BGSU Stuns Kent State With 84-83 Win In OT On Wiggins' Tip-In With 1.3 To Go

Tuesday, February 7

Kent, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

11-13, 5-6MAC

Kent State

13-11, 5-6MAC

OT 1

Bowling Green

Kent State

BGSU Stuns Kent State With 84-83 Win In OT On Wiggins' Tip-In With 1.3 To Go

February 07, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Video: BGSU ON SPORTSCENTER
Game Highlights: BGSU at Kent State
Post-Game Audio: Coach Huger With Todd Walker
Todd Walker Radio Calls: Rasheed SLAM | Fox Three! | Fox And-1 Three | Lillard Big Basket
More Calls: Caldwell 3 Final Seconds | HUGE Kent State Turnover | WIGGINS TIP-IN!!
Final Calls: Last Kent State Sequence | BG WINS!
Final Statistics: PDF | HTML

KENT, Ohio – Sophomore Demajeo Wiggins scored on a tip-in layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime to give the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team an improbable 84-83 win over Kent State University on Saturday (Feb. 7) evening. The Mid-American Conference game was played at KSU's M.A.C. Center. The crazy ending of the game made the evening edition of SportsCenter. The clip can be found below.

With just 14 seconds remaining in the overtime period, Kent State made a layup to go up, 83-79. Freshman Rodrick Caldwell answered, and hit a deep three-pointer from straight on with 7.2 seconds to go. Kent State then turned the ball over trying to inbound the ball under the basket, giving BGSU the basketball with 6.4 seconds to go.

Caldwell drove the lane and threw up a difficult shot, but Wiggins was there to tip it in with 1.3 seconds to go. Kent State's touchdown attempt was knocked out of bounds with 0.6 to go, and then the Golden Flashes failed to get off a shot attempt after that.

"[On the Kent State turnover] Antwon did a great job of pressuring him. That's what we wanted to do. We have a package at the end of the game on how we want to pressure, and we executed it to perfection," said head coach Michael Huger. "That was probably the best execution job that we did on the defensive end, and it was a tough pass to make. He turned the ball over, and we had a chance.

"I told Rod to drive it, drive it. We didn't have any timeouts left. And I told Demajeo and those guys to rebound, and see if we could get it. And he got it. That was big, that was big."

The win is Bowling Green's second-straight win in overtime, as the Falcons knocked off Toledo on Saturday (Feb. 4) in double overtime. Bowling Green has now won consecutive games in overtime for only the second time in program history. BGSU opened the 1934-35 season with overtime wins over Kent State (41-36) and Ashland (39-35). BG last won two overtime games in MAC play during the 1996-97 season.

For the first time in the Michael Huger era, the Falcons have won three-straight MAC games. Prior to this stretch, Bowling Green had not won three-straight MAC games since February of the 2014-15 season.

The win, which was BG's second road win of the season, moves Bowling Green to 11-13 overall, and 5-6 in MAC play. Each MAC team, outside of Akron, has at least five conference losses. The Falcons are just one game back of a tie for second place in the league. The loss drops Kent State to 13-11 (5-6 MAC).

Bowling Green led, 70-61, with 4:13 to go in regulation, but Kent State finished the second half on a 13-5 run to send the game into overtime. Freshman Dylan Frye hit two free throws to give the Falcons a 73-68 lead with 1:55 to go, but Kent State's Jaylin Walker countered with a three-pointer just nine seconds later.

Sophomore Antwon Lillard hit a deep jumper with 1:26 on the clock, inching BG's lead back to four points, 75-71, but Desmond Ridenour rebounded a missed three-ball and scored with 1:08 to play. Kevin Zabo tied the game, 75-75, with a tough layup with 25 seconds remaining, and the Falcons failed to score on the final possession of regulation.

In overtime, Wiggins scored a layup on BG's first possession, before Kent State scored four-straight points. Frye tied the game at 79-79 with 1:20 to play with a pair of free throws, but Kent State then scored four more points consecutively, prior to Bowling Green's improbable 5-0 run in the final 7.2 seconds.

Wiggins finished the game with 16 on 7-of-10 shooting. He also added eight rebounds. Junior Matt Fox had a career night, as he tied his career high with 18 points. Fox went 5-for-7 from downtown, and also chipped in with three assists, which tied his career high, and two rebounds.

Caldwell finished with 16 points, as he went 5-for-10 from the field and 4-for-6 from deep. His four three-pointers established a career high. Caldwell notched four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Frye also scored in double figures, as he went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe to finish with 11 points. He also posted four rebounds.

Senior Zack Denny registered eight points and four rebounds, while Lillard posted seven points on 3-of-6 shooting. Lillard also had four assists, two rebounds, two steals and one block. Senior Wes Alcegaire had four points. Senior Ismail Ali had two points, two rebounds and two assists, while redshirt-sophomore Rasheed Worrell ended the game with two points, one rebound, one steal and one block.

Bowling Green made a season-high 11 three-pointers, and shot 43.5 percent (30-of-69) for the game. The Falcons scored 21 points off 19 Kent State turnovers. Bowling Green shot 39.3 percent (11-of-28) from downtown, and 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the free throw line.

Bowling Green will conclude the week on Saturday (Feb. 11) with a 12 p.m. tip-off versus Buffalo. The Orange and Brown will then hit the road next week to face Western Michigan (Feb. 14) and Ohio (Feb. 18).