Bowling Green's Defense Stifles Northern Illinois For Saturday Night Victory

Saturday, February 5

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Northern Illinois

Photo by: Larry Clapper

Bowling Green's Defense Stifles Northern Illinois For Saturday Night Victory

February 05, 2022 | Men's Basketball

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By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball program captured a near wire-to-wire victory over Northern Illinois, having just one tie over the course of the game with the Falcons leading for over 37 minutes of play. In the end, it was a 22-point win for Bowling Green, 87-65. Trey Diggs led the way for the Orange and Brown with 18 points, all coming from behind the arc. Joe Reece added 17 points of his own while Daeqwon Plowden logged 13. The win pushes BGSU back above .500 on the season at 12-11, while being 5-7 in Mid-American Conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two teams traded the first few buckets, but the Falcons utilized an early 8-0 run to capture a 12-4 lead in the early stages of the first half, forcing a timeout from Northern Illinois.
Bowling Green steadily continued to add to the lead, growing to 14 at 24-10.
The Falcons maintained that cushion until a 14-5 run for the Huskies cut the lead down to single-digits. BGSU clung to the lead going into halftime at 35-31.
Early in the second half the Falcons went on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 46-34.
The Falcons continued to apply pressure on the offensive end. Trey Diggs found Joe Reece for an outlet pass that turned into an and-one opportunity for Reece.
Diggs hit his fourth triple of the second half the next time down, pushing the BGSU lead to 57-44 at the media timeout.
The BGSU lead reached 20 points after a 6-0 run during the second half, taking a 72-52 advantage.
The Orange and Brown were able to maintain their lead the rest of the way. The lead for BGSU grew as large as 25 and never fell below 18 from that point on, winning 87-65.

STAT LEADERS

Trey Diggs: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Joe Reece: 17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
Daeqwon Plowden: 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
Myron Gordon: 9 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals
Samari Curtis: 9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists

FALCON STAT FACTS

Daeqwon Plowden scored four of the Falcons' first six points, bringing his career total to 1,501 points in the Orange and Brown. Plowden is the 13th player in program history to reach the milestone. Plowden concluded the night with 13 points, bringing his career mark to 1,510 and moving up to 12th on the all-time scoring list. Plowden added a season-high three assists to his stat line.
Trey Diggs paced the Falcons on the score sheet, tallying 18 points. Diggs was hot in the second half, scoring 15 of his 18. He would conclude the night being 6-of-9 (66.7%), a new season-high three-point percentage for a single game. Diggs also added a season-high three assists in the contest.
Matiss Kulackovskis logged a steal for the Orange and Brown, his eighth of the season to set a new single season-high for his time as a Falcon, previously set at seven from the 2019-20 campaign. Kulackovskis also had a career-high three assists in the game.
The win marks the sixth consecutive against Northern Illinois for Bowling Green, dating back to the 2018-19 season. The Falcons also swept the season series against the Huskies.
The Falcons held Northern Illinois to 65 points, the fewest allowed to an opponent by Bowling Green during MAC play. BGSU is now 5-0 when holding their opponent below 70 points.
As a team, the Orange and Brown totaled 20 assists. This is the second-most on the season for BGSU, behind only the record-setting 32 against Carlow.
Bowling Green continued to perform well at the free throw line, going 16-of-18 (88.9%) on the night.
Bowling Green out-shot Northern Illinois in field goal percentage with the Falcons shooting 44.8% compared to the Huskies' mark of 32.8%. BGSU is now 11-0 this season when having a better shooting percentage than their opponent and 88-7 during the Coach Huger Era.
BGSU is now 10-1 this season when leading with five minutes left in the game and hold the same record when leading with two minutes left. During the Coach Huger Era, the Falcons are now 91-10 when leading with five minutes left and 98-7 when leading with two minutes left.

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COACH'S QUOTE
"I thought we did a much better job of guarding ball screens. I thought the energy and the effort was there from start to finish. We had a little lapse in coverage and Hankerson was able to get loose and hit four threes in the first half. We were able to control that to give him only one in the second half. I thought the guys did a much better job with how hard they played and how hard they competed from the defensive end. As I say always, we can score enough points. We score 87, this is more like it giving up 65. So, I'm pleased with the defensive effort."

UP NEXT
The Orange and Brown will be back on the road for their next contest, traveling to Kent State on Tuesday (Feb. 8) to play the Golden Flashes. The game is set for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.

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