Strong Second Half Effort Falls Short Of Comeback For Falcons Against Akron

Friday, January 9

Bowling Green, Ohio

8 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

11-6,2-3MAC

Akron

12-4,3-1MAC

Akron

Bowling Green

Photo by: Kate Laney, BGSU Athletics

Strong Second Half Effort Falls Short Of Comeback For Falcons Against Akron

January 10, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Wol Scores 32, Starts Second Half With BGSU's First 17 Points

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Attendance: 155
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team hosted the Akron Zips on national TV Friday night (Jan. 9) inside the Stroh Center. The Falcons sustained a slow start, but battled back and outscored Akron 63-53 from the 11:40 mark in the first half on. The spark was led by Mayar Wol's 32 points, including 24 in just the second half as well as the team's first 17 points in the second half. In the end, Akron held on for the 77-67 final, moving BGSU to 11-6 on the season and 2-3 in the MAC after facing the conference's top five teams from the preseason poll to begin the conference slate.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The game started with a 13-2 run for Akron. Sam Towns worked for the first BGSU points of the game with the Falcons later taking a timeout to pause the action for the first media timeout of the game.
The run carried through the timeout for Akron, reaching a 21-2 score. Troy Glover II ended the run with a tip-in, but another three from the Zips made it 24-4 at the under-12 media break.
Out of the timeout, Javontae Campbell hit a free throw followed by a Glover layup. Akron hit a three, but Campbell answered with one of his own. A layup later from Mayar Wol before two at the line from Javon Ruffin cut the score down to 27-14 before a 29-14 score at the under-8 media timeout.
After the break, the teams traded three-pointers with BGSU's coming from Wol. He followed with another before a Campbell layup trimmed the score down to 32-22, forcing an Akron timeout. A layup for the Zips pushed the score to 34-22 at the final media timeout of the first half.
Glover kept the scoring for BGSU, making a layup before a Campbell free throw. Towns added a tip-in to keep the deficit at 37-27, but back-to-back threes before the half extended the score to 43-27 in favor of the Zips.
Wol started the second half scoring for the Falcons with the first seven BGSU points, continuing to trim the deficit down to 47-34 at the first media timeout of the second half.
Wol kept it going out of the timeout, with a jumper, an and-one and a three-pointer for an 8-0 run on his own to cut the score down to 47-42 with an Akron timeout. The points continued to come for Wol with a jumper, but the Zips managed to extend their lead back to 52-44 at the under-12 timeout.
The back-and-forth continued with a Campbell layup and Wol jumper. Campbell later added one at the line to bring the deficit back down to single-digits, 58-49. An and-one from Towns came for the Falcons, but an Akron basket made it 61-52 at the under-8 media break.
A 5-0 run from Wol followed by a Shackelford layup made it a 7-0 run for the Falcons, forcing an Akron timeout with the score at 64-59. A hook shot from Glover kept it going for a 64-61 tally at the final media timeout of regulation.
Akron responded out of the break with a 7-0 run of their own to push the lead to 71-61 with a timeout from the Bowling Green bench with just under two minutes remaining. A layup from Shackelford and two at the line for Campbell trimmed the score to 73-65 with Akron utilizing their final timeout with 53 seconds on the clock. Akron made two at the line, but a Towns steal turned into a Shackelford layup with a BGSU timeout after. From there, Akron added two at the line for the 77-67 final.

STAT LEADERS

Mayar Wol: 32 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
Javontae Campbell: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block
Troy Glover II: 8 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Sam Towns: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals
Josiah Shackelford: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist

FALCON STAT FACTS

Mayar Wol led the Falcons with a career-high 32 points, becoming the second Falcon in the span of a week with 30+ in a game after Javontae Campbell had 47 last Saturday (Jan. 3) against UMass. This is the third time this year Wol has had 20+ in a game.
Of his 32 points, Wol accounted for 15 from behind the arc with five three-pointers. He's the first Falcon since Dec. 22 to have five threes in a game.
Campbell was BGSU's second double-digit scorer with 12 while adding six rebounds, a team-high five assists, a team-high four steals and a block. Campbell has now led BGSU in assists in each of the last four games as well as five of the last six.
Campbell played all 40 minutes for the Falcons, his third-straight contest playing the entirety of the game for a total of 125 minutes over the three-game stretch.
Playing a season-high 34 minutes, Troy Glover II came close to a double-double for the second game, finishing with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds for the Falcons, his second consecutive game leading the team in boards.

UP NEXT
The Falcons have somewhat of a bye with their next game being over a week away due to the odd number of teams in the MAC this season. Remaining at home for their next contest, Bowling Green will host Eastern Michigan on Jan. 17 for a 1 p.m. tip inside the Stroh Center.

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