Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
TOLEDO
Men's Basketball Comes Up Short Against Toledo On Monday Night
February 26, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The BGSU Falcons lost to the Toledo Rockets by a score of 74-64 at Anderson Arena on Monday night. Bowling Green led by two at the half, but shot only 27 percent in the second stanza. Meanwhile, Toledo shot a torrid 55 percent from the field after halftime, and were 16-18 from the free-throw line.
BGSU junior Keith McLeod led the team in scoring with 19 points, including a 2-for-3 performance from behind the three-point arc. Freshman Josh Almanson played very well off the bench to score 16 points on 7-9 shooting from the field. This eclipsed his previous best scoring night in the MAC, which was 13 against Akron.
Junior Brandon Pardon was the only other Falcon in double figures with 15 points to go along with nine assists.
The Rockets were led by Craig Rodgers, who tied his career high in scoring with 18 points. Greg Stempin also had a big game with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
"I give Toledo, particularly their seniors, all the credit in the world," said BGSU coach Dan Dakich. "They competed tonight. They came into a tough environment -- our students were great, our townspeople were great, the entire crowd was great -- and they did a good job, and we did not.
"We missed a lot of shots, but that wasn't the story of the game. The story of the game was Toledo's ability to compete for 40 minutes, especially inside and defensively."
On the season, Toledo moves to 19-9 overall, with an 11-6 MAC record. Bowling Green falls to 13-12 overall and 9-7 in the MAC.
"It was nice to come in here and get a win," said Toledo coach Stan Joplin. "I give a lot of credit to our players defensively.
"I think in their last 16 possessions they got nine points, so I'm very happy with our defensive execution."
Bowling Green is next in action on Wednesday night (Feb. 28) as they head to Marshall to take on the Thundering Herd. The Falcons then return home Saturday (March 3) to end the regular season with a 1:00 p.m. tilt against Miami.
