Senior forward John Reimold scored 26 of his season-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Bowling Green men’s basketball team (16-7) to a 74-66 win over Arkansas- Little Rock (16-9) on Saturday.
After BG senior forward Josh Almanson scored 17 of the Falcons 34 first half points, Reimold helped carry the scoring load the rest of the way. They both combined for 36 of the Falcons 40 points in the second half.
“Josh (Almanson) really carried us in the first half,” Reimold said. “In the second half they (UALR) were all over him and it opened things up for me.”
Almanson finished with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Almanson said he was surprised the Trojans gave him so many opportunities to hit shots early on.
“I don’t know if they didn’t scout at all but they were leaving me wide open,” he said. “You don’t see that too often in the (MAC) conference.”
Reimold added a team high seven rebounds and five assists while shooting a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line, which all came in the second half.
“John (Reimold) was just on fire in the second half,” Almanson said. “I thought he had some huge baskets down the stretch.”
Reimold’s three-pointer with 5:24 remaining in the first half gave the Falcons a 32-12 lead, their biggest of the game.
Then the Trojans started to play defense. The Falcons didn’t score again until Almanson sank a jumper with three seconds left. The Trojans ended the first half on 9-2 run, and cut the BG lead to 13 at halftime.
In the second half, the Falcons scored the first four points and extended their lead to 17. But the Trojans eventually trimmed the BG lead to 10 in the first seven minutes of the second half on Richard Hardman’s three-pointer.
After trading baskets for the next four minutes, Hardman took over yet again. He scored the last six points of a 12-3 Trojan run which tied the game with 7:40 left. Hardman finished with 27 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
But the Falcons went on another run of their own as Reimold scored 12 points during the Falcons 16-10 run to close out the game.
“(UALR) got really comfortable in the second half,” BG head coach Dan Dakich said. “But Reimold and Almanson bailed us out.”
Reimold said after being in many situations this season when they couldn’t get stops when they needed to in the end, they were ready to take advantage this time.
“They were outplaying us,” Reimold said. “They were more physical and more intense and when we did pick up our game they couldn’t stay with us.”
BG guard John Floyd chipped in seven points and six assists, and guard Steven Wright had five points, six rebounds and two steals.
Arkansas-Little Rock guard Brandon Freeman scored 17 and grabbed five rebounds, while guard Zach Wright added 10 points and four assists.
Dakich said he is proud of the way the team played against a tough non-conference opponent.
“I’m not sure that’s the best basketball team we’ve played here but it’s in the top two or three, if not the best,” Dakich said. “…so to get a win I think says a lot about our basketball team.”
The Falcons look to extend their three-game win streak in DeKalb, IL on Wednesday against Northern Illinois.
