20-Point Efforts From Towns, Campbell Lead Falcons Past Broncos

Tuesday, January 20

Kalamazoo, Mich.

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

13-6,4-3MAC

Western Michigan

7-12,1-6MAC

Bowling Green

Western Mich.

Photo by: Kate Laney, BGSU Athletics

January 20, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Three Falcons Come Close To Double-Doubles, Campbell Posts Near Triple-Double

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team continued their winning ways with a 72-54 road victory Tuesday night (Jan. 20) over the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo. The Falcons were sparked offensively by 20-point games from both Sam Towns and Javontae Campbell, but it was the defense that played the biggest role. The Falcons managed to create 15 turnovers on the defensive end while holding Western Michigan to 32.1-percent from the field and 23.1-percent from three. The win moves the Falcons to 13-6 on the season while being 4-3 within the MAC.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons won the tip, but Western Michigan tallied the first points. Javontae Campbell later answered with a jumper to put BGSU on the board. The back-and-forth continued with the Falcons adding a Sam Towns dunk in transition. Another Towns transition basket, with a foul, made it 7-6 WMU at the first media break. He converted to tie it at 7-7.
WMU reclaimed the lead with one at the line, but a massive one-hand slam by Troy Glover II put BGSU back in front, sparking a 10-0 run. Josiah Shackelford hit a transition jumper followed by an and-one from Campbell and then a corner three for a 17-8 lead and a WMU timeout. The Broncos added two before the under-12 media break for a 17-10 score.
Out of the break, Shackelford knocked down a three for a 13-2 run that spanned over six minutes of game action before the next WMU basket. Shackelford added two at the line for a 22-12 score at the under-8 media timeout.
After the timeout, WMU worked for the next three points across two possessions, but a Glover hook shot resumed the BGSU scoring. The Broncos continued to chip away, cutting the score to 24-23 with an 8-0 run to force a timeout from the Bowling Green bench that doubled as the under-4 timeout.
The Falcons ended the run out of the timeout with Shackelford converting one at the line. Glover followed with points in the paint to spark a run with a transition layup from Campbell continuing it. A block from Glover turned into a transition look for Towns, drawing a foul and making one. Campbell closed out the half in the final seconds with a driving layup, resulting in an 8-0 BGSU run and 32-23 lead going into halftime.
WMU tallied the first points of the second half, but Campbell answered with two at the line. A Campbell steal turned into a Glover layup before a Wol dunk made it a 6-0 run for the Falcons to force a WMU timeout with the score at 38-25 after a 14-2 run across the half. The same score carried to the under-16 media timeout of the half.
After the timeout, Towns sank a pair of the line to push the run to 8-0 and 16-2 across the half before the next WMU basket. Wol got a floater to fall before a Towns dunk. WMU added two, but a free throw from Glover and two from Shackelford extended the BGSU lead. Western Michigan closed the gap with a 5-0 burst for a 47-34 score at the under-12 break.
Towns restarted the scoring with points in the paint for BGSU after two Bronco free throws. WMU made a three, but Towns followed with another two in the paint. Campbell added one at the line with Towns later sinking two. An and-one from Towns kept it going for the Orange and Brown with a three from Campbell pushing the lead to 60-43 at the under-8 break.
Coming out of the timeout, Towns made two at the line, pushing him past 20 points for the game. A corner three from Javon Ruffin kept it going, building an 8-0 run. The run reached 10-0 with a driving layup from Wol, forcing a timeout from WMU that counted as the under-4 media timeout with the Falcons leading 67-43.
Western Michigan ended the run out of the break, but a Campbell layup put the Falcons back in the scoring column. Shackelford later added a three for the eventual 72-54 final in favor of the Falcons.

STAT LEADERS

Sam Towns: 21 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
Javontae Campbell: 20 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, 1 block
Josiah Shackelford: 13 points, 2 rebounds
Troy Glover II: 9 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 steals, 1 assist
Mayar Wol: 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block

FALCON STAT FACTS

Sam Towns led the scoring for the Falcons with a team-high 21 points, his third 20-point game this season. Towns was also one of three Falcons with nine rebounds, tying for the team-lead. Towns now has 125 rebounds this season for BGSU, a new single-season-high for his collegiate career. Towns added a 9-for-12 night at the line, setting new career-highs for both made and attempted free throws.
Javontae Campbell followed Towns in the scoring column with 20 points, his team-leading seventh 20-point game this season. Campbell filled the stat sheet with a season-high nine rebounds, tying for the team lead, and a team-high seven assists.
On top of his scoring output, Campbell swiped five steals in the game, bringing his season total to 64 and his career total to 154. For career marks, he moves up to 10th all-time, passing Justin Turner (2016-21) to enter the top 10. As for single-season, he moves up to sole possession of 10th, passing the tied quartet of Anthony Stacey (1998-99), David Jenkins (1982-83), Jehvon Clarke (2013-14) and Zack Denny (2016-17).
With Towns and Campbell reaching 20 points it marks the second time in MAC play the Falcons have two 20-point scorers. Over the last seven games, the Falcons have had nine 20-point scoring performances.
Troy Glover II just missed what would have been his third-straight double-double, ending with nine points and nine rebounds, tying for the team-lead in boards. Glover added four rejections to his stat line for the second-straight game and third time this season.
Bowling Green has now won three straight games in Kalamazoo for the first time since 2019-22 as well as back-to-back wins for the first time in 2026.
Both teams hauled in 39 rebounds in the game marking the first time during the Simon Era that the Falcons and their opponent have tied in rebound total.

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Our complete emphasis is to get back [to defense]. Defense travels. We don't want to be a team that just tries to outscore people. Our emphasis has been, for a few days here, we're going to get back to guarding and that's what practice has been focused on. When you hold a team to 33-percent on their home court, 23-percent from three and 15 turnovers, that's a heck of an outing on the defensive end."

UP NEXT
Bowling Green will stay on the road for their next game, albeit a shorter road trip. The Falcons will head north for the first leg in the Battle of I-75, taking on the rival Rockets Saturday (Jan. 24) with a 5 p.m. tip. BGSU will return home on Tuesday (Jan. 27) with a 7 p.m. start against Buffalo inside the Stroh Center.

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