Smothering Second Half Defense Pushes Falcons to 58-46 Win Over Ball State

Final Statistics: Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Video: Game Highlights
Video - Postgame Press Conference: Jans, Chris | Denny, Zack
Audio - Postgame Press Conference: Jans, Chris | Denny, Zack
Video: Postgame Interview with Coach Jans
Audio: Postgame Interview with Coach Jans
Audio - Radio Calls by Todd Walker:
Denny 3-pointer (7-5) | Denny steal & layup (27-27) |
Holmes and-1 (29-27) | Joseph 3-pointer (33-29) |
Holmes and-1 (36-33) | Denny 3-pointer (41-33)
Photos: Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza)

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team held Ball State to only seven made field goals and forced the Cardinals to commit 10 turnovers in the second half alone, as the Falcons outscored the Cardinals 35-19 over the final 20 minutes of play to pick up a 58-46 come from behind win in MAC play at home in the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The Falcons erased a four-point halftime deficit with a 19-6 run over the first nine minutes of the second half to fly out to a double digit lead en route to the 58-46 home win.

BGSU shot just 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) in the first half, but bounced back to go 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) overall from the floor in the second half, while Ball State was 10-of-28 (35.7 percent) in the opening period and just 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) over the final 20 minutes of play in the game.

The win pushes the Falcons to 11-4 overall, 7-1 at home and 3-1 in MAC play. The loss drops Ball State to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in league play.

"We've had a couple of these games like this that were a tale of two halves. We didn't perform very well the first 20 minutes. They played better than we did. We'd talked going into the game about how important rebounding was going to be. We had some goals set and we didn't reach them," commented head coach Chris Jans. "I thought we set the tone the first possession defensively (in the second half). We had three guys on the floor and to me they just had a little more edge to them. I was glad they responded to the four-point deficit the way they did and then we got on one of those runs. We talked as a staff, you know, we need to get one of those runs. We need to get a stop and run out on a three or a dunk and get the crowd into it and hopefully get some momentum. And I thought that's what happened."

Sophomore guard Zack Denny led the Falcons with a game-high 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, as he posted his first career double-double. Senior Richaun Holmes and junior Spencer Parker each added 11 points apiece. Holmes added seven rebounds and three blocks, giving him 201 blocks for his career at BGSU.

Ball State was led by 2014 MAC Freshman of the Year in Zavier Turner and his 14 points, two assists and two steals, while Franko House had seven points and two rebounds before fouling out of the game in the second half.

The game started out as a back-and-fourth affair, as the two teams' traded the lead three times before a layup from the left block from Delvin Dickerson and a driving layup along the right baseline by Denny put the Falcons in front by three at 13-10 with 9:55 to go in the opening half.

Denny's layup would be the last made field goal the Falcons would score for the next 9:20, as the home team would go ice cold from the floor shooting the ball.

However, defense and the foul line, where BGSU was 8-of-8, would keep the Falcons in the contest, as four straight foul shots from David Joseph and Parker over a two-minute stretch allowed the home team to take a 17-15 lead at the 6:11 mark of the first half.

After a three-pointer from Rocco Belcaster and a layup down low from House pushed the Cardinals out to a three-point lead at 20-17, the Falcons would again go to the charity stripe once more with two foul shots from Parker to get to within one of Ball State at 20-19.

Ball State and BGSU would trade another layup for another two free throws, this time by Denny, to keep the visitors lead at one until the Cardinals' Turner hit back-to-back foul shots to again put the team in red up by three at 24-21 with 1:07 to go before the halftime break.

A hard-fought layup by Parker with 35 seconds to go on the game clock ended the Falcons' field goal drought and again put the home team down just one, until a three-pointer from the left wing by Sean Sellers as time expired gave Ball State its largest lead of the game at 27-23 heading into intermission.

Out of the halftime break, the Falcons started the second half with a sense of urgency, as BGSU forced the Cardinals into two early turnovers and got a blocked shot from Holmes on the defensive end while scoring seven unanswered points from the combination of Holmes and Denny offensively to take a 30-27 lead on an old-fashion three-point play from the 6-8 forward from Lockport, Illinois with 18:30 to go in the contest.

Ball State would answer with a 6-3 surge to tie the score up at 33-33 on a layup down low from Matt Kamieniecki at the 14:25 mark, only to see the Falcons get an offensive stick back basket from Holmes to jump start a 10-0 run by the Orange and Brown who flew out to a 10-point lead at 43-33 on a baseline left-handed floater from Jovan Austin with 11:14 on the game clock.

BGSU did not look back, as a three-pointer from Ball State cut the Falcons' lead to seven at 43-36, the closest the Cardinals would get for the remainder of the game as the home team used another 8-0 offensive rush to push its lead back out to double digits at 51-36 on a free throw from Dickerson.

The Falcons would hold Ball State to just 10 points over the final nine minutes of the contest and knocked down 5-of-10 free throws, along with a midrange jump shot from Austin, to hold on for the 58-46 home conference win.

Bowling Green outscored the Cardinals 20-18 in points in the paint and 12-7 in second chance points, as the Orange and Brown out-rebounded Ball State 39-35 for the game. The Falcons also held a 15-6 advantage in points off turnovers, 7-4 in fast break points and 12-11 in bench points.

BGSU (11-4, 3-1 MAC) will return to the Stroh Center to host the Eagles of Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. The game is scheduled to be broadcast by BCSN Sports (Television) and ESPN3 (Internet).

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Notes
* BGSU improves to 11-4 overall on the season. The Falcons had just 12 wins all of last year.
* BG moves to 7-1 at home and now has posted at least seven home wins in every season that the Falcons have called the Stroh Center home (2011-12).
* BGSU is now 3-1 in MAC play with the win.
* BGSU moves to 4-0 this season in games following a loss.
* The Falcons are 4-1 in the month of JANSuary.
* The win is the fifth straight victory over Ball State with the last loss to the Cardinals coming back on Feb. 4, 2010.
* Richaun Holmes recorded his 200th career block in the contest. He now has 201 career swats at BGSU.
* Zack Denny posted his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, a career-high in boards.
* BGSU improves to 10-0 on the year when making the same number or more free throws than its opponent.
* The 46 points allowed by BGSU is the second lowest total in a game surrendered by the Falcons this season. BGSU held Chicago State to a season-low 35 points on Jan. 3.
* The 32.7 percent shooting by Ball State is tied for the second lowest shooting percentage by a BGSU opponent this season, matching the 32.7 percent shot by the Raiders of Wright State on Nov. 19.

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