Falcons' 2023-24 Campaign Comes To Close In CIT At Stroh Wednesday Night

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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team's 2023-24 campaign came to a close inside the Stroh Center Wednesday night (March 20). The Falcons hosted Purdue Fort Wayne in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament with the Mastodons claiming a 77-75 final that came down to the final shot. On the year, BGSU tallied 20 wins, one of 10 teams in the country to go from 20 losses in 2022-23 to 20 wins in 2023-24.

Marcus Hill led the Falcons in scoring with 26 points, marking his 19th 20-point game of the season. Da'Shawn Phillip followed with a season-high 16 points. Jason Spurgin stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points while leading the team in both rebounds with eight and assists with five. Trey Thomas rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13, including three of BGSU's five three-pointers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sam Towns won the opening tip for the Falcons and later tallied the first points with a layup. A three from Marcus Hill made it a 5-0 BGSU lead before Purdue Fort Wayne tied it up at 5-5.
Trey Thomas hit a BGSU three before a PFW answer in the same fashion. Thomas followed with a jumper with the Mastodons' answer for a 10-10 tie.
Da'Shawn Phillip hit a three for the Falcons to push the lead to 13-10. Purdue Fort Wayne had a layup before a Jason Spurgin layup for a 15-12 lead at the media timeout.
The two teams continued trading points with ties at 15-15 and 18-18. EJay Greer got a layup to fall, but the Mastodons answered for a 20-20 tie at the under-12 media break.
Out of the timeout, Spurgin swiped a steal on the defensive end, finding Phillip in transition for the layup and the foul for the 23-20 lead.
Back-to-back Hill layups extended the BGSU advantage to 27-23 at the under-8 media timeout.
An 14-0 run for Purdue Fort Wayne pushed them to a 37-27 lead, their first lead of the game. Hill ended the run with a pair at the line and a jumper. Purdue Fort Wayne carried a 43-31 lead into halftime.
BGSU scored the first points of the second half with Hill getting an offensive rebound and finding Phillip for a layup. The Mastodons made a bucket before a Hill jumper.
A three from Thomas kickstarted a run for the Falcons. Purdue Fort Wayne had a jumper before three straight Phillip baskets cut the lead down to 51-44 to force a PFW timeout.
Purdue Fort Wayne added a bucket before an and-one for Hill to continue to chip away at the lead. A big Spurgin slam later in the half cut it down to 57-53 at the under-12 media timeout.
Purdue made a layup to stop the run, but BGSU kept pushing with another 8-0 run to move in front this time. A Spurgin layup and two Hill free throws started the burst. Quick passing resulted in a Towns dunk to tie before a fast break layup from Phillip pushed the Falcons in front 61-59.
The Mastodons utilized a 5-0 run to reclaim the lead at 64-61. Two Spurgin free throws drew the Falcons back within one, but a transition layup for Purdue Fort Wayne stretched the lead back to three at 66-63.
Hill made a layup to get within one again with the lead stretching back to 69-65 for the Mastodons.
The lead stretched again for Purdue Fort Wayne, this time to 71-67, but a Thomas three cut it down to 71-70 to force a timeout.
The two teams continued to go back-and-forth with the Mastodons breaking the tie with 18 seconds left in the game to move ahead 77-75 with BGSU taking a timeout. PFW maintained the lead for the final.

STAT LEADERS

Marcus Hill: 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist
Da'Shawn Phillip: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Trey Thomas: 13 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds
Jason Spurgin: 12 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 1 assist
Sam Towns: 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists, 2 steals

FALCON STAT FACTS

Bowling Green concludes the season with 20 wins, one of 10 teams in the country to go from 20 losses in 2022-23 to 20 wins in 2023-24.
The 20 wins for the Falcons this season is tied for the ninth-most in program history during BGSU's MAC era.
Coach Simon leading the team to 20 wins marks the second-most by a first-year head coach in program history.
Marcus Hill finished with a team-high 26 points, his 19th 20-point game of the season.
Jason Spurgin finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists, leading the team in both rebounds and assists. This marks the third time this year BGSU has had a player lead the team in both rebounds and assists in the same game. The five assists for Spurgin also set a new season-high and matched his career-high.
In his final collegiate game, Da'Shawn Phillip tallied a season-high 16 points and matched his career-high for field goals in a game with seven.
Sam Towns filled the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. The blocks total matched his career-high and set a new season-high. His assists and steals totals both matched his season-highs.

TODD WALKER RADIO CALLS
Towns And-One
Hill Steal And Score
Phillip And-One
Spurgin Slam
Towns Dunk
Thomas Triple
Towns To Tie
Postgame Interview with Head Coach Todd Simon

QUOTE FROM COACH SIMON
"Obviously, we didn't hit a lot of perimeter shots and that kind of cost us a little bit. They did a nice job. Purdue Fort Wayne is a really explosive offensive team. You know, we were just two points short, one put back away."

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