Well, that was certainly stressful.
Bowling Green got a bounce-back victory against Ohio University on Tuesday, defeating the Bobcats 83-78, in one of their closest games of the year, improving their record to 11-4.
Here’s how it went down.
Pregame, the Falcons honored senior Rashaun Agee for scoring 1,000 points in his college career.
The first half at the Stroh Center saw a back-and-forth battle between the two MAC rivals.
The Falcons got things started early with an Agee pass to a wide-open Marcus Hill underneath the rim for an easy inside layup, giving the Orange and Brown a 2-0 lead just 12 seconds after tip-off.
The score would not stay that way for long as the Bobcats quickly responded with a wide-open corner three-pointer by Shereef Mitchell.
This wouldn’t be the last time these two teams would go back and forth that night.
As it poured rain outside the Stroh, a different type of storm brewed on the Bill Frack Court.
Minutes into the game, the Falcons and Bobcats started trading threes. Trey Thomas started the party with a corner three to put the Falcons up 7-6; however, Ohio responded with an Elmore James triple to regain the lead.
The back-and-forth battle continued throughout the first half, with both the Falcons and Ohio answering each other’s challenges toward their leads.
A Hill layup managed to put the Falcons up by four points. Minutes later, the game was once again tied 17-17 after a tough Elmore James layup.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Thomas hit a turnaround jump shot that gave BG their largest lead of the night, putting the Falcons up 31-26.
The last five minutes of the half continued to be a war for both teams, with neither side backing down from their competition. A last-second putback by Agee gave the Falcons a 38-35 lead heading into halftime.
At halftime, Thomas was the only player on either team to score double-digit points with 10. Agee recorded nine rebounds and five assists.
The second half began with the same competitiveness as the first.
A quick eurostep score from OU’s James put the Bobcats within 1, 38-37. The lead lasted only seconds with a quick Hill three put BG back up by two points.
Three minutes into the second half, the Falcons began a 10-2 run that put the Orange and Brown up by double digits, 62-47.
Ohio refused to back down, cutting BG’s once 15-point lead to just five.
With less than three minutes left in the game, with a one-point lead, Jason Spurgin hit a huge three, putting everyone in the Stroh Center into a frenzy and extending the Falcons advantage to 77-73.
Thomas led the Falcons offensively with 20 points on 8-15 shooting. Agee recorded a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
All five Bowling Green starters recorded double-digit points for the second time this season.
The Falcons shot 50% from the three-point line, going 12-24 as a team. The Falcons also improved their home court record to 8-1 on the season.
BG head coach Todd Simon spoke about his team rebounding after a tough Akron loss postgame.
“Those are the type of games that we have to win at home and I thought our guys responded,” Simon said. “I didn’t like our stretch, we liked 60% of the game on Friday and we put on a better performance today, held the lead for 35 minutes.”
The Falcons improve to 11-4 on the season and a 2-1 record in conference play. Next up, Bowling Green will travel to Dekalb, Illinois, to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 4:00 p.m.
