Falcons Run Comes to an End in Semifinals Against the Top Seeded Zips

Friday, March 11

Cleveland, Ohio

6:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

16-18

Akron (Semifinals)

26-7

Bowling Green

Akron

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

Falcons Run Comes to an End in Semifinals Against the Top Seeded Zips

March 11, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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

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Postgame Press Conference

Cleveland, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team watched its run come to an end on Friday night, as the Falcons fell to the No. 1-seeded Akron Zips 80-66 in the semifinals of the 2016 Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament presented by VisitMyrtleBeach.com at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

BGSU had won back-to-back games in the 2016 MAC Tournament with wins over No. 5 Kent State in the first round and No. 4 Central Michigan in the quarterfinals to advance to its first semifinal game since 2009.

The Falcons held Akron to just 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) shooting from behind the three-point line for the game, however, the Zips shot 29-of-53 (54.7 percent) overall from the field for the game.

Bowling Green, who had shot 50 percent or higher in each of the last three games, struggled at times to score over the 40 minute contest, shooting just 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the field and only 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) from behind the three-point line.

The Zips also outscored the Falcons 38-22 in points in the paint, 18-7 in points off turnovers and 38-24 in bench points.

BGSU dominated the glass, out-rebounding Akron 38-26 overall and totaled 19 second chance points on 14 offensive rebounds.

Freshman Antwon Lillard paced the Falcons with a team-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting overall. Seniors Spencer Parker and David Joseph each finished with 11 points apiece in what would be their final games in the Orange and Brown. Off the bench, Zack Denny poured in nine points, while Rasheed Worrell hauled in 11 rebounds in 17 minutes of play.

Akron, the 2015-16 MAC Regular Season Champions, had five players in double figures. MAC Sixth Man of the Year Isaiah Johnson totaled 23 points and pulled down six rebounds, as he was 9-of-11 from the floor overall. Jake Kretzer finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while Reggie McAdams tallied 14 points. Guard Antino Jackson and Noah Robotham combined for 23 points, five assists and four rebounds.

BGSU and Akron went point-for-point to start the contest, as the underdogs took a 6-5 lead on a jumper from Lillard at the 17:14 mark of the first half. However, Akron was able to string together seven straight points, five of which came from Jackson, to pull back out in front by six at 12-6 with 15:06 to go in the opening half of play.

After the Falcons were able to close the gap back to two at 15-13 on a layup from Lillard and a jumper from Denny, the Zips ran out with a 9-0 surge to push their lead to double digits at 24-13 with 9:02 to go before the halftime break.

During the 9-0 Zips run, the Falcons went ice cold from the floor and struggled to score over the next 5:53 to fall behind by double digits, before back-to-back treys from Parker and Joseph put the Falcons within seven at 26-19.

Yet the Falcons couldn't slow down the Akron's offense as the Zips pushed their lead up to as much as 12 at 33-21 and took a six-point lead into the halftime break at 41-35.

The second half started out much like the first, as the two teams went back-and-forth for the first several minutes of the frame until a trey from Akron's Kwan Cheatham, Jr. at the 18:05 mark put the top seed back in front by 10 at 49-39.

Refusing to quit, the Falcons answered with a trey of their own from Joseph to start a 7-0 spurt to get to within one possession at 49-46 on an offensive rebound and tip-in from Demajeo Wiggins with 16:24 to go in the game.

Just minutes later, the Falcons got an old-fashion three-point play from Lillard and a tough drive to the hoop from Parker to put BGSU within one at 53-52 with 13:23 left on the game clock.

That's when Akron went to the big man down low in Johnson, as he was able to bully his weigh to nine straight points and spark a 12-2 run by the top-seeded Zips to propel the team in white back out in front by 11 at 65-54 on a three-pointer from Kretzer at the 8:14 mark of the second half.

BGSU sandwiched a Kretzer layup with a jumper in the paint from Wes Alcegaire and a three-pointer from Lillard to get the Falcons within eight at 67-59 just a minute later.

Exactly two minutes later at the 5:02 mark, the Zips ran an alley-oop play to McAdams who tipped the ball into the basket clearly while the ball was still inside the rim and above the cylinder to put the Zips back up by double digits at 69-59.

However, the offensive basket interference was not called by the officials and thus the momentum quickly shifted back to the Zips who used the two points to start a 7-3 run over the Falcons and pull out to a 12-point lead at 74-62 with just under three minutes to go in the game.

Two free throws from Alcegaire at the 1:42 mark put the Falcons within 10 at 74-64, yet time ticked away on the Falcons' season as Akron scored the next six points before a tip-in basket from BGSU's Tisdale with 12.2 seconds left on the clock put the final score at 80-66 in favor of the Zips.

Bowling Green finished the season at 16-18 overall. The Falcons won two of their last three games and reached the semifinals for the first time since 2009.

The Falcons also became the lowest seed to reach the semifinals round in MAC Tournament history, doing so as the No. 12 seed in this year's tournament.

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