Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eastern Michigan Snaps Falcons' Winning Streak
February 15, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2009
Box Score
Miller Postgame Press Conference Audio
Coach Orr Postgame Press Conference Audio
Bowling Green, Ohio - The Eastern Michigan men's basketball team made 10-of-19 three-pointers and Bowling Green had no answer as the Eagles upset the Falcons Sunday night in Anderson Arena 65-57. The loss snapped BGSU's season-long six-game winning streak.
The outcome spoiled a strong effort from senior Nate Miller, who finished with 18 points, six rebounds, and five steals. The steals gave him 127 for his career, moving past Jay Larranaga and Joe Gregory and into the top 10 in program history at ninth place. He is also just 18 points shy of 1,000 career points and will become just the fourth player in program history to have 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds and 125 career steals when he reaches that total.
Bowling Green never led in the game, falling behind 12-3 and struggling to get the offense going in the first half. The Falcons shot just 26 percent in the opening half and made 2-of-5 free-throws to trail 25-15 at the break.
In the second half, Bowling Green made runs but Eastern Michigan answered with a big basket on every occasion. Darryl Clements opened the second half with a three-pointer but the Eagles withstood hopes of an early comeback as Zane Gay knocked down a three-pointer to push the lead to 12 at 32-20.
Gay hit another three-pointer with 10:26 remaining to make it 43-30 Eastern Michigan, but BGSU answered with an 11-2 run, capped by a Miller lay-up to make it 45-41. The Eagles, though, came back with five in a row to extend the lead back to nine.
Again it appeared that Bowling Green would finally take over when Joe Jakubowski and Clements hit back-to-back three's to make it 50-47 with 3:32 to go, but EMU's L.J. Frazier knocked down his own trifecta to push the lead back to six.
Eastern Michigan got the lead to 10 at 59-49 with just 1:05 to go and looked like it had the game in hand, but Miller hit a three with 58 seconds left, stole a pass and knocked down another with 52 seconds left to cut the deficit to four. But the Eagles made free-throws down the stretch to come away with the win.
Bowling Green tied its season-low with just seven turnovers in the contest, only two in the second half. But the Falcons were outrebounded 35-30 and shot only 34 percent from the field, compared to 48 percent for Eastern Michigan.
Miller was the only player to finish in double-figures for Bowling Green, but Eastern Michigan got strong performances from two players. Gay made 5-of-8 three-pointers and scored 17 off the bench, while Brandon Bowdry ended with a double-double, posting 15 points and 12 rebounds, to go with four assists.
Eastern Michigan improves to 4-21 on the year and 2-9 in MAC play as BGSU falls to 14-10 overall and 7-4 in conference. The Falcons will head on the road to play conference leader Buffalo Wednesday at 7 p.m.
