Falcons Lead Wire-To-Wire Against Kansas State For First Power 4 Win In 20 Years

Monday, December 1

Manhattan, Kan.

8 p.m. EST

Bowling Green State University

6-2,0-0MAC

Kansas State

5-3,0-0Big 12

Bowling Green

Kansas St.

Photo by: Will Huster, BGSU Athletics

Falcons Lead Wire-To-Wire Against Kansas State For First Power 4 Win In 20 Years

December 01, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-Kansas State Box Score Support Our Student-Athletes

Sam Towns Posts Career Night With Team-Leading 27 Points

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team took down the Kansas State Wildcats Monday night (Dec. 1) on the road. The Falcons led wire-to-wire in the contest, growing their advantage to as many as 18 over the course of the game on their way to an 82-66 victory. The win for the Falcons is the first over a Power 4 opponent in 20 years (Nov. 12, 2005) and the first double-digit win over a Power 4 opponent in nearly 30 years (Dec. 30, 1996). The win moves the Falcons to 6-2 on the season, the program's best start since 2020-21 with five of their next six games at home.

In a game that included the nation's leading scorer on the Kansas State side of the court, Sam Towns led all scorers in the game with a career-high 27 points, his first 20-point game as a Falcon. Towns added eight rebounds, sharing in the team lead with Troy Glover II. Javontae Campbell and Javon Ruffin both tallied 17 points for the Falcons. Campbell led the team in assists with five while Ruffin swished home five three-pointers for the second time in the last three games.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons opened the game with a 5-0 run. Sam Towns swiped a steal that later turned into a tip-in for Troy Glover II. Justin Thomas later added a three before the first Kansas State basket, giving BGSU an early 5-2 advantage.
Towns brought the Bowling Green answer with a layup, but a Wildcat three followed. The same sequence repeated, pushing the score to 9-8, BGSU. The back-and-forth continued between the teams. Mayar Wol hit a mid-ranger jumper for the Falcons before a Javon Ruffin three, but K-State buckets followed each for a 14-12 Bowling Green lead at the first media timeout.
The Falcons tallied the first points after the break. Josiah Shackelford jumped a pass for a steal that resulted in a Towns tip-in for the Falcons. A layup for Kansas State continued the back-and-forth. Shackelford hit a three for BGSU before a pair of triples from Towns, but the Wildcats continued their answers, keeping the deficit at 25-21 at the under-12 media timeout.
The Orange and Brown again started the scoring after the pause with Shackelford finding Wol in the paint for two. Javontae Campbell later added a free throw, pushing the BGSU lead to 28-21. Kansas State ended their scoring drought with a three, but Ruffin answered with one of his own to keep the Falcon lead at 31-24 going into the under-8 media timeout.
The Wildcats resumed the scoring this time around, hitting a three that jumpstarted a 5-0 run to cut the score down to 31-29. Campbell ended the run with a driving layup for the Falcons, but Kansas State answered to stay within a possession. Bowling Green worked to rebuild their lead, beginning with a three from Ruffin. A second-chance layup from Thomas and then a Towns three made it an 8-0 run to push the BGSU lead to 10, 41-31. Kansas State ended the run with a layup for a 41-33 score at the final media timeout of the first half.
Campbell kept it going for the Falcons after the break with a layup, but the Wildcats responded in the same fashion. The back-and-forth continued with a Towns jumper followed by one at the line from Campbell. Shackelford added another BGSU three, giving the Falcons a 6-0 run to close the half for a 49-35 advantage.
Kansas State started the second half scoring by converting an and-one opportunity, but Campbell matched the points with a three of his own. The Wildcats made two at the line, but Towns answered with a pair of free throws before a Ruffin three stretched the lead to 57-40 at the first media timeout of the second half.
The Wildcats ended the BGSU burst after the timeout with a jumper. Thomas made one at the line for the Falcons, but K-State answered with two free throws and a layup for a 6-1 stretch to cut the lead down to 58-46. Shackelford ended the stretch with a free throw. Kansas State added another layup, but a Towns layup matched, pushing Towns past the 20-point mark for the game with 21 and the score at 61-48 at the under-12 media timeout.
After the timeout, the Wildcats added three at the line across two trips, cutting the deficit down to 10, 61-51. Towns ended the brief burst for Kansas State with a spinning layup before another K-State free throw. A three from the Wildcats brought the lead to single-digits, 63-55, but Ruffin answered for the Falcons with a three. The back-and-forth continued with a jumper for Kansas State and a layup for Campbell, 68-57, at the under-8 media timeout.
The first points out of the break came at the line for Kansas State with a pair, but Ruffin responded with two of his own to keep the lead double-digits, 70-59. The back-and-forth continued with a layup for the Wildcats followed by a Shackelford jumper to match, bringing the score to 72-61 at the under-4 media timeout.
Towns began the scoring out of the break with two at the line for BGSU. Campbell sank a layup before two more for Towns at the line, stretching the lead to 78-61 following the 8-0 burst. Kansas State worked for a layup and a timeout with the score at 78-63 and just under a minute-and-a-half remaining.
Out of the timeout, Campbell sank two free throws for BGSU followed by one at the line for the Wildcats. Campbell made a layup down the stretch before a Kansas State layup to match for the 82-66 final.

STAT LEADERS

Sam Towns: 27 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Javontae Campbell: 17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists
Javon Ruffin: 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists
Josiah Shackelford: 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Justin Thomas: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Mayar Wol: 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
Troy Glover II: 2 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks

FALCON STAT FACTS

The win for the Falcons marked the first over a Power 4 opponent since besting Virginia Tech on Nov. 12, 2005. The win is the first double-digit win over a Power 4 opponent for the Falcons since Dec. 30, 1996 against Mississippi State.
Bowling Green is now off to a 6-2 start, the best start for the Falcons since beginning the 2020-21 campaign with a 9-2 record. Five of BGSU's next six games are at home.
Defensively, the Falcons held Kansas State's PJ Haggerty to just 17 points after he entered averaging a nation-leading 26.3 points per game. BGSU is one of just two teams to hold Haggerty under 20 points this season after Indiana held him to 16.
Coming off his first double-double of the season in the last contest, Sam Towns put together another show for BGSU. Towns tallied a career-high 27 points, leading all scorers for the game. Towns is the fourth different Falcon with a 20-point game this season.
Towns tied for the team-lead in rebounds as well with eight, matching Troy Glover II's total, a career-high for Glover with five coming on the offensive end. Glover also swatted away both of BGSU's blocks in the game, giving him 10 on the season.
Javontae Campbell tallied 17 points for the Falcons, tying for second on the team, while leading the team in assists with five, tying his season-high. Campbell has now led BGSU in assists three times this year through eight games. He completed his stat line with six rebounds, third on the team.
Playing a career-high 38 minutes, Javon Ruffin tied Campbell's total with 17 himself, a new career-high, including a team-leading five three-pointers. BGSU has now had a player hit five threes in each of the last three games. Mayar Wol did so against VMI while Ruffin did so against Bucknell as well.
The Falcons carried a 14-point lead into the halftime break, marking three straight games that Bowling Green held a double-digit lead at the midway point. BGSU led VMI by 25 in their last game (Nov. 26) and led Bucknell by 11 in the game before that (Nov. 24).
As a team, Bowling Green hit a season-high 12 three-pointers. Five of the seven Falcons to see action in the contest made at least one three.
BGSU posted just eight turnovers in the game, their third time this year with single-digit turnovers. Their six against Le Moyne is the only lower mark this season.
With the game marking the first against Kansas State in program history, the Falcons are now 1-0 all-time against the Wildcats. K-State is the 273rd different opponent BGSU has defeated all-time and the sixth team added to the list this year, joining Texas State, Bethany College, Le Moyne, Bucknell and VMI.
Bowling Green is now 8-2 all-time in the month of December under Coach Simon. BGSU will play five of their next six games at home, all in the month of December.

UP NEXT
The Falcons will return home for their first of five home games in the month of December, hosting Utah Valley on Saturday (Dec. 6) with a 1 p.m. tip inside the Stroh Center. The Falcons will then turn around and host Aquinas on Sunday (Dec. 7) for a 4 p.m. start.

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons' men's basketball team on social media
Twitter - @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMBB
Instagram - 'bgfalcons' and 'bgsumhoops'
Facebook - 'BGSU Athletics' and 'BGSU Men's Hoops'
YouTube - 'Falcon Athletics'