Simon Says Win: BGSU Begins Simon Era With Win Backed By Dominant Defense

Monday, November 6

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Chicago State

Photo by: Scott W. Grau

Simon Says Win: BGSU Begins Simon Era With Win Backed By Dominant Defense

November 06, 2023 | Men's Basketball

BGSU-Chicago State Game Stats Game Highlights Coach Simon Interview Rashaun Agee and Marcus Hill Interview Support Our Student-Athletes

Falcons Hold Chicago State To 41 Points, 25.0% From The Field

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 390
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team kicked off the 2023-24 campaign and the Todd Simon Era of BGSU hoops with a statement win, topping Chicago State 70-41 inside the Stroh Center Monday night (Nov. 6). Defense shined for the Falcons as the Orange and Brown held the Cougars to just 25% from the field and the lowest opponent point total since the 2014-15 season with only 41. The win puts BGSU at 1-0 to start the season and marks the team's sixth straight home-opener win. Bowling Green will stay at home for game two, hosting Arkansas State this Saturday (Nov. 11) for a 12 p.m. tip.

On the court, Marcus Hill led the way for the Falcons, tallying a team-high 18 points while shooting 50% from the field. Rashaun Agee followed in the double-digit scoring with 14 while adding eight rebounds. DJ Smith rounded out the list with 10, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Across the stat sheet, Da'Shawn Phillip led the team in rebounds with a career-high 10 while PJ Edwards paced the team in assists with four.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Chicago State opened the contest with a 6-0 run to jump ahead before Marcus Hill made the first Bowling Green bucket of the season.
The run for the Falcons continued with a fast break. A Hill rejection on the defensive end turned into a quick layup on the other end by Sam Towns, with the foul, to tie it up at 6-6.
The Bowling Green run carried through to the second media timeout, going on an 11-0 stretch to take an 11-6 lead.
Chicago State recorded the next two buckets out of the timeout to narrow the lead to 11-10, staying within one at 13-12, but that was the closest they would come the rest of the night. Back-to-back threes from Jason Spurgin and PJ Edwards pushed the lead back to 19-12 before at media timeout at 19-14.
A 5-0 burst soon after the media timeout worked to increase the BGSU advantage to 24-16, the largest lead of the game to that point.
The Orange and Brown wrapped up the first half with a 6-0 run, including a tip-in layup at the buzzer by Rashaun Agee to put the Falcons up double-digits at half, 32-21.
Bowling Green knocked down the first five points of the second half, making it an 11-0 span across the half, to take a 37-21 lead.
The Falcons soon put together another 7-0 run to make it a 20-4 span going back to the first half, leading 46-25 to force a Chicago State timeout with just over 14 minutes left in regulation.
The run stretched to 10-0 with a Towns alley oop slam off a pass by Da'Shawn Phillip followed by a free throw from Phillip, making it a 49-25 lead, 10-0 run and 23-4 stretch for the Falcons.
Chicago State put a bucket on the board, but the Falcons quickly responded with another 8-0 run, including a second Towns alley oop slam, this one being tossed up by Anthony McComb III after a Spurgin block on the defensive end, his third rejection of the half.
The Falcons and Cougars went back-and-forth over the final eight minutes of regulation with Bowling Green pushing their lead over the 30-point mark. The largest BGSU lead came with just under five minutes left, leading by 34, to spell a 70-41 victory to begin the Todd Simon Era.

STAT LEADERS

Marcus Hill: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Rashaun Agee: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
D.J. Smith: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Da'Shawn Phillip: 4 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
Jason Spurgin: 3 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks

FALCON STAT FACTS

With the win, Todd Simon became the 10th head coach in program history, and the third straight, to win his first game at the helm of the Falcons.
With the win, BGSU has now won six straight home-openers and are 1-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Holding Chicago State to 41 points is the first time BGSU has held a team to 50 or fewer in a game since holding Carlow to 50 on Dec. 21, 2021. The 41 points allowed are the fewest by the Falcons since Jan. 3, 2015 when they held Chicago State to 35.
After leading the NJCAA in points last season with 780, Marcus Hill picked up where he left off and recorded a team-high 18 points, scoring nine in each half. Hill shot 50% from the field and added five rebounds to his stat line.
Playing a little over 20 minutes of game action, Da'Shawn Phillip hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds for the Falcons, setting a new career-high for the senior transfer.
After having just one block as a team at halftime, the Falcons recorded five rejections in the second half, including three from Jason Spurgin who tallied 63 last year for Southern Utah and finished second in the WAC for the stat.
Rashaun Agee finished second on the team in points with 14 and second in rebounds with eight, including a career-high six on the offensive end. The double-digit point production is Agee's 18th time with 10 or more points as a Falcon.
DJ Smith added 10 points for the Falcons, recording eight in the second half. Smith went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, leading the team in both free throws made and attempted.
PJ Edwards made his first collegiate start after appearing in 19 games for UCF last season. Edwards played a career-high 20 minutes for the Falcons and registered a career-high and team-leading four assists.
EJay Greer made his collegiate debut, hitting a three for the Falcons while playing just over seven minutes.
JZ Zaher saw the court for the Orange and Brown, draining a free throw for his first point at the collegiate level.
The Falcons are now 4-0 all-time against Chicago State.

TODD WALKER RADIO CALLS
Marcus Hill Scores First Points Of 2023-24
"That's the new style of Bowling Green basketball"
Agee Hammer
Agee Tip-In At The Buzzer
"Fly around and find out! That's what they're talking about right there!"
Towns Alley Oop 1.0
Towns Alley Oop 2.0
Agee Two-Hand Rejection
Falcons Win!
Postgame Interview with Coach Nairn

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Fun night! It's a culmination of a lot of hard work these guys have been putting in since day one, really the mindset and mentality that we're trying to instill. I was proud of them. First game for a lot of guys, first D-I game, first real minutes for a lot of individuals we had out there. You know on those days we're not necessarily going to make all those shots and all that stuff because it's the first run. We've been harping defense, rebounding, taking care of the ball and I thought we embodied that. I thought we put a 40-minute game together, one through 12, on the defensive end. Which is where we have to start, that's our starting point. We have good athletes and a good mindset to do that. That's what we want to achieve. I think we set a tone that there's not going to be any easy buckets, particularly when you come in the Stroh."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will continue the start of the 2023-24 season at home, hosting the Arkansas State RedWolves inside the Stroh Center for a 12 p.m. tip off Saturday (Nov. 11). The game will be the first of a BGSU triple-header with volleyball hosting Buffalo at 6 p.m. and hockey at 7:07 p.m. against St. Thomas.

Follow the Falcons
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