Battle Of I-75 Comes Down To Final Shot Once Again As Falcons Fall Short In MAC Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 12

Cleveland, Ohio

Approx. 1:30 p.m. (30 Minutes After Game 1 Conclusion)

Bowling Green State University

18-14,9-9MAC

No. 4 Toledo

18-14,11-7MAC

Bowling Green

Toledo

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

Battle Of I-75 Comes Down To Final Shot Once Again As Falcons Fall Short In MAC Quarterfinals

March 12, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Towns, Glover Post Near Double-Doubles; Campbell Leads Way In Scoring

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team faced off with the rival Toledo Rockets in the MAC Quarterfinals Thursday (March 12). The two teams battled back and forth, exchanging the lead 10 times with six ties along the way. The game came down to the final shot for the third time in the last four meetings between the two, this time going the way of Toledo in a 77-76 final score.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons won the opening tip, but the first points went to Toledo. Javontae Campbell quickly responded with a driving layup to put BGSU on the board. The Rockets hit back-to-back threes for a 6-0 run. The run ended with a Troy Glover II layup off a Campbell feed, leading to a 12-4 score at the first media timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Mayar Wol worked for a hook shot in the paint. Toledo added an and-one before a layup from Josiah Shackelford in transition, continuing a back-and-forth for a 17-8 score at the under-12 media break.
A tip-in from Sam Towns restarted the scoring for the Falcons with Makhi Leach adding one at the line. A second-chance layup from Glover off a Towns offensive board and a quick Shackelford pass made it a 24-13 score. Toledo hit a three, but a 10-0 BGSU run followed. Shackelford and Javon Ruffin got it started with back-to-back threes followed by a Glover tip-in. Thomas kept it going with another transition layup, drawing a foul in the process for a 27-25 score at the under-8 media timeout.
The Rockets added to their lead, moving the score to 30-25. Thomas ended the brief UT spurt with a three before a Shackelford transition layup tied the score at 30-30 going into the final media timeout of the first half after a 15-3 stretch in favor of BGSU.
The two teams battled back-and-forth out of the break with a Shackelford jumper and Thomas slam for the Falcons for a 34-34 score. A Glover layup and another layup for Thomas pushed the score to 38-34. A three from Toledo cut it to 38-37 with a UT timeout, but the score held to half.
The second half began with more point-trading. Campbell scored BGSU's first points of the half with a driving layup, doing so two more times for a 44-44 tie. Campbell broke the tie with one at the line, scoring the first seven Falcon points of the half. Glover added a layup, but Toledo moved in front for a 48-47 lead at the first media timeout of the half.
Towns added a transition layup for the Falcons, but Toledo managed to stretch the score to 53-49 at the under-12 media break. Out of the timeout, Aiden Goins made two at the line to cut the score to 53-51. The back-and-forth resumed with Thomas hitting a three for the Falcons. Wol added an elbow jumper and later drew a shooting foul before the under-8 media timeout with the score at 61-56. After the timeout, Wol made both free throws for a 61-58 score.
Out of the break, Toledo went on a 10-2 run with Glover and Campbell each making one at the line. Glover ended the run with a transition layup for a 71-62 score at the under-4 media timeout.
Towns worked for a layup out of the timeout. A Toledo turnover gave possession back to BGSU with Towns drawing a foul and making one. A layup from Towns continued to cut into the lead, 71-67, with a Toledo timeout and media break for the first called timeout.
Toledo added a jumper, but a layup from Campbell and a three from Ruffin cut the lead down to 73-72 with under a minute remaining. Towns swiped a steal off the in-bound, later resulting in a Campbell driving layup for a 74-73 lead.
Two at the line for the Rockets swung the score back to them with a timeout and the clock at 24.7 seconds, adding two more at 10.3 seconds for a 77-74 score. Campbell added two free throws for BG with 7.1 remaining, but the 77-76 score held for the final.

STAT LEADERS

Javontae Campbell: 16 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Justin Thomas: 14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals
Troy Glover II: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Sam Towns: 9 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Josiah Shackelford: 9 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal

FALCON STAT FACTS

Javontae Campbell led the way with 16 points for the Falcons, bringing his BGSU career total to 1,075 points. The total moves Campbell up to 42nd in program history for career points. Campbell finished with 598 points on the season, two shy of the program's top 10.
Justin Thomas filled the stat sheet for Bowling Green, logging 14 points, four assists, three rebounds and a team-high three steals. Thomas also knocked down a pair of threes, tying for the team-lead while his assist total tied the team-lead as well.
Playing all 40 minutes, Sam Towns came just shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds. Towns added the team's lone block in the game as well. Over the last six games of the season, Towns solely led the team in boards five times.
Troy Glover II came close to a double-double as well, finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds. Glover also matched his season-high for made field goals with six.

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