The Bowling Green men’s basketball team (13-4, 4-1 MAC) stayed red hot on Tuesday night, defeating the Miami (OH) RedHawks (8-9, 2-3 MAC) 78-73 in Oxford.
With the win, the Falcons extended their winning streak to three games and have now won 11 of their past 12 contests.
The win also marks Bowling Green’s best start through 17 games since the 2001-2002 season and makes Todd Simon just the third head coach in BGSU history to start 4-1 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play in their first season with the Falcons.
FIRST HALF
The Falcons scored the game’s first points as junior guard Marcus Hill drained a three-pointer on Bowling Green’s first offensive possession.
Miami missed their first four shots from the field before tying the game at five points apiece.
After this, both teams combined to drain five straight three-pointers. The Falcons made three of the five triples, resulting in a 14-8 advantage for BG after six minutes of action.
Hill drilled his second three-pointer of the game, pushing BGSU’s lead to nine points with 11 minutes remaining in the half, 22-13.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth action, senior forward Rashaun Agee received a technical foul, with BG leading 29-20.
Following the technical foul on Agee, the RedHawks went on an 11-4 run that culminated with back-to-back triples, cutting Bowling Green’s once 11-point lead to just 33-31 with four minutes left in the half.
A minute-and-a-half later, Miami hit a layup to tie the game at 33 points apiece.
After a foul by the RedHawks, senior center Jason Spurgin hit two free throws, ending Miami’s 8-0 run and putting the Falcons back ahead by two points.
Miami’s Darweshi Hunter nailed a jumper with a second left in the first half, giving the RedHawks a 37-36 lead going into the locker rooms after 20 minutes of action.
The Falcons ended the first half ice cold, making just one of their last 11 field goal attempts.
In the first 20 minutes of the contest, BG shot just 35.5% (11-31) from the field. But the Falcons shot 46.2% (6-13) from beyond the arc; however, they missed six of their last seven three-point attempts.
BG also frequented the charity stripe in the first half, shooting 8-15 on free throw attempts.
On the other side, Miami shot 46.7% (14-30) from the field, 41.7% (5-12) on three-pointers and 50% (4-8) on free throws in the first half.
SECOND HALF
Just like the start of the game, the Falcons got on the board first in the second half as Spurgin made a layup, giving BG the 39-38 lead.
Following Spurgin’s layup, there were four lead changes and two ties before Miami scored five unanswered points to jump ahead 49-44 with 16 minutes remaining in the contest.
Over the next few minutes, the teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle, with Miami holding on to a five-point advantage with 11:32 remaining, 59-54.
With nine minutes remaining in the contest, senior guard Trey Thomas hit his second three-pointer to cut Miami’s lead to four points, 63-59.
After Thomas made a jumper, the RedHawks hit a triple to push their lead to eight points with just over six minutes remaining in the contest, 70-62.
Thomas and Agee made back-to-back layups, cutting Miami’s lead down to just two points with under three minutes remaining, 73-71.
On the next possession, Miami’s Anderson Mirambeaux fouled out, leaving the game with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Following an Agee dunk, Hill drove to the rim and made a contested layup, giving BG the 75-73 lead with 1:16 remaining.
After forcing a missed three-pointer by Miami, Bowling Green called two 30-second timeouts before Hill made another layup, which proved to be the dagger.
Sophomore guard PJ Edwards nailed a free throw with five seconds left, securing the five-point victory for the Falcons.
REVIEW OF THE GAME
The Falcons, who trailed by as many as eight points in the final six minutes of the contest, outscored the RedHawks 16-3 down the stretch, including an 11-0 run to close out the game.
Overall, the BG shot 45.6% (26-57) from the field, 35% (7-20) on three-pointers and 61.3% (19-31) on free throws.
On the other side, Miami shot 49.1% (28-57) from the field, 38.9% (7-18) from beyond the arc and 66.7% (10-15) from the charity stripe.
Miami turned the ball over 14 times and committed 23 personal fouls compared to Bowling Green’s nine giveaways and 15 fouls.
Hill led all scorers with 23 points, his eighth 20-point scoring performance this season. The Rockford, Illinois, native shot 8-13 from the field, 2-2 on three-pointers and 5-9 from the free throw line, and tied for the team lead with three assists.
Agee, the reigning MAC Co-Player of the Week, recorded his sixth double-double of the season, tallying 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. The Chicago, Illinois, native has now scored double-digit points in nine straight contests.
Spurgin fell one rebound shy of recording his second straight double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Thomas rounded out Bowling Green’s double-digit scorers, finishing with 14 points, his sixth double-digit scoring performance in the past seven contests.
NEXT UP
Bowling Green will head back home and look to extend their winning streak in a matchup against the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday, Jan. 20. Tip-off at the Stroh Center is set for 2 p.m.
