Falcons’ Second Half Comeback Effort Falls Short Against Undefeated RedHawks

Tuesday, December 30

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

10-4,1-1MAC

(RV) Miami (OH)

14-0,2-0MAC

Miami (OH)

Bowling Green

Photo by: Avery Zuercher, BGSU Athletics

Falcons’ Second Half Comeback Effort Falls Short Against Undefeated RedHawks

December 30, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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Towns Leads All Scorers With 24, Including 16 In Second Half

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team hosted the Miami (OH) RedHawks Tuesday night (Dec. 30) in front of a packed Stroh Center. Miami jumped out to a strong first half, but the Falcons fought back, outscoring the RedHawks 55-39 in the second half. The comeback effort, however, fell short with Miami claiming a 93-83 final to remain undefeated on the season. For the Falcons, Bowling Green moves to 10-4 on the year while being 1-1 in the early stages of conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Miami opened the scoring with two, but Troy Glover II responded with a jumper to put BGSU on the board. A three from Justin Thomas and a layup from Sam Towns made it a 7-0 BGSU run for a 7-2 score. Another Miami bucket made it a 7-4 tally at the first media timeout.
Miami resumed play with a layup, but Josiah Shackelford answered in the same fashion. The RedHawks worked to tie it up at 9-9, but a Thomas bucket kept the Falcons in front. Miami managed a 9-0 run going into the under-12 timeout for an 18-11 advantage. The run for the RedHawks reached 13-0 with a 22-11 lead at the under-8 break.
The run continued after the stoppage, expanding to 16-0 for a 25-11 lead. Javon Ruffin sank a layup to end the stretch. The RedHawks added four more before a Shackelford layup, bringing the score to 29-15. Another 9-0 run followed for Miami with a Javontae Campbell layup ending the run with a 38-17 score. Ruffin and Towns each added one at the line for a 46-19 score at the under-4 media break.
Campbell worked for a layup after the break, but a three for Miami followed. The back-and-forth continued with baskets from Shackelford and Towns, but a three from Miami separated the points. The RedHawks added a layup of their own before a Towns triple just before the buzzer made it a 54-28 halftime score.
Campbell opened the second half scoring with back-to-back layups followed by one from Towns for a 6-0 run to start the second half. Miami hit a three for their first second half points, but a Ruffin layup cut the lead down to 57-36 at the first media timeout.
Towns hit a free throw for BGSU before snagging a steal and slamming it down to force a Miami timeout with the score at 57-39, resulting in a media timeout for the first called of the second half.
The RedHawks added four points, but a driving layup for Campbell ended the burst for a 61-41 score at the under-12 media timeout. Drawing a foul before the break, Ruffin made two at the line after the stoppage for a 61-43 tally.
Mayar Wol kept it going with two more at the line, but a Miami layup answered. Towns sank two at the line to restart the BGSU scoring with Shackelford adding a layup. A back-and-forth followed with points for the Falcons from Towns and Wol for a 71-53 score at the under-8 media timeout.
The first points out of the break came at the line for Shackelford with Miami sinking one before a Wol jumper and a Ruffin three. The back-and-forth resumed from there with BGSU points from a Campbell layup, Towns triple and Towns jumper to cut the score to 78-67 at the final media timeout in regulation.
Wol worked for a second-chance bucket out of the timeout, cutting the deficit to single digits, but a 5-0 run came as Miami's response. Campbell stopped the burst with an and-one, later making another at the line following two Miami free throws for an 85-73 score with just under two minutes left and a Miami timeout.
The back-and-forth at the line continued with two for the RedHawks before three from Wol. Miami tallied two buckets, but a Towns jumper and BGSU timeout made it 91-78 with just under a minute remaining. Ruffin got a second-chance basket to fall and Wol hit a three, separated by a Miami bucket, in the final minute for the 93-83 final score.

STAT LEADERS

Sam Towns: 24 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
Javontae Campbell: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
Mayar Wol: 14 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound
Javon Ruffin: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Josiah Shackelford: 10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals

FALCON STAT FACTS

The Falcons drew a crowd of 3,844 to the Stroh Center, the fourth largest non-Toledo crowd in program history for the venue and the largest non-Toledo crowd since the 2018-19 season.
Sam Towns led all scorers in the game with 24 points, his second 20-point game of the season. Towns also paced BGSU in rebounds with six while tying for the team lead in both steals and blocks with three and one, respectively. This marked the second time in the last four games Towns has led the team in both points and rebounds, doing so against Chicago State as well on Dec. 16.
Javontae Campbell followed Towns on the stat sheet with 16 points while leading the team in assists with four and tying Towns for the team lead in steals and blocks with three and one, respectively. Campbell has now led BGSU in assists in five of the last seven games.
Javon Ruffin registered a pair of steals for the Falcons, giving him 18 on the season, already matching his career-high for steals in a single season, previously set at 18 last year with Colorado.
Mayar Wol and Josiah Shackelford were forces off the bench for the Falcons, combining for all 24 of BGSU's bench points. Wol led the way with 14 followed by Shackelford's 10.
Bowling Green closes out December with a 5-2 record, the same standing they posted in November. The Falcons are now 12-4 all-time in the month of December during the Simon Era.

UP NEXT
The Falcons will hit the road for their next two contests within the MAC, beginning on Saturday (Jan. 3) against UMass with a 2 p.m. tip to bring in the new year. From there, BGSU's road trip will transition to Kent State on Tuesday (Jan. 6) at 7 p.m. against the Golden Flashes. Bowling Green will return home on Jan. 9 for an 8 p.m. tip against Akron for a nationally televised game.

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