Late First Half Surge Propels Falcons to First MAC Win

Wednesday, January 15

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 PM

Bowling Green State University

7-9, 1-2MAC

Central Michigan

7-8, 0-3MAC

Central Michigan

Bowling Green

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

January 15, 2014 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team used a 16-4 run to close out the first half and take a lead that the Falcons refused to relinquish for the remainder of the contest to post a 67-57 home win over Central Michigan on Wednesday night in the Stroh Center.

The win was the Falcons' (7-9, 1-2 MAC) first MAC win of the season and snapped a four-game losing skid. With the loss Central Michigan falls to 7-8 overall and 0-3 in the MAC.

BGSU forward's Richaun Holmes and Spencer Parker each led the way for the Falcons with 20 points apiece, becoming the first tandem of Falcons to score 20 points or more in a single game since A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford each poured in 21 points apiece last season at Miami on Jan. 16, 2013.

Along with Holmes' 20 points, the junior tallied his third double-double of the season with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, as he and senior center Cameron Black combined for seven blocks in the win. Black also dished out a career-high four assists, while guard Anthony Henderson added 13 points of his own in 35 minutes of play.

For the Chippewas, leading scorer Chris Fowler led the way with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting for the game, while Blake Hibbitts added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting on the night.

Despite the fact that Central Michigan shot 60 percent (12-of-20) in the first half, compared to the Falcons' 40 percent (10-of-25), Bowling Green was able to stay in the contest early and take a lead into the break by holding the Chippewas to only one offensive rebound and force the visitors into 10 turnovers over the first 20 minutes of play.

Bowling Green got two early three-pointers from the left wing from Henderson to run out to an early 6-2 lead three minutes into the contest.

After an 18-foot jump shot from Hibbitts of CMU tied the game up at 6-6 at the 15:02 mark, neither team would be able to pull away from the other, as three lead changes and three ties later CMU ran off six straight points to take a 24-17 lead with 7:17 to play in the opening half.

Following a media timeout, the Falcons ruled the rest of the half, as a layup down low from Holmes kick started a 16-2 run, highlighted by a stretch of eight straight points from Holmes himself, to lead the home team to a 33-26 lead on back-to-back free throws from Parker with 1:01 to go before the halftime break.

The Falcons held the Chippewas without a point for over six and a half minutes of the first half en route to taking the seven-point lead, yet saw CMU connect on a one-handed runner with the shot clock winding down late in the half to put the score at 33-28 at the break.

The momentum carried over into the second half for the Falcons, as again the defense transitioned to easy points for the home team, as BGSU opened up the second half of play with an 11-2 run to take a 14 point lead at 44-30 on a layup from Parker with 14:39 to go in regulation.

Bowling Green maintained a double digit lead over the next few minutes until Central Michigan got a three-pointer from John Simons to jump-start a 10-2 run and cut the Falcons' lead down to five at 48-43 on a 15-foot jumper from Hibbitts at the 9:15 mark of the second half.

Back-to-back old-fashion three-point plays from Parker and Holmes pushed the Falcons lead back to double digits, as the home team outscored the Chippewas 12-2 over the next five minutes of play to take a 15 point lead at 60-45 with just over four minutes to go in the game.

Looking for its first conference win, BGSU refused to let go of the lead, as after Central Michigan ran off seven straight points to cut the Falcons' lead back to seven at 60-53, the home team finished the final two minutes of the contest on a 7-4 run, capped off by free throws from Henderson and Holmes, to post the 67-57 home conference win.

The Falcons held Central Michigan to only eight made field goals in the second half (8-of-30, 26.2 percent) and was 16-of-22 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line for the game which were both keys in the victory.

BGSU outscore Central Michigan 32-20 in points in the paint, 21-13 in points off turnovers, 14-4 in fast break points and 11-10 in second chance points.

For the game, BGSU was 23-of-47 (48.9 percent) from the floor and 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) from behind the three-point line, while Central Michigan was 20-of-50 (40 percent) from the field and 7-of-18 (38.9 percent) from long distance.

Bowling Green (7-9, 1-2 MAC) will hit the road to take on Western Michigan on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. The game is slated to be shown on both the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel and ESPN3.

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