Late BGSU Burst Falls Short Against Eastern Michigan

Saturday, January 18

Bowling Green, Ohio

2 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-10,2-3MAC

Eastern Michigan

8-9,2-3MAC

Eastern Mich.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Avery Zuercher, BGSU Athletics

January 18, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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Jamai Felt Stuffs Stat Sheet Including Four Blocks And Four Steals

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 218
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team hosted the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Saturday (Jan. 18) for the Falcons' Alumni Day and the Bill Frack Game. Despite a late push by the Falcons, drawing within one with under a minute-and-a-half to play, Eastern Michigan held on for the 68-62 final inside the Stroh Center. The loss moves Bowling Green to 7-10 on the season while being 2-3 within the MAC.

Jamai Felt led the Falcons, logging a full stat line with a team-high 10 rebounds and eight points while adding a career-high four steals and his third game this season with four blocks. Marcus Johnson led BGSU scorers with 18 points, including three triples, while Trey Thomas added 16 points for the Orange and Brown.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Bowling Green won the opening tip with Derrick Butler hitting a fadeaway jump shot for the first points of the game. Jamai Felt rejected an EMU attempt on the defensive end, turning into a Marcus Johnson three for a 5-0 BGSU burst to start.
Eastern Michigan responded with a 5-0 run of their own to tie the game, but two free throws from Javontae Campbell pushed the Falcons in front 7-5 at the first media timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Eastern Michigan put together a 4-0 burst to take the lead, but a Wilguens Jr. Exacte triple for the Falcons swung the score to BGSU, 10-9.
EMU hit a three of their own to push in front 12-10. Preston Squire evened the score with a second-chance layup, but another Eagle three continued the back-and-forth with a 15-12 EMU advantage. The lead for Eastern Michigan stretched to 19-12 with the Falcons taking a timeout, resulting in the under-12 media break.
Coming out of the timeout, the EMU run extended to 9-0 with a 21-12 advantage. Trey Thomas ended the stretch with a driving layup, but EMU answered with a layup, taking a 23-14 score into the under-8 timeout.
Out of the break, Thomas sank back-to-back layups for the Falcons, cutting into the lead, but EMU responded with back-to-back buckets as well. Butler hit a three for BGSU, sending the teams to the last media timeout of the half with a 27-21 score.
Johnson hit a free throw for the Falcons followed by a fadeaway jump shot, cutting the lead down to 27-24. Eastern Michigan added a jumper before taking a timeout with just over a minute left in the half.
Before the half, Felt hit two at the line to bring the score back to a possession difference for a 29-26 score at the halfway point.
Felt picked up where he left off to start the second half, hitting a hook shot. EMU matched the points, but a three from Johnson tied the score at 31-31.
The two teams traded buckets with Thomas getting a layup to go for the BGSU tally in the trade. Campbell broke the tie with a free throw followed by a Thomas eurostep for a 36-33 BGSU lead, forcing an EMU timeout. The score carried to the under-16 media timeout.
Campbell made a layup to break the scoring drought for both teams, but EMU answered with a basket. Johnson added two at the line, but another EMU answer, this time a three, tied the score at 40-40.
A dunk for the Eagles pushed them in front. Johnson brought the Bowling Green response with two at the line, making it a 42-42 score at the under-12 timeout. Thomas made two free throws after the break to put the Falcons in front.
Eastern Michigan pushed back in front with back-to-back threes for a 48-44 advantage. Johnson ended the burst with a three for the Falcons. Two more triples for EMU moved the score to 54-47 at the under-8 timeout.
The Falcons added points at the line with one from Butler and one from Campbell. Campbell capitilized on a coast-to-coast layup off a block for a 54-51 EMU lead.
Eastern Michigan extended their lead with a three and fastbreak layup for a 5-0 burst and 59-51 score. Felt converted a tip-in layup for Bowling Green. The Eagles followed with an and-one to push the score to 62-53.
The Falcons continued to chip away with a layup from Thomas and then two free throws from him as well. Johnson hit a fadeaway jumper for a 62-59 score at the final media timeout of regulation.
Eastern Michigan hit a free throw out of the break. Campbell drew a foul on the other end, getting an Eagle to foul out, making one at the line. Felt added a layup for the Falcons, drawing within one at 63-62.
EMU made two at the line to push their lead back to three at 65-62 before a three made it 68-62, carrying to the final.

STAT LEADERS

Marcus Johnson: 18 points, 2 rebounds
Trey Thomas: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist
Javontae Campbell: 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, 1 block
Jamai Felt: 8 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 blocks
Derrick Butler: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal

FALCON STAT FACTS

Jamai Felt filled the stat sheet for the Falcons, recording a team-high 10 rebounds for his team-leading fourth game this year with double-digit boards. Felt added eight points, a career-high four steals and four blocks to his stat line.
Felt now has 15 blocks during MAC play, including three games with four blocks. The total now has Felt atop the MAC blocks leaderboard during conference games, surpassing Ohio's AJ Clayton with 14.
Javontae Campbell added three more steals to his season tally, entering the game averaging 3.25 steals per game. Campbell now has 55 steals on the season, needing six more to enter the top 10 in program history for steals in a season.
Trey Thomas played all 40 minutes for the Falcons and tallied 16 points, the second-most on the team, while going 4-for-4 at the line. Thomas added four rebounds, matching his season-high.
Marcus Johnson led the Falcons in points with 18, including a team-high three three-pointers. He added five free throws to his stat line as well.

UP NEXT
The Falcons will head on the road for their next game, going to Miami (OH) to face the RedHawks on Tuesday (Jan. 21) for a 7 p.m. tip in Oxford, Ohio. Bowling Green will return home on Friday (Jan. 24) to host the Battle of I-75 on CBS Sports Network with a 6 p.m .start.

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