Double-Doubles From Towns, Glover Pace Falcons To Win Over Chicago State

Tuesday, December 16

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

8-3,0-0MAC

Chicago State

2-10,0-0NEC

Chicago St.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Kate Laney, BGSU Athletics

Double-Doubles From Towns, Glover Pace Falcons To Win Over Chicago State

December 16, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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

Ruffin Adds 15 Points, Nine Assists, Six Rebounds In Winning Effort

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team tallied their eighth win of the season Tuesday night (Dec. 16) in the Stroh Center with a 76-55 victory over Chicago State. The Falcons' defense led the way, holding the Cougars to just 29.3-percent from the field while blocking 10 shots, the most blocks for BGSU in a game in over a decade. The defense was complimented by double-doubles from Sam Towns and Troy Glover II, both utilizing points and rebounds for the feat, while Javon Ruffin came an assist shy of a double-double of his own. The Falcons now advance to 8-3 with conference play beginning this weekend at Ohio on Saturday (Dec. 20).

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons came out strong with six straight points from Troy Glover II, including two dunks, for a 6-0 lead and a Chicago State timeout less than two minutes into the game.
The Cougars hit two free throws after the timeout for their first points, but a Javon Ruffin layup matched. Chicago State hit a three followed by two Justin Thomas free throws. Sam Towns kept it going with a jumper before Chicago State matched. Mayar Wol joined in the scoring with a three, sparking a BGSU run. Towns made a layup before adding a free throw for a 6-0 burst and 18-7 lead.
Chicago State ended the run with a second-chance bucket, but the Falcons went back to work with a Makhi Leach layup. The back-and-forth continued with two at the line for the Cougars and then a three, cutting the score to 20-14 at the under-12 media timeout.
Glover got the scoring going out of the break before two Javontae Campbell free throws. Chicago State later made one at the line followed by a jumper and a three for a 6-0 run, cutting the score to 24-20. Thomas ended the run for the Orange and Brown with an and-one, but Chicago State made two at the line to answer. A jumper for the Cougars and two more free throws cut the deficit to one, 27-26.
A three from Ruffin kept the Falcons in front before a Chicago State jumper, but the Falcons answered with a run. Ruffin started with a layup followed by a Towns triple for a 35-28 score at the final media timeout of the first half. A three from Josiah Shackelford kept the run going with two Ruffin free throws closing out the half with a 10-0 BGSU run and 40-28 lead at the halftime whistle.
Towns started the second half scoring with a fast break layup off a lob from Ruffin, making it a 12-0 run and 42-28 lead for BGSU. A timeout for BGSU soon after brought on a media timeout for the first called with the same score. Before the next stoppage Chicago State made a free throw followed by a Towns layup with a foul for a 44-29 score at the under-16 break.
The first points out of the timeout came at the line for Chicago State, but a Shackelford layup matched. A dunk from Towns and two free throws from Campbell stretched the lead to 50-31. Chicago State made a basket to end the BGSU spurt, but a Wol jumper started a back-and-forth with a Thomas layup for the Falcons making it a 54-39 score at the under-12 media timeout.
A layup for Leach off an inbound restarted the scoring for Bowling Green, but a Chicago State jumper answered before two Cougar free throws. Another Leach layup kept the scoring going for BGSU, but Chicago State answered with a layup. Camden Karel sank two at the line for BGSU, but a 7-0 Chicago State run followed to cut the lead down to 60-52. A three from Ruffin ended the run with a Thomas free throw coming later.
Chicago State sank one at the line, but Glover sparked a 6-0 BGSU run with points from Campbell and Towns following to rebuild the lead to 70-53 at the final media timeout. The Cougars made a layup, but three-pointers from Towns and Ruffin closed out the game for a 76-55 victory.

STAT LEADERS

Sam Towns: 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Troy Glover II: 10 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks
Javon Ruffin: 15 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds
Justin Thomas: 8 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks
Javontae Campbell: 6 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 rebound

FALCON STAT FACTS

Bowling Green swatted away 10 blocks, the team's first double-digit block game in over a decade with the last being 11 against Drake on Nov. 15, 2014.
As a team, the Falcons registered 21 assists, giving them 20+ assists in back-to-back games after having 26 against Aquinas. This is the first time with back-to-back 20-assist games for the Falcons since the 2022-23 season, posting 20 against Fairmont State (Dec. 19) and 25 against Ohio Dominican (Dec. 29).
Sam Towns posted his second double-double of the season and fourth of his BGSU career, logging 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the team in both stats. He also shot 8-for-11 from the field for a 72.7-percent clip.
Troy Glover II added his first double-double at the Division-I level, registering 10 points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Glover also recorded a season-high four blocks while playing a season-high 30 minutes.
With Towns and Glover posting double-doubles it marks the first time this year BGSU has had two double-doubles in the same game. The last time it happened was on Dec. 23, 2024 when Javontae Campbell posted a triple-double in addition to a Jamai Felt double-double.
Javon Ruffin nearly logged a double-double of his own, filling the stat sheet with 15 points, a career-high nine assists and a season-high six rebounds. With Campbell having nine assists against Aquinas, the Falcons have now had a player an assist shy of a double-digits dimes in both of the last two games.
Justin Thomas matched his season-high for assists in a game with six while filling out his stat line with eight points, four rebounds and two blocks on top of playing a team-high 36 minutes.
Preston Squire made his season-debut for the Falcons, hauling in a rebound while logging over four minutes of action.
With the win, the Falcons remain undefeated all-time against Chicago State, now 5-0 in the series.
Bowling Green is now 8-3 on the season, the second time in the three seasons under Coach Simon with that record through 11 games, reaching the same mark in 2023-24.

UP NEXT
The Falcons will begin conference competition this weekend with their first Mid-American Conference matchup of the season. Bowling Green will head on the road to take on the Ohio Bobcats Saturday (Dec. 20) with a 4 p.m. tip.

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