Bowling Green has a long history of offensive scoring power. There was the overwhelming inside game of Nate Thurmond, the sharpshooting offensive threat of Howard Komives, the electrifying Antonio Daniels, and now there is the graceful and agile Brent ‘Cowboy’ Klassen.
Wait, Brent Klassen? How does a kid who averages three points per game get added to a list of offensive scoring greats? The Marshall Thundering Herd can certainly tell you. The 6-foot 8-inch senior forward set a Falcon record Saturday by going a perfect 8-of-8 from the field in BG’s 83-60 win over Marshall. Klassen ended the game with a career high of 16 points.
“I didn’t know that it was a record, but I’ll take it,” Klassen said. “Maybe they’ll remember me around here now. I felt pretty good out there today.”
“He’s a kid who persevered, worked on his offensive game, worked on trying to be a more rounded player and today was a great example of that,” BG coach Dan Dakich said. “He had an absolute dynamite game and I thought he was somewhat of the difference in the ballgame.”
The win kept the Falcons (18-5, 8-4) in a second place tie with Ohio in the East Division. Kent State’s win over Central Michigan Saturday kept the Golden Flashes three games ahead of the Falcons.
The Thundering Herd was one of the few teams to shut down BG guard Keith McLeod, who played limited minutes due to foul trouble. However, Marshall could not stop the Falcon’s post game. BG center Len Matela scored a game-high 23 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
Marhsall’s 6-foot 9-inch herald All-America candidate Tamar Slay started out the game with a jumpshot over McLeod to give the Thundering Herd an early 2-0 advantage. Slay would later leave the game after getting an elbow to his noggin. McLeod would leave the game only four minutes into the game after picking up his second foul and not return until under six minutes left in the half.
BG tied the game at 8-8 on an Erik Crawford layup. The Falcons would go on a 22-11 run over the next eight minutes to build a 30-19 advantage. Matela would hit two free throws with 35 seconds left in the half as the Falcons went into halftime up 47-31.
Klassen opened up the second half by scoring two of his 12 second half points on a layup to build an 18 point advantage. McLeod would give BG its biggest lead at 77-51 with two free throws. The Falcons ended the game shooting a season-best 61.2 percent from the field.
Freshman guard Kris Wilson scored the final four points for the Falcons. BG is now a season best 13 games over .500 and has won six of its last seven meetings against Marshall. Eastern Michigan will journey into Anderson Arena Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
