Strong Second Half In Stroh Send Falcons Soaring Over Purple Eagles

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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team picked up the home win Tuesday night (Nov. 19) over Niagara, 76-68. The Purple Eagles carried a 37-33 lead into halftime, but the Falcons were able to regroup in the second half, shooting a season-best 59.3-percent in the half for the win. As a team, Bowling Green shot 55.8-percent from the field, 40.9-percent from three and 90.0-percent at the line. The Falcons will hit the road for their next three contests, beginning with Bellarmine on Saturday (Nov. 23).

For Bowling Green, Marcus Johnson led the way with 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting while also tying for the team-lead in rebounds with five. Sam Towns added a season-high 16 points to go along with rebounds of his own. The double-digit scorers concluded with Derrick Butler's 16 while shooting 6-of-7 from the field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Niagara won the opening tip, but it was the Falcons who scored first. Marcus Johnson found Sam Towns in the corner for the triple for a 3-0 BGSU lead.
Niagara answered with back-to-back threes, putting them in front 6-3 in the early going. The BGSU response came in the form of a driving layup from Javontae Campbell.
The Purple Eagles stretched their lead with a 5-0 burst, pushing the score to 11-5 at the first media timeout of the game.
Niagara added a three after the timeout to make it an 8-0 run. Johnson found Towns underneath to end the run followed by a Purple Eagle free throw for a 15-7 score.
Johnson hit his first basket of the night, coming from behind the arc to cut into the lead. Niagara added a layup, but Jamai Felt sank a three of his own to bring the score to 17-13 Niagara at the under-12 break.
Coming out of the timeout, Niagara registered a 5-0 run to put the score at 22-13. The Falcons battled back with a 7-0 run to close the gap.
Derrick Butler found a cutting Braelon Green for a dunk, starting the run. Trey Thomas followed with a three and then found Johnson off an inbound the next time down for a jumper, spelling a Niagara timeout with the score at 22-20.
The teams traded layups with Bowling Green's coming from Butler. Thomas added another for the Falcons, tying the score at 24-24. Niagara inched ahead with two free throws followed a Johnson layup to tie it again, this time at 26-26.
A three for Niagara granted them a possession lead. Each team added a free throw before the final media timeout of the first half with the score at 30-27.
The trading of layups resumed with Johnson getting one for BGSU. Niagara hit a three with Youssef Khayat following with a Falcon layup.
Both teams added free throws to their totals before the half with DaJion Humphrey hitting Bowling Green's for a 37-33 Niagara lead at the halfway point.
Towns started the second half the same way he started the first, hitting a three for the Falcons. Johnson hit a fadeaway to give BGSU a 5-0 run to start the half and a 38-37 lead.
Niagara moved ahead with a bucket, but the Falcons quickly regained the lead. Towns swatted a block on the defensive end that turned into a Derrick Butler slam on the offensive end. Two Towns free throws stretched the lead to 42-39 at the first media break of the half.
Niagara drew within one with a basket, but Johnson got back-to-back shots to fall for a 46-41 score. The two teams traded shots with Towns getting a second chance layup and jumper in back-to-back trips for a 50-46 tally at the under-12 media timeout.
Butler picked up the scoring in the contest with two at the line followed by a Niagara jumper and timeout with the score at 52-48 Falcons.
Coming out of the break, Towns found Butler in the corner for a three. The next time down Butler spun for space, getting a jumper to fall. Butler then forced a turnover on the defensive end, hitting a transition triple for an 8-0 run of his own and a 60-48 BGSU lead at the under-8 timeout.
Johnson kept the run going with a jumper off the inbound from Campbell and then a three the next trip down to force a 60-second Niagara timeout. He hit a fade after the timeout for a 15-2 BGSU run and 67-50 advantage. Each team added a basket for a 69-53 score at the final media timeout of the half.
After the break, Niagara trimmed the lead with a 6-0 burst, cutting the deficit to 10 at 69-59. Campbell ended the run with a three, but Niagara answered with one of their own.
Towns traded layups with the Purple Eagles but a second Niagara basket and timeout made it a 74-66 score with just under 40 seconds left.
Johnson added two at the line for a 76-66 score with Niagara adding two of their own at the line for the eventual final, 76-68.

STAT LEADERS

Marcus Johnson: 24 points (10-of-11 shooting), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Sam Towns: 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Derrick Butler: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Javontae Campbell: 5 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Trey Thomas: 5 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound

FALCON STAT FACTS

As a team, the Falcons shot 55.8-percent from the field, 40.9-percent from three and 90-percent from the free throw line. In the second half alone, BGSU shot 59.1-percent from the field, the team's best second half mark of the season so far.
The 90-percent mark at the free throw line is the second-straight game BGSU has shot 90% or better at the line, going 13-of-14 (92.9%) against Michigan State and 9-of-10 against Niagara.
Marcus Johnson registered his second-consecutive 20-point game, finishing with a team-high 24 points. Johnson shot an efficient 10-of-11 (90.9%) from the field, going 2-of-2 from three as well as at the free throw line. Johnson added five rebounds, tying for the team lead, as well as a season-high three assists and a steal for a complete stat line.
Johnson has now led BGSU in points in three straight games and is the only Falcon to have double-digit points in each of the first five games this year.
Derrick Butler joined in the efficient shooting, going 6-of-7 from the field for 16 points off the bench, tying for second on the team. Butler added a season-high three assists to match his career-high as well.
Sam Towns matched Butler's point total with a season-high 16 points. Towns also matched Johnson's rebound total for the team lead with five. He added a pair of blocks, giving him eight already this season.
On his way to 16 points, Towns hit a pair of threes after doing so against Michigan State as well. Towns, who entered the season with eight career three-pointers, now has four in the last two games.
Entering the night with 12 steals on the season, ranking ninth in the nation, Javontae Campbell added two more to his steal total, leading the team in the game. Campbell also led the Falcons in assists with four for the second time this year.
For the second consecutive game, Jamai Felt tallied two blocks against Niagara giving him five on the season and four in the last two contests.
Bowling Green recorded 18 assists in the game as a team, matching the season-high set against Taylor in the last home game.
The win over Niagara is the first for the Falcons since 1967 and the first at home since 1954. BGSU is now 4-6 all-time against the Purple Eagles.
Bowling Green is now 20-0 during the Simon Era when leading with two minutes left in the game and 18-0 when leading with five minutes left in the game.

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"A really important game for us, coming off a tough stretch of games and Niagara poses some different problems, all different styles we've played so far. They play a little smaller at the one-through-four and shoot a lot of threes, so it's a different style. Very contrasting to what we played on Saturday and last week. It's good for our development. Obviously, I thought we were on our heels far too much in that first half instead of being aggressive defensively and dictating the terms of the game. I thought we were just trying to guard what they do. We changed that mindset at halftime and they responded. We showed a little bit more of our potential on that end of the floor. Offensively to have a 56-41-90 game as a team is off the charts and will put you in position to win a lot of games, but we need to do that off of our defense too."

UP NEXT
The Falcons will head on the road for their next three games, first taking on Bellarmine this Saturday (Nov. 23). BGSU is set for a 3 p.m. tip against the Knights. The next home game for Bowling Green will be Dec. 7 against Morgan State with a 2 p.m. start.

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