Agee, Hill Go Off In Home State As Falcons Top Northern Illinois

DeKALB, Ill. - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team took down the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday (Jan. 13) for the Falcons' first MAC win on the road this season. Success at the free throw line proved to be key for the Orange and Brown, going 24-of-33 at the stripe. The win moves BGSU to 12-4, the best start through 16 games since the 2014-15 campaign, while being 3-1 in conference play.

Individually, the Illinois-natives led the way for the Falcons with Rashaun Agee and Marcus Hill both posting 20-point games. Agee topped the stat sheet with a career-high 24 points while adding nine rebounds and a team-leading four assists. Hill was close behind with 20 points to go along with a career-high four steals. Jason Spurgin contributed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Da'Shawn Phillip posted 12 points, his second-straight season-high point total.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons won the opening tip with Jason Spurgin getting the first basket of the game. Marcus Hill followed with a steal and fastbreak slam to make it a quick 4-0 BGSU lead.
Defense for the Falcons started strong, not allowing an NIU basket until nearly three minutes into the game with 17:08 on the clock.
Rashaun Agee got a layup to fall despite a double team in the paint to make it 6-2. He later drew a shooting foul to bring on the first media timeout of the game with the same score, hitting both out of the timeout for an 8-2 BGSU lead.
Hill added a layup before a contested three from EJay Greer to make it 13-6. NIU had an and-one to cut into the score, but the Falcons answered with another basket from Hill to make it 15-9.
DaJion Humphrey joined the scoring column to push the BGSU advantage to 17-11, but back-to-back threes from NIU tied the game at 17-17 at the under-12 media break.
The two teams traded leads before a 5-0 run for Northern Illinois granted them a 24-21 advantage.
The Falcons worked to cut down the lead, utilizing a 8-0 run of their own to reclaim the lead at 29-24 with six of the eight coming at the free throw line.
Bowling Green maintained their advantage, including Agee finding a backdoor cut from Hill for a bucket under the basket to make it a 33-29 BGSU lead going into the final media timeout of the first half.
The momentum carried through the media break, extending to a 7-1 BGSU stretch and 38-30 lead to force an NIU timeout.
The Huskies added a basket, but a layup from Agee followed by a three from Spurgin closed out the first half with a 5-0 run, and 9-2 stretch, for the Falcons to head to the half up 43-32.
NIU tallied the first basket of the second half, but the Falcons answered with a 9-0 run. Agee started it with a jumper before Da'Shawn Phillip used a fake to create space for a slam. Agee followed it up with a transition and-one, later finding Phillip in a fast break for a layup to push the lead to 52-34.
The next basket for the Falcons came from a big slam from Agee off the feed from Spurgin to make it a 54-37 BGSU lead.
A 4-0 burst for NIU closed the gap to 54-41, but the Falcons answered with a 6-0 run to reclaim their advantage at 60-41.
Another 4-0 burst for Northern Illinois cut into the lead, 60-45, before the two teams began trading baskets.
A 6-0 run for the Huskies trimmed the lead down to 10 at 66-56, but a 5-0 BGSU stretch reestablished their advantage going into the under-8 media timeout at 71-56.
Northern Illinois continued to work at the lead, again bringing it down to 10 with the score at 74-64 before getting it down to single-digits at 75-67 to force a BGSU timeout.
The Falcons worked to rebuild the double-digit lead at 79-68, trading points with NIU before securing an 83-72 final for the win.

STAT LEADERS

Rashaun Agee: 24 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
Marcus Hill: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist
Da'Shawn Phillip: 12 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal
Jason Spurgin: 10 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist

FALCON STAT FACTS

The win pushes the Falcons to 12-4, the program's best record through 16 games since 2014-15, also with a 12-4 standing.
As a team, the Falcons did damage at the free throw line, finishing 24-of-33 from the stripe, opposed to NIU's 19-of-28 mark. BGSU is 9-0 this season when making more free throws than their opponent.
Bowling Green finished the game with 43 team rebounds, the most for the Orange and Brown during MAC play this season.
Rashaun Agee recorded a career-high 24 points for the Falcons and missed a double-double by one rebound, finishing with nine. For the second straight game, Agee led BGSU in assists, logging four in the contest. Agee made a career-high eight free throws and matched his career-high for field goals with eight as well.
Marcus Hill tallied a career-high three steals before the first media timeout of the game, coming in just over four minutes of game action. Hill ended with a team-leading four steals for the Orange and Brown. He added 20 points in the game, his team-leading seventh 20-point game of the season.
Jason Spurgin finished with 10 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds, with a season-high eight defensive boards, for his second double-double of the season as well as his second time leading BGSU in rebounds this year.
For the second straight game, Da'Shawn Phillip tallied a season-high in the scoring column, this time with 12. Phillip added eight rebounds, including three on the offensive end to match his season-high.
The Falcons have now won 10 of their last 11 games and are off to a 3-1 start in MAC play, the best start to the conference season for BGSU since beginning the 2020-21 season 5-0.
The win also makes Coach Simon the third straight BGSU coach to start 3-1 in the MAC in their first season at the helm of the Falcons.
When playing on Saturdays this season, the Orange and Brown are now 5-0.

TODD WALKER RADIO CALLS
Hill Steal and Slam
3Jay Greer
Humphrey And-One
Spurgin Triple
Phillip Two-Hand Jam
Agee Coast-To-Coast And-One
Agee Poster
Spurgin Fake, Drive and Slam
Phillip Follow
Falcons Win!

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"That's back-to-back games where we've had the lead for 35 [minutes]-plus. That's something that is a point of emphasis for us. We were getting on those roller coasters, but now we're handling people's runs and not giving up the lead when those runs happen."

Full Postgame Interview with Todd Simon

UP NEXT
The Falcons will have one more road game before returning home. BGSU will play their next game in Oxford, Ohio against Miami (OH) on Tuesday (Jan. 16) for a 7 p.m. tip. Bowling Green will then make their return to the Stroh Center on Jan. 20 against Western Michigan.

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Rashaun Agee

Marcus Hill

Da'Shawn Phillip

Jason Spurgin

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