Men’s Hoops Puts Together Complete Game For Largest MAC Margin Of Victory During Simon Era

Tuesday, February 3

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

14-9,5-6MAC

Ball State

7-15,3-7MAC

Ball St.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

Men’s Hoops Puts Together Complete Game For Largest MAC Margin Of Victory During Simon Era

February 03, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Shackelford Scores 21 Points Over Season-High 33 Minutes In Return To Starting Lineup

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Attendance: 358
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team got back in the win column Tuesday night (Feb. 3) with a dominant 77-52 win over the Ball State Cardinals. The Falcons took the lead with their first basket and never looked back, never surrendering the lead to Ball State during the game. The Bowling Green defense held Ball State under 30 in both halves, allowing just 52 points the entire game to tie for the fewest points in a MAC game by a team this season. On the offensive side, BGSU was rolling from all levels, shooting 56.3-percent from the field, 50.0-percent from three and 93.3-percent from the free throw line. The well-rounded effort resulted in a 25-point margin of victory for BGSU, their largest during the Coach Simon Era in a MAC contest. Bowling Green moves to 14-9 on the season while being 5-6 within the MAC heading into the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge this weekend.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ball State won the opening tip, but it was the Falcons who struck first with a Josiah Shackelford bucket, sparking a 7-2 run to the first media timeout in favor of the Falcons. Sam Towns added a layup followed by a Mayar Wol three, both assisted on by Javontae Campbell.
The Cardinals ended the run out of the break, but a three from Javon Ruffin resumed BGSU's scoring. Ball State answered with a three before a Troy Glover II floater and an Aiden Goins layup to go up 14-7 at the under-12 media timeout.
Goins kept it going after the timeout with a pair of baskets in the paint separated by a Ball State three. Shackelford added two at the line, but the Cardinals matched in the same fashion. Troy Glover II got a second-chance basket to fall, giving the Falcons a 22-12 lead at the under-8 media timeout.
Ball State and Shackelford traded free throws before back-to-back BSU buckets cut into the lead. Towns ended the brief spurt with a layup, but Ball State again answered before back-to-back buckets from Goins. Each team added a layup with BGSU's coming from Campbell for a 32-22 score at the final media timeout of the first half.
Out of the break, the Falcons tallied a 6-0 run. Campbell finished off his and-one followed by layups from both Campbell and Wol. Towns closed out the run with one at the line before the next Ball State basket. Towns later added two at the line before the half, building a 40-27 BGSU lead at the midway point.
The Falcons came out for the second half hot from three. Wol got it started followed by one from Campbell. Shackelford broke the string with a steal and layup, but Wol went back to work from distance before Shackelford drained a three for a 54-36 lead at the first media timeout of the second half.
Shackelford stayed hot coming out of the break, scoring BGSU's next eight points with a pair of threes and a layup between to keep the Falcons in front, 62-44, at the under-12 media timeout.
Ball State attempted to chip away before the next break with BGSU adding a Towns layup and two Campbell free throws to keep the advantage at 66-48 with 7:44 left in regulation.
The Cardinals registered the first three points out of the break, but a 5-0 BGSU run followed to begin a Falcons stretch that spanned the rest of the game. Glover hit two at the line before Shackelford drained a three for a 71-51 lead at the under-4 media break.
The Falcons kept it going down the stretch with two Campbell free throws plus layups from Shackelford and Makhi Leach to close out the game with an 11-1 run over the final six minutes of action for the 77-52 victory.

STAT LEADERS

Josiah Shackelford: 21 points, 6 rebounds 1 steal
Mayar Wol: 14 points, 1 rebound
Javontae Campbell: 12 points, 6 assists, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Aiden Goins: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist
Troy Glover II: 6 points, 7 rebounds

FALCON STAT FACTS

The Falcons held Ball State to 52 points, tied for the fewest points scored by a MAC team in a conference game this season. Akron held Kent State to 52 points on Jan. 30 and Eastern Michigan held Ball State to 52 points on Jan. 6. The 52 points allowed are also the fewest allowed for the Falcons against a MAC opponent since holding Ball State to 52 last season on March 1, 2025 in a 61-52 win.
With the 77-52 victory and a 25-point margin, the Falcons logged their largest MAC win since a 91-56 final and 35-point margin of victory over Eastern Michigan on Jan. 2, 2023.
As a team, the Falcons shot 93.3-percent from the free throw line, going 14-for-15 at the stripe. It marks the second time this season BGSU has been north of 90-percent at the line, previously shooting 94.1-percent (16-of-17) against Le Moyne on Nov. 9.
Javontae Campbell moved up the program's record book lists for steals once again, swiping a pair. Campbell is now up to 73 steals this season and 163 for his BGSU tenure. For single-season steals, Campbell jumps up to a tie for third, matching Antonio Daniels' 1996-97 season and Scott Thomas' 2011-12 campaign. As for career steals, Campbell is up to seventh, passing Daniels who had 162 from 1994-97.
Campbell finished with a full stat line, going for 12 points, a team-leading six assists, two steals, two blocks and a rebound. Campbell has now led BGSU in assists in 10 straight games. His two blocks also matched his career-high.
Playing a season-high 33 minutes, Josiah Shackelford re-entered the starting lineup and led the BGSU scoring effort with 21 points, his third 20-point game of the season for Bowling Green. He also finished second on the team in rebounds with six boards.
Mayar Wol tallied 14 points for the Falcons, including knocking down a team-high four three-pointers. The connections from deep are the most for Wol since sinking five on Jan. 17 against Eastern Michigan.
Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Troy Glover II still managed to lead the team in rebounds with seven boards. Playing 15 minutes, Glover added six points as well.
Aiden Goins added 10 first half points off the bench, leading the team in scoring at half time, and finished the game with five rebounds, a new season-high for him.
Javon Ruffin tallied three points for the Falcons, giving him 184 points this season to tie his career-high for points in a single season.
With the win, the Falcons have now tallied wins in four of the last five meetings against Ball State and begin the month of February with a victory. The win also marked BGSU's eighth of the season at home, giving them at least eight home wins in each season under Coach Simon.

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Proud of the guys. We put together the full 40-minutes finally. We've kind of been doing it on the defensive end, then doing it on the offensive end or doing it on both, but turning it over. We got all facets going tonight. Really respect Ball State, think [Michael Lewis] does a great job, just watching it on film. Obviously, they had won three in a row, it's tough to win on the road. I think he does a good job and that's a good team that's going to do some things in February. Really happy with the win and the performance and the way we went about it."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will be back on the road for their next two contests, heading to Arkansas State on Saturday (Feb. 7) and Northern Illinois on Tuesday (Feb. 11). The game at ASU will be a 3 p.m. EST tip followed by an 8 p.m. EST start at NIU. Bowling Green will return home to the Stroh Center on Feb. 14 for a Valentine's Day showdown with Toledo, set for a 5 p.m. start. The game will be an Orange Wave as well as the Bird Reveal for the mascots.

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