St. John’s Survives In Final Seconds To Beat BGSU Friday Night

Friday, November 9

Queens, NY

6:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

St. John's

November 09, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics
Post-Game Audio: Coach Huger With Todd Walker

QUEENS, N.Y. – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team went toe-to-toe on Friday (Nov. 9) night with a St. John's University squad that is expected to go to the NCAA Tournament. However, the Red Storm prevailed late, beating the Falcons by a final score of 84-80 inside Carnesecca Arena.

The Falcons had the ball in the final seconds down just two points, but a turnover led to two St. John's free throws that iced the game. Big East Preseason Player of the Year Shamorie Ponds (21 points) and All-SEC transfer Mustapha Heron (26 points) led St. John's.

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"We should have won this game," said head coach Michael Huger. "We had several opportunities and several chances. We had a big one at the end, but we just came up short. That's basketball. It was a lot of fun. Fun to watch, and fun to be a part of. Hopefully we can build from this and go into VCU and come out with a victory."

FALCON FACTS
• Against a squad that is receiving votes in both of the major Top 25 polls, the Falcons shot 50.0 percent (25-of-50) from the floor, including a lethal 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from three-point territory.
• Bowling Green built up an 11-point lead early on in the second half. A quick 7-0 run from St. John's followed, and the game went down to the wire after that.
• BGSU trailed by nine with just 57 seconds to play. Incredibly, the Falcons fought their way back, and had possession of the ball down just two points with six seconds to go.
• The Orange and Brown out-rebounded the Red Storm, 38-28.
• The Falcons dished out 12 assists. Five Falcons posted at least one assist, with four Falcons registering multiple assists.

PLAYER NOTES
• Redshirt-sophomore Justin Turner posted 20-plus points for the 11th time in his young career. The talented guard finished the game with 24 efficient points on 9-of-15 shooting. He also had four assists and four rebounds.
• Junior guard Dylan Frye added 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including going 4-for-7 from downtown for the second-consecutive game.
• Despite being limited to just four shots from the field, senior forward Demajeo Wiggins was a handful down low. Wiggins added 12 points and 12 rebounds, making 10 of his 14 foul shots. Wiggins has posted a double-double in nine of his last 10 games dating back to the 2017-18 season. The senior has 24 double-doubles in his career.
• Senior guard Antwon Lillard also finished in double figures, as he scored 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting. Lillard had four rebounds and two assists, as well.
• Off the bench, Daeqwon Plowden produced a productive six points and six rebounds. He drilled his only three-point attempt.
• Junior guard Michael Laster gave the Falcons four points, two rebounds and one assist.
• Redshirt-senior forward Jeffrey Uju continues to give BGSU a little bit of everything, as he added three points, four rebounds and two assists.
• Junior forward Marlon Sierra added three rebounds in nine minutes.

UP NEXT
• Bowling Green travels to Richmond, Virginia to take on VCU on Monday (Nov. 12) night at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.