King Of The Hill: Late Hill Layups Send Falcons Soaring Over RedHawks

Tuesday, January 16

Oxford, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

13-4,4-1MAC

Miami (OH)

8-9,2-3MAC

Bowling Green

Miami (OH)

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

King Of The Hill: Late Hill Layups Send Falcons Soaring Over RedHawks

January 16, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-Miami (OH) Game Stats Support Our Student-Athletes

BGSU Closes Game With 11-0 Run For 11th Win In Last 12 Games

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

OXFORD, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team took home a roller coaster win Tuesday night (Jan. 16) against Miami (OH) with a 78-73 final. The Falcons led for most of the first half before the RedHawks hit a shot at the halftime buzzer to go to the break up. The lead grew to as many as eight for Miami, but the Falcons continued to chip away. The Orange and Brown were able to put together five consecutive defensive stops late, tallying an 11-0 stretch to end the game and seal the win.

Down the stretch, Rashaun Agee made back-to-back baskets in the paint, including a dunk off an assist from Trey Thomas to tie it at 73-73. From there, Marcus Hill took over. Hill got a layup to fall with 1:18 left in the game to move Bowling Green in front 75-73. With 15 seconds remaining in the game and BGSU inbounding with six seconds on the shot clock, Hill took the pass and drove to the rim for a layup to push ahead 77-73. A Miami miss followed by a PJ Edwards free throw knocked out what was left on the clock and secured the 78-73 Bowling Green victory.

Marcus Hill led the Falcons in scoring with his eighth 20-point game of the season, finishing with 23. Rashaun Agee followed with 15 points and 12 rebounds, recording his sixth double-double of the season. Jason Spurgin narrowly missed a double-double himself, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Trey Thomas tallied 14 points to give the Falcons four double-digit scorers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons took the opening tip and struck quickly. Quick ball movement resulted in a three for Marcus Hill off the dish from Trey Thomas.
The early stretch continued for the Falcons with a pair of free throws from Rashaun Agee to give BGSU a 5-0 start before the first Miami points. The RedHawks responded with five straight to tie the score at 5-5.
The two teams traded threes before the Falcons registered a 6-0 run with back-to-back threes from Thomas and Agee to make it a 14-8 BGSU advantage at the first media timeout.
Out of the media timeout, the run stretched to 9-0 with PJ Edwards getting a steal, layup and the foul to push the BGSU lead to 17-8.
Miami answered with a 5-0 stretch to narrow the score to 17-13, but a pick-and-roll for BGSU allowed Hill to find Jason Spurgin for the dunk to make it 19-13 at the media break.
Coming out of the break, Agee made a cross-court pass to Hill for a corner three to extend the lead to 22-13. Miami added three points before DaJion Humphrey joined the BGSU three-point shooting to push the score to 25-16 along with the Falcons shooting 6-of-7 from three to start.
Hill was able to get a layup and the foul. He missed the free throw, but Spurgin cleaned the glass for the tip-in to make it a 29-20 BGSU lead at the next media timeout.
A scoreless streak for the Falcons allowed Miami to chip away at the lead, bringing it down to 31-25 before an offensive rebound and layup for Agee.
Back-to-back triples for the RedHawks closed the gap to 33-31 Bowling Green with a 10-2 Miami run, forcing a timeout from the BGSU bench.
The first points out of the timeout went to the RedHawks to tie the game at 33-33, Spurgin hit two free throws to push BGSU back in front 35-33.
The two teams traded free throws down the stretch of the first half before Miami made a basket just before the buzzer to move in front 37-36 at the half.
The Falcons started the second half scoring with a driving layup from Spurgin. Miami answered before Hill added a layup of his own to swing the score to BGSU, 40-39.
The pendulum continued to swing. Miami added a free throw before Hill hit two free throws to make it 42-41 BGSU before a RedHawk free throw tied it at 42-42.
Each team added a pair of free throws before Miami tallied a 5-0 run to take a 49-44 lead at the media timeout.
The two teams continued to go back-and-forth with neither team scoring consecutive buckets up to the under-12 media break with the score at 59-54 Miami.
That trend changed out of the media timeout with Thomas hitting two free throws to make it a 4-0 burst for BGSU and a 59-56 score.
Miami answered with back-to-back shots of their own to rebuild their advantage at 63-56. A three from Thomas cut into the lead before a RedHawk jumper response to make the score 65-59 at the under-8 media timeout.
The battle continued with the Miami lead moving to 71-63, their largest lead of the game. Thomas hit two free throws for BGSU before Da'Shawn Phillip swiped a steal on the press that translated into an Agee layup and cut the lead down to 71-67 at the next media break.
The two teams traded points with BGSU's coming from a Thomas layup. After a Miami shot clock violation, Agee added two of his own to make it a 73-71 Miami score.
The next time down, Thomas found Agee under the basket for a dunk to knot it up. The following possession saw Hill drive for a layup to push BGSU back in front 75-73 with an 8-0 run, forcing a Miami timeout.
After a BGSU timeout with 15 seconds left in the game and six seconds left on the shot clock, Hill took the inbound and drove to the basket for the layup to push the lead to 77-73.
PJ Edwards sank a free throw to bring the score to 78-73 with the Falcons closing out the game with an 11-0 run, and a 15-2 stretch for the comeback win.

STAT LEADERS

Marcus Hill: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists
Rashaun Agee: 15 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
Trey Thomas: 14 points, 3 assists, 1 rebound, 1 block, 1 steal
Jason Spurgin: 10 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Da'Shawn Phillip: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals

FALCON STAT FACTS

With the win, the Falcons advance to 13-4, the best record through 17 games since the 2001-02 season (14-3).
Bowling Green has now won 11 of their last 12 games and five of their last six on the road.
BGSU is now 4-1 in MAC play, making Coach Todd Simon the third head coach in program history to start MAC competition 4-1 in their first season at the helm of the Falcons. It's also the best start to MAC play for BGSU through five games since 2020-21 (5-0).
For the 10th time this season, Marcus Hill led the Falcons in points, totaling 23. The outing was Hill's eighth 20-point game this year.
Rashaun Agee recorded yet another double-double for the Falcons, registering 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Agee now has six double-doubles in the last 12 games and has had 9+ rebounds in nine of the last 12.
Jason Spurgin nearly had a double-double of his own, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. Spurgin and Agee combined for 21 rebounds with seven offensive and 14 defensive.
Trey Thomas tied for the team-lead in assists with three, bringing his season total to 30. The mark sets a new career-high in a single-season for assists for Thomas, surpassing his 29 from last season.
The Falcons have now used the starting lineup of Thomas, Hill, Phillip, J. Spurgin and Agee in five straight games, making it the most-used lineup by BGSU this season (5) and the one with the most wins (4).
As a team, the Falcons shot 31 free throws marking the third time in the last five games BGSU has attempted 30+ free throws in a game.
BGSU is now 12-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points in a game.
The win is the first for the Falcons in Oxford since Jan. 16, 2018.

TODD WALKER RADIO CALLS
Agee Triple
Edwards Steal, Layup, And-One
Spurgin Slam
Hill And-One
Agee Dunk
Agee Clutch Slam To Tie
Hill Takes The Lead
Hill Seals The Win
Miami Miss, BG Board
Falcons Win!

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Road games in the MAC are something else. Any time you can get one, and now we have two here in league play, you have to take it. We struggled a bit defensively, they're a good team, but we got really good offensively there in the second half to keep us hanging around. Then we ended the game with five stops."

Full Postgame Interview with Todd Simon

UP NEXT
Bowling Green will make their return to the Stroh Center for their next game, coming on Saturday (Jan. 20) against Western Michigan. The Falcons and Broncos will be playing in the annual Bill Frack Game along with an alumni recognition.

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