Second Half Surge Pushes Rockets Past Falcons In Battle Of I-75

Saturday, January 15

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

8-8,1-4MAC

Toledo

13-4,5-1MAC

Toledo

Bowling Green

Photo by: Luke Allen, BGSU Athletics

January 15, 2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-Toledo Stats Coach Huger Interview Trey Diggs Interview Support Our Student-Athletes Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2 Photo Gallery 3

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball program hosted the Toledo Rockets Saturday night (Jan. 15) for the Battle of I-75 and Bill Frack Challenge. The Falcons closed a double-digit lead in the first half to take a lead of their own, but in the end Toledo took the win in a 91-78 final. Trey Diggs paced the Falcons with 21 first half points, all coming from behind the arc to tie his career-high for three-point makes in a game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Toledo started out with the first eight points of the contest, growing their lead to 11 four minutes into the action.
The Falcons began to chip away at the lead. Trey Diggs splashed five consecutive three points, scoring 15 straight for the Falcons, cutting the Toledo lead down to five at 38-33.
An 8-0 run for Bowling Green tied the game up at 41-41, being capped by a Chandler Turner triple.
The Orange and Brown claimed a lead with 38 seconds left in the first half at 47-46. Two free throws for Toledo swayed the score back to the Rockets before the halftime whistle, 48-47.
The Rockets opened the second half with an 18-3 run before a Bowling Green timeout, reclaiming a double-digit lead.
The Falcons saw an 8-0 run later in the contest, but it wouldn't be enough as Toledo took a 91-78 final.

STAT LEADERS

Trey Diggs: 21 points, 4 steals, 1 rebound
Daeqwon Plowden: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks, 1 assist, 1 steal
Myron Gordon: 14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Chandler Turner: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal

FALCON STAT FACTS

Trey Diggs scored 21 points in the first half with 15 coming on straight three-pointers alone. That marks the first time a Falcon scored 20 or more in a half since Kaden Metheny had exactly 20 against Eastern Michigan on Feb. 23, 2021. Diggs' seven threes in the first half tied his career-high, set on Feb. 22, 2020 against Ohio.
Diggs ended the night with a season-high 21 points as well as a career-high four steals over a career-high 34 minutes played.
With 14 points, Daeqwon Plowden's career point total grew to 1,387, passing John Reimold for 19th on the all-time scoring list.
Plowden also rejected a career-high five Rocket shots, bringing his career block total to 111, moving past Josh Almanson for sixth on the all-time blocked shots list. The last Falcon to have five blocks in a game was Richaun Holmes against Buffalo during the 2014-15 season.
As a team, the Falcons sent away 10 attempts, the first double-digit block night for the team since having 11 against Drake during the 2014-15 season.
Isaac Elsasser set a career-high in offensive rebounds (two), while recording his first two career assists and his first career block.

COACH'S QUOTE
"We did a good job of preparing for them. We hung tough in the first half, but it's a game of two halves. We didn't do what we needed to do in the second half in order to win the game."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will be back on the road for their next game, scheduled to face Northern Illinois on Tuesday (Jan. 18) for an 8 p.m. EST tip. The Orange and Brown will return to the Stroh Center on Thursday (Jan. 20) to host Akron, a game that was originally scheduled for Dec. 29 but had been postponed.

Follow the Falcons
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Twitter - @BGAthletics and @BGSUMHoops
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