BGSU Men's Hoops Hound Boards For MAC Tournament Win Over Central Michigan

Thursday, March 14

Cleveland, Ohio

Approx. 1:30 p.m. (30 Minutes After Game 1 Conclusion)

Bowling Green State University

20-12,10-8MAC

Central Michigan

18-14,12-6MAC

Bowling Green

Central Mich.

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

BGSU Men's Hoops Hound Boards For MAC Tournament Win Over Central Michigan

March 14, 2024 | Men's Basketball

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Falcons Secure 20-Win Season, Advance To MAC Semifinals

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team took down the Central Michigan Chippewas in the first round of the MAC Tournament, 66-56, on Thursday (March 14) at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. The win advances the Falcons to the MAC Semifinals against Kent State on Friday (March 15) with a 5 p.m. tip on CBS Sports Network. Information regarding the fan bus and pregame party can be found at links above or in the up next section below.

Central Michigan jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the early going, but the Falcons worked to move in front 12-10 to begin a back-and-forth battle in the first half. A Central three at the buzzer sent the teams to the half with CMU in front 28-26, but the second half saw Bowling Green move to the advantage. Bowling Green tied the game at 45-45 and took the lead from there. CMU tied it again at 50-50, but an 11-1 run by Trey Thomas iced the game for the Falcons with a 66-56 victory. Thomas scored 17 of BGSU's final 19 points in the game.

Thomas' 17 points late propelled him to a team-leading 20 points in the game, his third 20-point game of the season, including a team-high four triples. Rashaun Agee followed with his 17th double-double of the season, logging 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Marcus Hill stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds and a team-high three assists. The double-digit scorers rounded out with Sam Towns scoring 10 points and eight rebounds, just missing a double-double.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons took the opening tip, but Central Michigan made the first basket with a mid-range jumper. Jason Spurgin got a second-chance layup for the BGSU answer. CMU utilized a 6-0 run for an 8-2 lead.
The run ended with quick BGSU ball movement sending the ball from Spurgin to Marcus Hill to Rashaun Agee for a dunk and an 8-4 score at the first media timeout of the game.
Agee hits two free throws to jump start a BGSU run. Sam Towns added a tip-in layup before an Agee layup on the next possession to tie it up at 10-10 with a 6-0 BGSU run at the under-12 media break.
Hill added a layup after the timeout to continue the Bowling Green run to 8-0 before the next Central Michigan bucket.
The Chippewas tallied a 5-0 burst to move back in front with a Hill jumper ending the run at 15-14 CMU. The two teams traded threes with Spurgin hitting BGSU's for an 18-17 score at the under-8 media timeout.
Out of the timeout, Humphrey hit a mid-range jumper to put the Falcons in front, but a 5-0 spurt for Central swung the score back to them.
Bowling Green quickly responded with a 5-0 run of their own. Agee got a second-chance layup to go before Trey Thomas hit a three to make it a 24-23 BGSU lead and force a Central Michigan timeout. The score held to the under-4 media timeout.
After a scoreless streak for both teams, Hill continued the run for the Falcons with two free throws for a 7-0 run and 26-23 lead.
Central Michigan tallied a 5-0 run before the half, including a three at the buzzer for a 28-26 halftime score in favor of CMU.
To start the second half, Agee got a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup to tie it up at 28-28. Agee later added a free throw for a 29-28 BGSU lead.
Central Michigan hit a three before quick BGSU ball movement found Da'Shawn Phillip for the layup and a 31-31 tie. A Chippewa basket made it 33-31 at the first media timeout of the second half.
CMU added a banked jumper with Humphrey providing the Bowling Green answer with a three from the corner for a 35-34 score.
The two teams traded shots with BGSU's being a Towns hook shot. The teams started trading threes then with Hill hitting one for BGSU to a 43-39 score at the under-12 media timeout.
Out of the timeout, Towns hit a pair of free throws to narrow the gap to 43-41. CMU and Towns traded two-pointers before another pair of Towns free throws to tie it and a Hill layup for a 47-45 BGSU lead.
Thomas connected for a three to push the Falcons in front 50-47 at the under-8 media timeout. CMU hit a three out of the break for a 50-50 tie.
Thomas hit another three to swing the score back to Bowling Green at 53-50. CMU converted an and-one opportunity to tie it back up at 53-53.
Agee found a lane to the basket for a layup to give BGSU a 55-53 lead at the under-4 media timeout.
The teams traded baskets with Thomas getting a floater in the lane to fall. Thomas followed with a three for a 5-0 run of his own to extend the BGSU lead to 60-55 and force a Central timeout.
A free throw for CMU interrupted the Trey Thomas show with Thomas adding three sets of free throws for an 11-1 run on his own and a 66-56 final.

STAT LEADERS

Trey Thomas: 20 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
Rashaun Agee: 13 points, 17 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block
Marcus Hill: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
Sam Towns: 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Jason Spurgin: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks

FALCON STAT FACTS

With the win, Bowling Green now has 20 wins this season marking the first 20-win season since 2019-20 and the ninth in the program's MAC era. Coach Simon is now the second coach in program history to record a 20-win season in his first year with the Falcons.
The win for the Falcons is their first in the MAC Tournament since 2018-19. Coach Simon is now the fourth coach in program history to win a MAC Tournament game in their first season with BGSU.
Trey Thomas recorded a team-high 20 points for the Falcons, his third 20-point game of the season. Thomas scored BGSU's final 11 points down the stretch to ice the game, including going 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Thomas has now led BGSU in scoring four times this season with BGSU 4-0 in those games. Thomas added five rebounds, matching his career-high.
Rashaun Agee recorded a career-high 17 rebounds, leading the team. With the mark, Agee is now up to ninth in program history for rebounds in a single season, passing Demajeo Wiggins' 314 rebounds from the 2017-18 season.
Agee added 13 points to his stat line for his team-leading 17th double-double of the season. Of his 17 rebounds, seven came on the offensive end, one shy of his career-high. He also matched his career-high for steals with two.
Playing all 40 minutes, Marcus Hill filled the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds and a team-high three assists. Hill has now led the Falcons in assists in three straight games.
With five points in the game, Jason Spurgin surpassed the 1,000-career point total at the collegiate level. Spurgin has tallied 329 points for the Falcons this season.
Sam Towns flirted with a double-double off the bench, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds. Towns added a season-high two assists, added one block and matched his season-highs at the free throw line for attempts and makes, going a perfect 4-for-4.
As a team, the Falcons hauled in 51 rebounds, just two shy of the team's season-high of 53, which came in the last meeting against Central Michigan.
Bowling Green is now 18-0 this season when leading with two minutes left in the game.

TODD WALKER RADIO CALLS
Hill to Agee Slam
Hill Reverse Layup
Agee Coast-to-Coast Off Steal
Thomas Triple 1.0
Thomas Triple 2.0
Thomas Triple 3.0
Blocked By Agee
Blocked By Towns
Falcons Win!
Postgame Interview with Assistant Coach Lourawls Nairn Jr.

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Really proud of these guys. I thought it was just a gritty performance. We talked about, in these tournaments tough teams win. I thought 51 rebounds and the way that we defended and took care of the ball and made free throws we did a lot of the tough things really well. That's what I'm most proud of. Shots don't always fall, especially day one of a tournament and we didn't rely on that. Heck of an effort, especially from these two guys here [Trey Thomas and Rashaun Agee] and it's on to the next one."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will advance to the MAC Semifinals round of the tournament, taking on Kent State on Friday (March 15) with a 5 p.m. tip on CBS Sports Network. Fans interested in riding the Fan Bus from Bowling Green can find the registration at the top of this page. The bus will depart at 1 p.m. and arrive at the pregame party at 3 p.m. with that registration at the top of this page as well.

Follow the Falcons
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