Offensive Woes Halt Falcons in Road Loss at Wright State

Sunday, December 20

Dayton, Ohio

4:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-4

Wright State

5-7

Bowling Green

Wright State

Photo by: Larry Clapper

December 20, 2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, BGSU Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Stats: Box Score (PDF)
Final Stats: Box Score (HTML)
Audio: Postgame Press Conference: Huger
Audio: Postgame Interview with Dave DeNatale: Huger
Radio Calls from Dave DeNatale:
      1st half - Ali finger roll and-1
                      Parker jumper
                      Alcegaire layup
     2nd half - Worrell layup to open the half
                      Denny layup in the lane
Video: BGSU Highlights
News: The Centennial Season
Schedule: 2015-16 BGSU Men's Basketball Schedule
Tickets: Men's Basketball Season Tickets on Sale Now!

Dayton, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University Falcons struggled offensively for the entire game on Sunday afternoon, as the Wright State Raiders defeated the Orange and Brown 83-47 at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio.

BGSU shot just 27.5 percent (14-of-51), including going just 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from behind the three-point line in the loss. On the other side, Wright State was 26-of-50 (52 percent) overall and 13-of-28 (46.4 percent) from behind the three-point line in the win.

The Falcons, who shot just 20.8 percent on 5-of-24 shooting in the second half, were led by junior Ismail Ali's 12 points and three assists. Junior guard Zack Denny tallied seven points, while senior Spencer Parker finished with just five points and eight rebounds. Matt Fox also added five points off the bench for the Falcons.

Wright State had four players in double figures in points led by JT Yoho's game-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Mark Alstork finished with 19 points and six rebounds, while Joe Thomasson added 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes of play. Guard Grant Benzinger chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds for the Raiders.

BGSU opened up the contest making each of its first two shots, a driving layup from David Joseph and a three-pointer from the top of the key from Denny, to jump out to a 5-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest.

However, the Falcons would go ice cold from the floor offensively missing their next nine shot attempts, while the Raiders used the three-point line and the charity stripe to go on a 15-1 scoring run and race out to a 15-6 with 11:57 to go in the first half of play.

Back-to-back free throws from Parker trimmed the WSU lead to seven at 15-8, only to see a three-ball from Yoho on the next Wright State offensive possession give the home team its largest lead of the game until that point at 18-8 with over 11 minutes to go before the halftime break.

A driving layup along the baseline by Ali at the 10:24 mark of the first half, snapped the BGSU field goal drought at 7:55 seconds as the Falcons continued to chip away at the Raiders' lead.

Following a Wes Alcegaire basket down low at the 8:57 mark, which put BGSU down just six at 18-12, the Raiders answered with a 9-2, comprised up of one three-pointer, four free throws and a dunk from Yoho, to push the team in white in front by 13 at 27-14 with 6:38 to go in the opening half.

BGSU got a layup from Parker 18 seconds later to jump-start the Falcons' offense who went on an 11-3 run to close the gap to five on a layup from Alcegaire at the 1:43 mark of the first half to put the score at 30-25 in favor of the Raiders.

Yet, another three-pointer from WSU, its sixth of the first half, helped the home team to outscore BGSU 5-2 over the final minute of the first half to give the Raiders a 35-27 lead at the halftime break.

The second half played out much as the first, except the offensive struggles increased for the Falcons who made just five field goals over the final 20 minutes of play.

The Falcons got a layup from Rasheed Worrell on the right block to open up the second half and put the visitors in brown by just six once again at 35-29 with less than a minute until the final half of play.

After five straight points from Yoho and the Raiders, BGSU answered with a left-handed lay in basket from Denny in the lane to put the score at 40-31 with 17:13 to go in the contest.

The Denny layup was the last basket for the Falcons for a three minute stretch, as again BGSU went ice cold from the floor on the offensive end. Yet, the Raiders continued their hot shooting with 10 straight points and an overall 15-4 run to extend their lead to 22 points at 55-33 with 13:34 to go in regulation.

The Falcons picked up free throws from JD Tisdale and Ali over the next several minutes of play, yet the Orange and Brown could not buy a bucket for an eight minute stretch and fell behind by 27 at 64-37on a free throw from the Raiders' Alstork.

A trey from the right wing from Fox at the 6:33 mark ended the long scoring lull for the Falcons, yet BGSU couldn't find any type of offensive rhythm over the rest of the contest and fell to the Raiders 83-47 who scored 10 points over the final 2:35 of the contest to pad the win.

BGSU matched Wright State with 22 points overall in points in the paint, however, the home team edged the Falcons 12-9 in points off turnovers and 6-5 in second chance points. WSU also outscored the Falcons 35-28 in bench points.

Bowling Green was 17-of-25 (68 percent) from the free throw line for the contest, while Wright State was 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) from the foul line on the afternoon.

The Falcons did not score a single fast break point for the game.

Bowling Green (7-4) will return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 23, when the Falcons will face off with their third straight Horizon League opponent at Cleveland State. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Notes

The loss drops BGSU to 7-4 overall on the season.
BGSU is now 2-2 in true road contests on the year after the defeat on Sunday.
The 47 points is a season-low for the Falcons this season.
The last time BGSU scored less than 50 points in a game was in a 57-47 road loss at Akron on Mar. 1, 2014.
The 27.5 percent field goal percent was a season-low for the Falcons.
Wright State's 52 percent shooting on the game was a season-best against the Falcons.