Campbell Breaks Single-Season Steals Record For Second-Straight Season

Tuesday, February 24

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

16-13,7-9MAC

Western Michigan

10-18,4-11MAC

Western Mich.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

Campbell Breaks Single-Season Steals Record For Second-Straight Season

February 24, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Towns Tallies 22, Sinks Five Triples For Falcons

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Attendance: 152
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team hosted Western Michigan Tuesday night (Feb. 24) at the Stroh Center. Sam Towns led the way for Bowling Green with 22 points, including a career-high five three-pointers on top of a team-high nine rebounds. Javontae Campbell followed with 13 points, a team-high seven assists and a record-breaking steal, his 91st of the season to surpass his own program record for single-season steals. In the end, Western Michigan claimed an 88-79 final score, moving BGSU to 16-13 on the season while being 7-9 within the MAC with two games left in the regular season for the Orange and Brown.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sam Towns began the scoring for the game with a pair of threes, both assisted by Josiah Shackelford and separated by a WMU bucket. From there, the scoring transitioned to Troy Glover II with two hook shots in the paint. However, Western Michigan continued to fight, taking a 12-10 lead into the first media timeout.
The Bronco lead reached 14-10, but a basket from Aiden Goins ended the run. Goins stayed hot, scoring seven straight for the Falcons to knot it up at 17-17. A driving layup from Mayar Wol pushed BGSU in front for a 19-17 advantage at the under-12 media break.
Western Michigan tied it after the break, but a three from Towns pushed the Falcons back in front. Shackelford later added another three before a Campbell layup and two at the line from Shackelford made it a 29-24 BGSU lead at the under-8 media timeout. After the break, Glover added one at the line for a 30-24 tally.
Western Michigan answered with an 8-0 run to move in front with a 32-30 score. Campbell ended the run with one at the line, but two more followed for the Broncos. Campbell swiped a steal for a layup, but WMU answered for a 36-33 score at the final media timeout of the half.
Western Michigan added a three, but Wol responded in the same fashion for BGSU. Two at the line from Javon Ruffin pulled the Falcons within one, but a layup at the buzzer for WMU made it 41-38 at halftime.
Layups from Campbell and Thomas started the second half for the Falcons, reclaiming the lead. Western Michigan made a layup, but a Shackelford jumper put the Orange and Brown in front, 44-43, at the first media timeout of the second half. Out of the timeout, WMU used an 8-1 stretch to move in front 52-45 at the under-12 media timeout with the BG point being one from Towns at the line.
Campbell added a free throw, but back-to-back dunks from Glover narrowed the gap to 54-50 with a WMU timeout, serving as a media for the first called timeout of the half. Out of the break, Towns added four at the line for BGSU, but the Broncos managed to stretch their lead to 60-54 at the under-8 break.
The lead for WMU grew to 64-54 with a Campbell free throw ending the run. Towns kept it going with a three before the press turned into points for BGSU, including back-to-back buckets from Makhi Leach. Leach added two more at the line for a 73-64 score at the under-4 media timeout.
Two from Campbell at the line and a three for Towns cut into the score, 73-69. From there, the teams went back-and-forth with two Campbell free throws, a Towns layup and a Shackelford layup for an 81-75 score. WMU added five with free throws from Leach and Shackelford adding to BGSU's tally before a Shackelford layup, leading to an 88-79 final.

STAT LEADERS

Sam Towns: 22 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist
Javontae Campbell: 13 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block
Josiah Shackelford: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Troy Glover II: 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

FALCON STAT FACTS

Javontae Campbell tallied a steal in the game for the Falcons, breaking the BGSU single-season steals record for the second-straight season, now with 91 this year. As for the MAC record book, Campbell is now tied for fourth with Darrian Ringo's 2017-18 season.
Campbell added 13 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Falcons. His seven assists led the team, marking 16 straight games that Campbell has led the team in the stat.
Sam Towns paced the team in scoring with 22 points and just missed a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds. Towns' 22 points marked his fourth 20-point game of the season with two of those coming against Western Michigan.
Towns added a career-high five three-pointers for the Falcons, becoming the first player for Bowling Green with five threes since Mayar Wol had five against Eastern Michigan on Jan. 17. Towns is the fourth different Falcon this season to log five threes in a game.
Josiah Shackelford offered 12 points to the BGSU effort, completing BGSU's trio of double-digit scorers. Shackelford added three assists as well, matching his season-high.

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Very disappointing performance. Not what we looked like in preparation for the game in any way shape or form. We've been hanging our hat as one of the best defensive teams in the league and tonight that was definitely not on display."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will conclude their home schedule for the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 28) with a 2 p.m. tip against the UMass Minutemen. The game will be Senior Night in the Stroh Center with BGSU recognizing the team's seniors pregame.

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