BGSU men’s basketball (6-7) fell to the Kansas City Roos (4-6) 85-77 on Saturday night at the Swinney Center, marking their first loss in December in the Todd Simon era.
The game started well offensively for both teams, as senior forward Marcus Johnson and senior guard Cameron Faas scored a pair of buckets for the Falcons and the Roos.
Junior guard Javontae Campbell kept the Falcons in the game against the Roos as he had eight early first-half points and did a majority of BG’s scoring early in the first half.
The same, however, can be said about Kansas City’s Faas. Early on in the game, he got the offense going, as he had 11 points, as well as nine of those points coming from three-point range.
The first half ended with a 46-45 lead for the Roos, with scoring coming from Faas with 13 points and from senior guard Jamar Brown with nine points. For BG, it was Campbell who led the way with 19 points, as well as Johnson with eight points.
Something Kansas City did better in the first half than BG was spreading the ball around. The Roos had 11 assists to the Falcons four.
Senior forward Melvyn Ebonkoli and graduate guard Babacar Diallo led the way early on in the second half for the Roos. Both players scored a pair of buckets as well as securing some rebounds to help maintain their lead against BG.
What put the game away for Kansas City was the 10-2 run that went on in the late second half that was started by junior guard Davontae Hall.
The Orange and Brown struggled shooting the basketball in the second half, going 12-27 from the floor and 4-13 from three. While Kansas City shot 56.5% in the second, making 13 of their 23 shots.
Even though the Falcons lost, Campbell had a phenomenal game. He finished the game with 27 points, his second-highest-scoring performance since he had 30 against Davidson.
Johnson had a productive night with 22 points and four rebounds for BG, along with senior guard Derrick Butler, who put up 11 points and five rebounds as well.
Kansas City was led by Brown with 18 points, Faas with 16, and Ebonkoli with 14.
Bowling Green will look to get back to winning ways with their next game against the St Thomas Tommies next Saturday, Dec. 21, at 2 p.m. at the Stroh Center.
