sweep of the Bobcats for the second straight season with an 87-82 home win over OU on Tuesday night at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The Falcons, who shot 52.5 percent (32-of-61) for the game overall, went 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) from the field in the second half to outscore the Bobcats 51-45 over the final 20 minutes of play to complete the come from behind win.

BGSU outscored the Bobcats 59-3 in bench points, as three Falcons in Spencer Parker, Antwon Lillard and Rasheed Worrell all had double digit points off the bench in the win.

Parker and Wes Alcegaire paced the Falcons with 20 points apiece on the night, as both players shot 50 percent from the floor overall. Parker was 6-of-12 from the field and scored all 20 of his points in the second half. Alcegaire was 7-of-14 from the floor and drained four three-pointers in the first half of play.

Lillard finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Worrell added 14 points, which included three highlight reel dunks, to go along with seven rebounds off the bench for the first time this year. Ismail Ali dished out a team-high six assists, as a total of nine different Falcons scored in the contest.

Ohio was led by Antonio Campbell's game-high 29 points, as the big man was 12-of-17 overall and 5-of-9 from long range on the night. Guard Jaaron Simmons added 24 points and nine assists, while Treg Setty chipped in with 16 points, six rebounds and two steals in 39 minutes of play.

No other Bobcat scored more than five points on the night.

The Falcons out-rebounded Ohio 35-25, including hauling down 11 offensive boards that led to 11 second chance points. BGSU also outscored OU 46-30 in points in the paint and 17-6 in points from the free throw line, as the Falcons were 17-of-22 (77.3 percent) from the charity stripe compared to the Bobcats who were just 6-of-8 (75 percent).

With a new starting five taking the floor for the Falcons at the opening tip, BGSU fell behind 9-0 out of the gates as the Bobcats nailed each of their first four shots to storm out to the lead on a fast break layup from Setty at the 17:45 mark of the first half.

After a layup in the lane from David Joseph at the 17:14 mark got the Falcons on the scoreboard, the Bobcats continued their torrid scoring pace to push their lead out to double digits at 14-4 on a Campbell three-pointer at the 15:49 mark, at 17-7 on a three-ball from Simmons at the 14 minute mark and then again at 22-12 on another trey from Campbell at the 10:48 mark of the opening period.

BGSU continued to hang around and refused to get pushed aside, as a layup in the post from Worrell jump started a 6-0 spurt by the home team in white who cut the lead to four at 22-18 on a jumper from Zack Denny and then watched as an Alcegaire three-pointer hit nothing but the bottom of the net less than a minute later to cap off a 9-2 run and put the Orange and Brown within three at 24-21.

Ohio answered with back-to-back baskets from Setty to pull back out in front by seven, before a free throw from JD Tisdale and a layup from Demajeo Wiggins put the home team down four once again at 28-24 with just under six minutes left on the clock.

The Falcons and Bobcats would trade baskets back-and-forth for the remainder of the half, as BGSU was able to get to within three at 29-26 and then within a field goal at 36-34 on a second straight three-pointer from Alcegaire with just over a minute to go before the break.

Ohio added a free throw from Setty at the 1:01 mark to push the lead back out to three at 37-34, however, the Falcons got the last basket of the half on a tip-in rebound from Lillard as the first half horn sounded to send the two teams to the locker rooms with Ohio in front by one at 37-36.

The two teams picked up where they left off in the first half, as Ohio hit back-to-back three's and got a jumper from Setty to negate a layup on the block from Wiggins to give the visitors in black a seven point lead at 45-38 less than two minutes into the half.

That's when Parker got hot for the Falcons, as the senior scored seven straight points, around two Ohio layups, to put the Falcons within four at 49-45 with 16:15 to go in the final half of play.

Following another Campbell three-pointer to put OU back in front by seven at 52-45, the Falcons got a basket from Alcegaire to key a 12-4 run by the Falcons, which was highlighted by three monster dunks from Worrell with the third slam putting the home team on top for the first time of the night at 57-56 with 9:40 to go in regulation.

An Alcegaire layup pushed the Falcons' lead to three at 59-56, yet Ohio was able to get a basket from Simmons on the next possession to put the visitors within one at 59-58.

Bowling Green was able to extend its lead out to as much as four at 64-60 and again at 66-62, only to see Ohio, with the help of two Falcon fouls, outscore BGSU 7-2 over a minute span to retake the lead at 69-68 at the 3:47 mark on a Simmons three-pointer from the top of the key.

The Orange and Brown answered with a baseline jumper from Alcegaire, a jumper in the paint from Parker and two free throws from Worrell to take their largest lead of the game to that point at 74-69 with 1:55 to go in the contest.

After a Simmons' layup put Ohio within one possession at 74-71, the home team picked up two straight layups from Lillard on the next two BGSU offensive possessions to push the lead to seven at 78-71 with one minute to go in the game.

Refusing to go away, OU and Simmons connected on another three-pointer with 52 seconds to play to cut the Falcons' lead to four at 78-74.

The Falcons iced the game at the free throw line, as Parker, Alcegaire, Lillard and Ali combined to go 9-of-12 from the charity stripe over the final 50 seconds of play to seal the 87-82 home win over the Bobcats and complete the regular season series sweep.

BGSU (14-14, 5-10 MAC) will hit the road to face off with the Akron Zips on Friday night, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. in Akron, Ohio. The game is slated to be televised on CBS Sports Network. Check with your cable or satellite provider to see what channel CBS Sports Network is in your area.

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Notes

BGSU extended its winning streak to four straight games over the Ohio Bobcats.
The win gives the Falcons a regular season series sweep over Ohio for the second straight year.
With the win, the Falcons snapped an overall seven-game losing streak.
The win at home ended a six-game home losing streak for the Falcons.
The home victory over Ohio gives the Falcons seven wins or more at home for the 10th straight season dating all the way back to the 2006-07 season.
The win was the Falcons' first win for the month of February.
With their 15 assists, the Falcons have now passed out double digit assists in each of the last five games.
With their 87 points in the Falcons' win, BGSU improves to 26-2 all-time at the Stroh Center when scoring 70 points or more for the game.
BGSU has now shot 44 percent or higher from the field as a team in all 14 of its wins this season.
With their 17 made free throws and the Bobcats' eight total free throw attempts, BGSU has now made more free throws than its opponents have shot in a game nine different times on the year.
The Falcons, who out-rebounded Ohio 35-25 on the night, is 13-2 on the year when grabbing more rebounds than their opponents for the contest.
BGSU's bench scored a season-high 59 points in the win.
BGSU, who shot 52.5 percent overall for the game, has shot higher than 50 percent from the field overall in each of its last two games.
Spencer Parker and Wes Alcegaire each scored 20 points in the win to give the Falcons a pair of 20 point scorers in the same game since Parker and Denny both had 20 or more points at Eastern Michigan on Jan. 16.
Spencer Parker's 20 points on the night gives him 1,088 career points as a Falcon which ranks 36th overall on BGSU's career scoring list.
The 20-point game for Parker was his eight 20-plus point game of the season and his team leading 22nd game of the season with double figures scoring.
The 20-point game by Alcegaire was his second 20-plus point game of the year and his 13th game of the year with double digit points.
Brandon Busuttil, Matt Fox and Demajeo Wiggins all made their first career starts in the win.