Second Half Surge Sends Falcons Soaring Over Eagles In Regular Season Finale

Friday, March 6

Ypsilanti, Mich.

6:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

18-13,9-9MAC

Eastern Michigan

10-21,4-14MAC

Bowling Green

Eastern Mich.

Troy Glover II Slam Dunk vs. EMU -- March 6, 2026

Photo by: Drake Harlett, Sentinel-Tribune

Second Half Surge Sends Falcons Soaring Over Eagles In Regular Season Finale

March 06, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-EMU Box Score Support Our Student-Athletes

Towns Becomes First Falcon Since 2018-19 With Back-To-Back Games With 15+ Rebounds

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team closed out the regular season with a 77-69 victory over Eastern Michigan Friday night (March 6). The Falcons jumped out to an early 19-9 lead, but the Eagles fought back to take the advantage into the halftime locker room. In the second half, the Falcons erupted offensively, more than doubling their field goal percentage, to capture the win. Javontae Campbell led the way in scoring and assists with 22 and seven, respectively, while Sam Towns added his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and a team-high 18 rebounds. BGSU will now transition to the MAC Tournament, beginning on Thursday (March 12) with a Battle of I-75 rubber match.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons won the opening tip and drained back-to-back threes from Javon Ruffin and Javontae Campbell before the first EMU points. The Eagles responded with a 6-0 run, but another three from Ruffin ended the burst. Troy Glover II added a second-chance layup before a third Ruffin triple, this time from the corner for a 14-9 BGSU lead at the first media timeout. Before the second media break, Sam Towns added a second-chance layup, working his rebound total to eight in less than 10 minutes of game action.
The first points out of the break came on a second-chance three from Goins. He grabbed the rebound, dribbled to the corner and connected, pushing the run to 8-0 for BGSU. Eastern Michigan ended the run with a 7-0 burst of their own, closing the gap to 19-16 at the under-8 media timeout.
Glover restarted the scoring by slamming down an alley-oop over a defender. Mayar Wol kept it going with two at the line plus Glover later adding another, but EMU worked to knot it up at 24-24. Towns spun for a layup, pushing the Falcons back in front, but EMU again tied it before the final media timeout of the first half, 26-26.
Coming out of the break, Eastern Michigan added three to their tally for a 29-26 lead. A driving layup from Campbell in transition pulled the Falcons back within one, 29-28, with an EMU timeout. The lead for the Eagles moved to 31-28 at the halftime buzzer.
Justin Thomas opened the second half with three to tie the score, but Eastern Michigan recorded four at the line. Glover worked for a hook shot before two Towns free throws knotted it up again. The back-and-forth continued with five for Eastern Michigan, making it 40-35 at the first media timeout of the second half.
Josiah Shackelford went up-and-under for two. Campbell later added one at the line before swiping a steal and getting a second-chance layup. Campbell kept it going with an and-one. One at the line from Towns tied it at 44-44. A Thomas swipe and lob to Towns for an alley-oop put the Falcons in front, but EMU matched for a 46-46 tie at the under-12 media timeout.
Out of the break, Campbell converted a free throw to put BGSU in the lead. A jumper from Wol extended the lead followed by a massive alley-oop slam from Glover and a Campbell layup for a 7-0 run, 53-46 lead and an EMU timeout. Eastern Michigan ended the run, but an and-one slam from Wol erased the points and more. The back-and-forth continued with Wol and Campbell each adding a layup, but a 5-0 Eagle run cut into the score, 60-55 at the under-8 media break.
The lead stretched to double-digits for BGSU with another Glover alley-oop slam followed by an and-one from Campbell. EMU added a basket for a 65-57 score at the final media timeout in regulation. Towns added four at the line after the timeout with Ruffin later connecting on a three to make it 72-59 before a BGSU timeout with the score at 72-61. Down the stretch, Campbell added a layup and a free throw followed by two Towns free throws for the 77-69 final score.

STAT LEADERS

Javontae Campbell: 22 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals
Sam Towns: 15 points, 18 rebounds, 1 steal
Javon Ruffin: 12 points, 2 rebounds
Troy Glover II: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
Mayar Wol: 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

FALCON STAT FACTS

Sam Towns logged 15 points and a team-high 18 rebounds for his team-leading fourth double-double of the season. After having 15 rebounds last Saturday (Feb. 28) against UMass, Towns is the first Falcon with back-to-back games with 15+ rebounds since Demajeo Wiggins in 2018-19.
This is the third time this season Towns has had 15 or more rebounds in a game, logging 18 against VMI on Nov. 26. However, his 15 defensive rebounds are a new career-high. He also matched his career-highs at the line, going 9-for-12.
Javontae Campbell led the team in scoring with his team-leading 14th 20-point game of the season, finishing with 22. Campbell now has 1,059 points with the Orange and Brown, moving up to 45th on the all-time scoring list.
Campbell led the team in assists as well with seven, pushing his season total to 159 assists. The mark pushes Campbell up to ninth on the program's single-season assists list, passing Jordan Crawford's 2011-12 campaign with 153.
Campbell swiped three more steals for the Falcons, bringing his BGSU career total to 186. The total moves him into BGSU's top five for career steals, passing Jordan Crawford's 184 (2009-13) for fifth.
Troy Glover II added 11 points for the Falcons as well as six rebounds and one of the team's three blocks. Of Glover's six boards, four came on the offensive end, one shy of his season-high.
Javon Ruffin sank a team-high four three-pointers for the Falcons, including three in the first half, finishing the game with 12 points, his 11th double-digit outing of the season.
With the win, the Falcons are now .500 all-time when playing on the road at Eastern Michigan with a 24-24 record. It also marks the first season sweep over EMU since the 2022-23 campaign.

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"In the first half, I felt like we were playing really really hard, we just left a lot of shots on the rim, we just weren't finishing. In the second half, we just did a little bit better of a job knocking shots down and tightened up our defense and gave them some different looks. The leadership, Sam Towns and Javontae Campbell, was a huge difference as well."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will advance to the MAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed in the field. Bowling Green will take on No. 4 Toledo in a rubber match for the Battle of I-75. The game will be the second of the day in Cleveland on Thursday (March 12) in the first round and will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the day's first game.

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons' men's basketball team on social media
Twitter - @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMBB
Instagram - 'bgfalcons' and 'bgsumhoops'
Facebook - 'BGSU Athletics' and 'BGSU Men's Hoops'
YouTube - 'Falcon Athletics'