Bowling Green men’s basketball traveled to the iconic Breslin Center to face the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday night. Despite a solid 43-point first half, the Falcons fell to the Spartans 86-72.
Bowling Green got hot early, starting with four points scored by senior forward Marcus Johnson to open with a 4-2 lead. After a floater by junior forward Youssef Khayat off an assist from senior guard Derrick Butler, BG entered the first timeout up 17-9 against their Big Ten competition.
Johnson and Khayat combined for 12 of BG’s 17 points in the opening five minutes.
After the timeout, senior guard Trey Thomas capitalized on the Orange and Brown’s growing momentum, hitting a corner three for his second three-pointer of the first half.
Following the three-pointers, the Falcons connected on an alley-oop from sophomore guard Braelon Green to redshirt freshman forward Jamai Felt for the two-handed slam heading into the timeout.
Still riding the wave of momentum, Thomas drove to the basket up against a mismatch, converting a layup and extending the Falcons to a 10-point lead with 8:32 left in the first half, up 32-22.
As Michigan State began to close the gap, six straight inside points by junior guard Javontae Campbell got Bowling Green back to another 10-point lead. Not settling, an off-the-defender floater by Khayat put BG up by 12 points, 40-28, heading into the third timeout of the evening.
The Spartans didn’t stay quiet for long, going on an 8-0 scoring run, with a dunk from sophomore forward Coen Carr on the eighth point of the possession, bringing the Breslin Center to its feet. Bowling Green head coach Todd Simon called his first timeout, Bowling Green up by just two points, 43-41.
Michigan State ended the first half on a 10-0 run, resulting in a 43-43 tie heading into the locker room.
Heading into the half, Johnson led all BG scorers with 13 points. Khayat was second in scoring with 10 points, and both Thomas and Campbell had eight points, respectively.
“He wasn’t Marcus Johnson; he was Magic Johnson,” said Spartans head coach Tom Izzo postgame, speaking about Johnson’s first-half performance.
Bowling Green opened the second half by snapping its 2:08 scoreless streak. Johnson converted two free throws from the line to make it 45-43, and the Falcons were down just two points.
Later, BG went on a 4-0 run, up 70-68 with 7:11 left in the game.
With time ticketing away, the Spartans put together a 12-0 run, with Bowling Green scoreless for over five minutes.
Michigan State finished the contest on an 18-0 run, holding Bowling Green scoreless for over seven minutes.
The Falcons struggled all day with three-point shooting, shooting just 19.2% (5-26).
Bowling Green also finished with 26 personal fouls, with senior forward Sam Towns fouling out of the contest for the third time in four games.
Johnson led the Falcons with 23 points but went 1-11 from three-point range. Campbell finished with 14 points and two steals.
“We got a little shot happy. I think the fatigue started to set in a little bit,” BGSU head coach Todd Simon said postgame. “We’d thought we’d have to make a dozen threes or so in this game in order to compete, and we had some open looks, and obviously, they didn’t fall.”
BG senior guard Trey Thomas also got in foul trouble, affecting their offense down the stretch.
“That kind of coincided with our drought a little bit because Trey gets us nice and organized,” Simon said. “I thought we got a little sped up when he went out.”
Despite winning, Izzo was highly impressed with Bowling Green.
If they can make shots like that, they are winning that league (Mid-American Conference),” Izzo said.
The Falcons are now 1-3 on the season. Their next game is on Nov. 19, against Niagara, as they return to the Stroh Center.
