Bowling Green

Bowling Green 55 - Wright State 54

Bill Kintner — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0800

DAYTON – When Wright State went on a 17-2 run to take the lead at the start of the second half Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich started thinking about what he would say to the media about how it was important to come out strong to start the second half.

But a strange thing happened on the way to what looked like a road loss for Bowling Green, The Falcons starting getting some stops, made their free throws down the stretch, enough to pull out a 59-56 win.

As for Dakich, he had to think of something else to tell the assembled media after the game.

With just 28 seconds left and Bowling Green leading 55-54. Wright State’s DeShaun Wood fouled Darryl Clements.

He is the man the Raiders wanted to foul, having only shot one foul shot this season. He put wrinkle in the Raiders plan by making both foul shots to give the Falcons, a 57-54 lead.

The Raiders called timeout to set up a play to get DeShaun Wood the ball. As it often happens, Bowling Green broke the up play. Wright State’s Vaughn Duggins dribbled through traffic and heaved up a shot that was good for only two points, a point shy of the tie the Raiders were seeking.

With the Falcons still leading by a point, Wright State’s Drew Burleson fouled Clements and again he made both shots to foil the Raiders’ strategy.

As time ran out Wright State’s Todd Brown forced up a three point shot that missed badly.

Bowling Green overcame a nine point second half deficit to improve to 5-3 on the year and make up for the pounding that Wright State administered last year during the Bracket Busters game.

As Bowling Green started to fight their way back in the second half, the Falcons took the lead for good with 1:08 left in the game when Ryne Hamblet sunk a 3-pointer that bounced around the rim three or four times before it went in.

“When it got tight we couldn’t get the stops,” said Wood who led all scorers with 23 points. “They made that shot that bounced around. He could of missed and we could of come down and made one, but that’s not the way it happened.”

Dakich thought that shot was definitely a difference maker.

“The biggest one was the four bouncer by Hamlet that put us up two, “ explained an exhausted Dakich. “Sometimes those things (shots) go with you. That was probably the biggest shot of the game other than the free throws.”

As for Wright State they looked pretty good on the stat sheet. They out-rebounded BGSU 40-31, took 31 free throw shots and only turned the ball over nine times. They even managed to launch an amazing 61 shots. If the could of just shot 33 percent, they win easily. But the Raiders only managed to shoot a lowly 29.5 percent for the game and an even poorer 8.3 percent from 3-point land.

But Wright State Coach Brad Brownell said this game shows how stats can be misleading.

“We made a concerted effort to drive the basketball in the game and to do a little better job of rebounding some of our misses. And we did those things, explained Brownell. “We had the most free throw attempts by far in a game, our most offense rebounds in a game by far, but if you don’t score, if you don’t make the free throws, if you don’t use those possessions to get baskets it does not mean as much. That is why stats can be misleading.

In the first half the Raiders shot a miserable 25 percent (8-32), while the Falcons shot 54 percent (12-22) and it showed in the score with Bowling Green leading 29-22 at halftime.

For Bowling Green Martin Samarco scored 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Dusan Radivojevic pitched in 12 points.

For the Raiders Duggins scored 12 points and Jordan Pleiman scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Burleson had a game high 10 rebounds.

Note:

*Bowling Green now leads the all-time series 6-5.

*After the game, the 80s band Survivor played. The Nutter Center set up a stage at one end of the court and draped a curtain across it during the game. The concert could be heard clearly from the media room where the writers were completing their game stories. It sounded great.

*Wright State’s next game is Tuesday at home against Marist at 7 p.m.

*Bowling Green’s next game is Tuesday at home against Northern Colorado at 7 p.m.

MAC Recap: 11-18

Ryan Molnar — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 07:55:38 -0800

The MAC had four teams in action yesterday and last night with all but one team winning. Kent State picked up a good win at home over Detroit. Marquette handed it to Eastern Michigan. Toledo took care of Middle Tennessee State in overtime, and Buffalo came away with an impressive win over Miami (FL). Kent State had a balanced attack lead them to a 61-48 victory over the University of Detroit Mercy at the MAC Center yesterday afternoon. Kent State held Detroit to just 38 percent shooting and withstood a hot start from behind the 3-point line from the Titans. Detroit hit its first three triples, but then proceeded to only shoot three-of-16 the rest of the game. Freshmen guard Rodriguez Sherman led Kent State with 14 points in his first colleigate start. Due to many suspensions of players he was thrust into the lineup and did not commit one turnover in 31 minutes of play. Senior Armon Gates scored 12 points and brought down a career high 8 rebounds. He is known more for his 3 point shooting ability but in this game he was only able to make two three pointers. Kent State returns to action on Tuesday when they host Temple University. Eastern Michigan fell hard to #17 Marquette University 95-62. The Eagles were led by freshmen Devon Dumes who was the only player on Eastern in double figures as he scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field while hitting 4-of-7 from behind the arc. EMU stayed with Marquette for much of the first half but could not withstand Marquette’s hot shooting from the field along with its stingy defense. The Golden Eagles connected on 48% of it’s three point attempts while Eastern hit just 38% of theirs. Marquette had five players in double figures and were led by sophomore guard Dominic James who had 17 points. EMU will take on Detroit on Wednesday, November 29th. Toledo got their first win of the year last night but it wasn’t easy. Playing against Middle Tennessee State in the Virgin Islands as part of the Paradise Jam Tournament, Toledo fell down by as much as 18 points at the half but battled back to win it 75-69 in overtime. Senior guard Justin Ingram came up big for the Rockets scoring a career-high 32 points. He also hit the three that forced overtime. Senior forward Keonta Howell came up with 21 points and 6 rebounds and overcame a 20 point deficit with a 22-2 surge late in the second half. Ingram hit the game-tying three with only 0.9 seconds left on the clock. Middle Tennessee State rode their 72.7 percent shooting to a 18 point halftime lead. Toledo will play VCU on Monday afternoon in their last game at the Paradise Jam Tournament. The Buffalo Bulls win over the Miami Hurricanes was the school’s first win over a school from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Bulls defeated the Hurricanes 60-57 in the America’s Youth Classic in Evansville, Indiana last night. Yassin Idbihi hit the game-winning jumper with 3.7 seconds remaining to carry the Bulls to their third win of the season. The senior forward led Buffalo with 22 points and a career high 14 rebounds. Buffalo only shot 36.5 percent but played solid defense and came up big on the boards. Buffalo was able to out-rebound Miami 43-35, including 16 offensive boards. Buffalo will take on Evansville in the final game of the tournament today. Today’s games feature Ball State hosting Prairie View A&M, Bowling Green hosting Furman, Akron hosting Tiffin, Ohio hosting Yale, Buffalo on the road at Evansville, and Central Michigan hosting UMKC. Here are my predictions: Ball State, Akron, Ohio, and Central Michigan all win, while Bowling Green and Buffalo both lose. Yesterday: 1-3. Overall: 6-4.

MAC Recap: 11-16

Ryan Molnar — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 08:37:55 -0800

With only one game last night it was all up to Bowling Green to help keep the MAC afloat as one of the premier conferences in the nation. They were unable to do this last night as they lost to previously winless Arkansas State. They didn’t help themselves by falling down by as many as 20 points. The one bright spot for the Falcons was that they were able to force 29 turnovers. Martin Samarco finished with a team high 16 points and seven rebounds. The Falcons return home to face Furman at 2 PM Sunday. Three MAC games tonight as Toledo travels to Iowa, Miami hosts Florida A & M, and Buffalo hosts Cleveland State. I’m taking Iowa to beat Toledo, but then Miami and Buffalo will pick up wins tonight. Overall: 2-1

MAC Recap: 11-15

Ryan Molnar — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 06:52:44 -0800

Once again there were only two MAC teams in action tonight but they both faired a little better than their counterparts did a night ago. Miami took on Kentucky in Rupp arena and was looking to get back on track after a tough home loss to Wright State to open the season. Northern Illinois was looking to open the season on a good note by opening at home against a Division-III team. On to the recaps. Miami got out to a surprisingly good start against the 22nd ranked Wildcats, leading by as much as 10 in the first half. Kentucky pulled back with the RedHawks with a 22-3 run in the second half. Kentucky eventually won the game 57-46. The final score was not indicative of how close a game this really was. Miami stayed tough on the glass against a taller Kentucky squad as the Wildcats finished with only a 32-30 edge in rebounding. The RedHawks were paced by their big senior in the middle, Nathan Peavy. He finished with 17 points and six rebounds. The loss moves Miami’s record to 0-2 but they hope to change that to 1-2 when they take on Florida A & M on Friday at 8:30. The other MAC game of the night pitted Northern Illinois against St. Mary’s (MN) a Division III school. The Huskies shot almost 60 percent from the field on route to a 84-69 in their home opener. Mike McKinney led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field while James Hughes and Zach Pancratz both added 17 points. The only thing that NIU really wasn’t impressed with in this game was their defense. They allowed St. Mary’s to hit 11-of-20 three pointers and to hit 46.6 percent overall from the field. Northern Illinois has a couple of days off until they play Duquesne in Pittsburgh on Monday. Tonight has only one MAC team in action with Bowling Green at 1-0 travels to Arkansas State who is 0-3. Look for the Falcons to continue to stay unbeaten in their unimpressive non-conference schedule thus far. Predicting Power on the season: 2-0